Unique documentary with never shown images of Poperinge just after WWII

On September 6, 1944, Poperinge was liberated by Polish troops led by General Maczek. Luc Cleenewerck: “The entire market was filled with people. The Allied columns returning from Germany drove between them, into Gasthuisstraat. On the other side, Colonel Noël was giving his speech in Polish to the entire population. Nobody understood a word of that. But I was able to unravel it by speaking with a Polish interpreter.”

In the documentary, for example, you see never-before-seen images of a football match between SK Reningelst and a team of the Allied army. Luc Cleenewerck has plowed through a lot of archives for it. “What is special, of course, is silent film. And it has always been my aim to add the right sounds. So I went to a provincial football game a few weeks ago to record the sounds there, and to edit them in.”

Fought hard in and around the city

Poperinge is usually associated with the First World War, but also in the Second World War there was heavy fighting in and around the city of hops. And that is often forgotten. That is why the documentary is important. “It gives the people of Poperinge the opportunity to relive part of their history. I think it’s important to remind people of what happened here.”

The documentary ‘Poperinge and surroundings after the liberation’ can be seen tomorrow evening in cultural center Ghybe in Poperinge.