Jean Burgers
1917-1944
Jean Burgers, brilliant engineer and ULB alumnus, co-founded the resistance group Groupe G with friends, known for sabotaging Belgium’s electricity network. In 1944, he was arrested and hanged in Buchenwald—just before the liberation of Belgium.
Jean Burgers was born in Schaerbeek on 6 July 1917. He attended secondary school at the Atheneum of Saint-Gilles, where he excelled in Latin and Mathematics. In 1935, he enrolled at the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), graduating with a degree in electromechanical engineering. As an active member of socialist student groups and the legendary Cercle du Libre Examen, he took his first steps in anti-fascist activism.
On the eve of the Second World War, his future seemed set: a life alongside his great love, Hélène Levat, a gifted mathematics student. During the chaos of the German invasion, the couple fled to southern France, where they married on 10 June. Upon returning to Belgium, Jean began working for an electricity company and was assigned to La Louvière.
Soon after, Jean reconnected with his childhood friend and former ULB classmate, Robert Leclercq. Together, they laid the foundations for what would become Groupe G, one of the most effective sabotage networks of the Second World War. Jean quickly took on a leadership role and helped organise several high-profile operations against the German occupiers.
The most spectacular of these was the “Grande Coupure” of 15 January 1944: a coordinated attack on Belgium’s high-voltage electricity grid, which caused a massive blackout. The German occupiers estimated it would take ten million man-hours to repair the damage. Furious, the Nazis launched an intense manhunt for those responsible for this crippling blow to their war industry.
On 17 March 1944, Jean Burgers was arrested. After passing through the Saint-Gilles prison and the SS-Auffanglager in Breendonk, he was deported on 8 May 1944 to Buchenwald concentration camp. On 5 September 1944—just as Belgium was preparing to celebrate its liberation—Jean was murdered by the SS. He was hanged in Buchenwald.
The tragic news only reached his closest friend, Robert Leclercq, at the end of April. He took on the painful task of informing Hélène.
Sources:
- William Ugueux, Le Groupe G, Editions Elsevier SĂ©quoia, 1978.
- Memorial Buchenwald: https://www.buchenwald.de/en/geschichte/biografien/ltg-ausstellung/jean-burgers