Liever Vrij - Merksem commemorates World War II

"Better to be free than to have all the riches in the world"—these words are carved on the Liberation Monument at St. Bartholomew’s Church. Freedom is to be preferred over all material goods—that is the meaning behind those poetic words. They remind us of how relieved the people of Merksem felt after the liberation, how difficult those long years of war had been for them, and how they cherished their freedom afterward.

In 2024, Merksem will commemorate 80 years of liberation. To celebrate this, the district invites you on a walk where you will discover how the people of Merksem experienced the war and the liberation. As we walk, we will commemorate the events and victims of that time. In this way, we keep the memory of the war and the liberation alive.

This walk was created in collaboration with the Royal Society for Local History of Merksem.