British forced surrendering German Troops into cages in Belgian Zoos

When the British troops took the Belgian city of Antwerp, hitherto held by the Germans, they found that they did not have a suitable place to keep the prisoners locked up. After searching unsuccessfully for a cinema or theatre that could serve as a prison, the British realized that the zoo was empty, since, it was said, the hungry population had eaten most of the animals. Thus, the zoo was soon filled with new occupants. The six thousand prisoners who were to be accommodated there were distributed by category; The officers, the Belgian fascists and the citizens who had collaborated with the Germans ended up in the lions’ enclosure. Prisoners of another type were assigned the bear pit, the tiger cage, or the monkey house. As a witness would describe, ‘the prisoners remained sitting on piles of straw, looking through the bars.’