The collaborator and the communicant

A street scene with the towers of Antwerp cathedral in the background. In the lower right of the painting a collaborator with his hands held up is being escorted by a man with a gun. The street is populated with a crowd of onlookers, including a nun and a child dressed in a white confirmation dress. German flags hang from the windows lining the street.

On 8 September 1944, the British liberated Antwerp and Belgian collaborators accused of aiding or working for the Gestapo were imprisoned in the lion house at the zoological gardens. Colahan was present at this liberation as we can still see the confusion, the accusation and the German flags still hanging in the streets of Antwerp, Belgium.