Daily life of a Belgian family during World War II; hidden Jews; religious celebrations

Family home movies of the de Brouwer family at their home in St Denis-Westrem, near Ghent, Belgium. Summer 1943, the children push a cart loaded with hay. Jean-Marie holds a cow's tail while it is milked before returning to the house. The neighboring de Hemptinne house. Yvonne Hemptinne and her mother-in-law walk down the stairs before posing with Joseph for the camera. The children rush to greet Aunt Edith as she arrives from the train station. Carl and his mother arrive in the de Hemptinne's donkey-drawn carriage. 00:43:17 Jacques with a swollen eye caused by a bee sting. Denise, Jean-Marie, and Jacques return from the station. 00:44:20 The de Brouwers take a Sunday outing in the carriage and ride bicycles in town. Jewish refugee Monique Mogoulsky is visible on the bicycle directly behind the carriage; Jewish refugee Adrien Sapcaru is in the donkey cart. The group stops to pray by the road before having a picnic. 00:45:43 The children play with and feed a young Jersey cow at Fons' farm in October 1943. The children, including Jews Monique M. and Adrien, pose with Fons and his wife before playing with his sheep. 00:47:01 Joseph de Hemptinne drives his daughter in the donkey-drawn carriage. The de Brouwer children greet them before playing with a cow. Birgitte is knocked down. CUs of the children talking to the camera and eating. Children, including Monique M. and Adrien, walk in a line in the countryside near Ghent. The boys carry walking sticks. Local farms and churches. The children board a small row boat. 00:50:30 Large pig roams the yard, as the children kick and hit it. The de Brouwers' employees work in the garden gathering turnips. 00:51:31 The de Brouwers travel to Alost for Easter 1944. The family rides in the back of a large transport truck owned by an uncle who runs a factory. The family boards and disembarks from the truck. 00:52:22 CUs of Birgitte with her first permanent wave and a young boy talking to the camera. 00:53:30 Monique de Brouwer's first communion in Ghent on June 25, 1944. Views of the church and nuns emerging from the Beguinac (where Carl's mother moved after her house in the center of Ghent was requisitioned by the Nazis). 00:55:05 In Alost, the de Brouwers exit a building and pose together before reembarking on a truck. Monique M. in wooden clogs emerges from the home with a dog as Carl carries his 8mm movie camera case. 00:56:26 Back at St. Denis-Westrem, Monique, Adrien, and the de Brouwer children in the donkey-drawn cart. Various scenes of the children playing outdoors.The de Brouwer children celebrate Monique de Brouwer's communion. Denise and Carl join the celebration. Monique poses for the camera in her white communion outfit. The family walks from the church. 01:02:00 Jean-Marie's swollen eye after a bee sting. The de Brouwer children pose outside, including Monique M. and Adrien. The group gets into the miniature cart. Denise and Carl kiss all five children. Carl de Brouwer, a Belgian banker manager, and his wife Denise offered refuge to two Jewish children during the Nazi occupation of Belgium. Between late 1942 and September 1944, the de Brouwers sheltered 6-year-old Adrien Sapcaru and 12-year-old Monique Mogoulsky in their private home in St Denis-Westrem, near Ghent, Belgium. Monique was the daughter of Carl's former co-worker at the bank in Ghent; her parents successfully hid in Ghent during the war until liberation in 1944. Adrien was the son of a Jewish Romanian architecture professor at Ghent University; Adrien's parents were deported and his mother killed; his father survived and returned for Adrien and his brother after the end of the war. Adrien assumed the name Adrien Simons and was also known as Dickie. He now lives in Canada as Adrian Sheppard.