Strangers in a Strange Land

Flight. Risking the loss of all your worldly goods. Leaving hearth and home in headlong panic. A traumatic experience that turns life upside down in a moment of time. That was what happened in August 1914, when the First World War broke out. The German army flattened neutral Belgium like a steamroller. About one to one-and-a-half million Belgians fled to the Netherlands, France and Great Britain. More than half a million of them had to remain in exile until the end of the War. How were the refugees received in the host Countries? Could the children go to school and the adults find work? Was there any opportunity for recreation? In short, how did the refugees live through and survive those four long years of exile? A gripping picture of the greatest exodus in the history of Belgium. ‘Strangers in a Strange Land’ is drawn from extraordinary documents never seen before, from museums in Belgium and abroad, private archives and libraries; the personal witness of refugees and those who helped them, letters, diary entries. Poignant photographs add painful reality to this tragic exodus of people. A compelling record of its time.