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Belgian Autumn

Jan Rosseel
Hannibal
ISBN 978-94-9208-142-1
205 x 245 mm

‘One Friday night, a father hopped over to the supermarket across the street to buy some cigarettes before closing time. As the father of a young photographer-to-be lay dying on the floor his television was still playing but staring at an empty couch. He was an item in the news broadcast but no-one was watching,’ writes Stephan Vanfleteren in the prologue of Belgian Autumn.

In the autumn of 1985, a series of violent and bloody robberies of Belgian supermarkets abruptly came to an end. A group of unknown criminals, referred to as ‘The Gang of Nivelles’, was held responsible for these heinous acts. Between March 1982 and November 1985, the Gang of Nivelles committed twenty-three robberies and other crimes. In all, twenty-eight people were killed. For Belgian Autumn Rosseel constructed an archive of visual evidence. Many elements are fictional and inspired by personal interpretation, another, substantial part is based on reality. The book is constructed in a way it encourages the reader to be an active participant in unravelling this dark and complex chapter of Belgian history.