As early as July 1940, Marcel De Mol, the sexton of Tisselt, began looking for supporters to resist the Nazi occupiers, but also fellow villagers who were collaborating with the occupiers. At the same time, he wanted to call on the patriotic population not to lose faith in victory.
Marcel De Mol recruited supporters in Tisselt, Boom, Londerzeel and Klein-Brabant. After a few months, the group had 111 members. Their resistance group was called “De Zwarte Hand” (The Black Hand).
In September 1941, the first arrests were made and by the end of October, all members of the resistance, including Marcel De Mol, had been arrested. Eighty-five years ago, they disappeared for years as Nacht und Nebel prisoners in prisons and Nazi camps. Seventy-eight of them would not survive the war. Marcel De Mol was executed by firing squad on 7 August 1943 after a show trial.
