Wulveringem

A cellar in the annex to the local school - next to the entrance of Beauvoorde Castle – was used during the war as a temporary prison for 'troublemakers'. There were a whole range of offences that could get a soldier eight days solitary confinement behind the chicken wire. This 'honour' was granted - amongst others - to several members of the Flemish Front Movement.

They were accused of being 'unpatriotic'. Some of them did, indeed, openly sympathize with activism, and the movement as a whole gradually became more radical as the war progressed, seemingly without end.
By 1917, the movement was forced to go 'underground' and many senior military figures saw no difference between the Flemish demands and the demands of the German invaders. When a pro-Flemish pamphlet by chaplain Paul Vandermeulen was circulated by the German propaganda machine, Vandermeulen was forcibly exiled to France. The Front Movement members imprisoned in this cell include Paul Davidts, Lodewijk Loos, Karel de Schaepdrijver and Albert Honoré.

Wulveringem was also home to the Queen's School, which was founded by Queen Elisabeth in 1915. Children left behind in the unoccupied zone were give shelter and schooling. The school at Wulveringem had room for 600 pupils. But its location was not without danger. Some schools behind the lines were hit by shellfire, such as the school at Veurne. Later in the war, most of the buildings were taken over by the army or for use as a field hospital.

Vl. Toeristisch bezienswaardigheden