Somewhere at the beginning of World War II, my grandfather
Pieter Corneel Obourdin, politically involved, had to get away, out of the
country, before the Germans invaded Antwerp/Belgium. He bought a car (a Traction
11B, "gris irisée"), registered it and hired a driver. They fled to
Lourdes with the whole family. On their way, someone took these pictures.
A silent reminder of the exodus in 1940.
I know it's a long shot, but if someone recognises the area, I would be very
pleased to learn about the exact location in France.
(this is the actual size of the photographs, but thanks to
modern technology, you can blow them up, simply by clicking on them)
Later on, they came back to Belgium. My grandfather was caught, deported and died, probably in Nordhausen/Germany in 1945. My father, his 2 brothers and their mother survived the war.
The car was never heard of again (probably left and/or
confiscated in Lourdes) and all I have is the registration:
These days in Belgium, we still talk about "a booklet", when
referring to the registration documents of a car. Nowadays it is just a piece of
paper, but these copies show you the origine of the name. License plates in
Belgium are still linked to a person, and not a car. Hence no type of car
mentioned on these documents.
| This page is listed at : |  |