At the start of the war, Albert was a student. He made three attempts to escape to England, intending to join the Allied armies there as a reserve officer. After his third attempt failed, he decided to travel overland. At the Swiss border, however, he was captured by a German patrol. A court-martial in Besançon, France, sentenced him to 12 years of penal servitude, although the prosecution had demanded the death penalty. He was imprisoned in the Siegburg penitentiary in Germany, where he died on 18 August 1943 and was buried. He was later reburied at the Nationaal Ereveld Loenen.
