Intriguing writing as always. Amazing old footage you found. It really added to your text.

I just finished a project in Antwerp and was there several times over the last few years. A beutiful city. At around 2:20 in the video you can see the iconic Antwerp Central Station (front left corner of the building) in the background. It is amazing how much has stayed the same in 80 years.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahnhof_Antwerpen-Centraal

The world is getting more divided again. I hope we are as clever finding ways to avoid needing lion cages for POWS as the Belgians were in coming up with that idea.