Hendrik Geeraert

Hendrik Geeraert
Hendrik Geeraert Square in Nieuwpoort
Hendrik Geeraert on the 1000 franc banknote

Hendrik Geeraert (15 July 1863, Nieuwpoort, Belgium – 17 January 1925, Bruges) was a Belgian folk hero during the interwar period who became the personification of civil resistance against German forces during World War I. He became famous among Belgians soldiers at the Battle of the Yser during World War I as the Nieuwpoort skipper who opened the sluices of the Yser River, flooding the polders and bringing the advancing German army to a halt.

Geeraert was born at Langestraat 40 in Nieuwpoort, the son of skipper Augustine Gheeraert and Anna Veranneman, a housekeeper and lace-maker. Hendrik also became a skipper. At the age of 24 he married Melanie Jonckheerein in Veurne. The couple had eight children.

Inundation

In October 1914, Geeraert was put in touch with the Belgian engineering detachment of sapper sailors that guarded the sluices in Nieuwpoort. They were ordered by the High Command on 21 October to protect the endangered bridgehead at Lombardsijde by flooding the polder at Nieuwendamme, assisted by Geeraert.

This was, however, a temporary respite and on 25 October they decided to flood the entire region between Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide. The first attempt (Karel Cogge's "Plan B" proposal; his "Plan A" having been vetoed by the High Command) did not give the expected results.

On 29 October, the High Command decided to go ahead and carry out Cogge's Plan A after all by opening the spillway of the Ganzepoot sluice and lock complex in Nieuwpoort. Geeraert assisted with this effort. After this success, the 51-year-old Geeraert remained with the company that operated the Ganzepoot for the remainder of the war.

At the end of the war, he became mortally ill. On his deathbed 25 December 1924, he was awarded the Order of Leopold. He was also called a "Legendary figure of the field Army during World War I", an unofficial title which was also used for King Albert I of Belgium. He also received service medals with seven bars for his service at the front. He died in the St. Julius Almshouse of the Brothers of Charity in Bouveriestraat in Bruges on 17 January 1925.[lower-alpha 1] He was buried with honors.

In the 1950s, his portrait was printed on the 1000 Belgian franc banknote.

See also

References

  1. ↑ St. Julius disappeared in 1931. The medieval charitable institution has existed since 1275 and devoted itself, from 1600 onward, to the care of "dulle people" or the insane and foundlings. The Brothers of Charity formed together with its almshouses and the neighboring Blind Club's misery corner.

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