Roland Declercq was born on 6 July 1923, probably in Ostend, Belgium. On 1 September 1941, he joined the Secret Army, Zone III Bruges-Ostend, and took part in resistance activities against the German occupation. His actions included sabotage of infrastructure and vehicles, as well as distributing clandestine newspapers such as Vrij België and De Vrije Stem. He was arrested in Ostend on 7 April 1944 and imprisoned in Bruges and Saint-Gilles before being deported to Germany as a Nacht und Nebel prisoner. He passed through several prisons and camps, including Bayreuth, Ebrach, Bamberg, Ingolstadt and Kaisheim, and eventually reached Dachau concentration camp. He was liberated in spring 1945, returned to Ostend, and died there on 15 July 2021.
