On 14 September 1943 in the village of Overmere, under the leadership of two assistant-pastors, the local population resisted the German occupiers’ attempt to remove church bells for the war effort. The bell requisition was part of a broader effort across Belgium, where around 70% of church bell-mass (about 4.67 million kg) was taken and only 19% recovered after the war. (HK-Overmere)
In Overmere, the parish had three bells cast in the 17th–19th centuries. The German workers of Van Campenhout arrived on the morning of 14 September without municipal notice. The assistant-pastors and youth mobilised: the bells rang, local young men confronted the workers, and tools were abandoned in haste. (HK-Overmere)
Consequences followed: arrests, prison sentences, and deportations of key figures including assistant-pastors Albert D’Huyvetter and Urbain Emiel De Ridder, and youth participants Octaaf Haeck and Victor Temmerman. Eventually the two bells were still removed, a process which incurred fines and formal German oversight with guarded materials. (HK-Overmere)
In memory of the resistance, on 19 October 2025 four Stolpersteine were placed around the war monument in Overmere honouring these four individuals. (HK-Overmere)
