Hof der dingen - A country in Panic: the escape of Sylvain Dhoest – holster.

In 1964, Belgium was thrown in uproar for several days: one of Flanders’ most notorious murderers had escaped from prison. Sylvain Dhoest, originally from Sint-Andries, had already killed two people in Loppem in 1958, and committed his third—and nearly a fourth murder there. He killed a farmhand in cold blood and severely wounded a farmer. The murderer was declared mentally ill, institutionalised, and imprisoned in Turnhout. 

Until that dreadful day in 1964, when he broke free. Among those called to help was the father of Lieven Debbaut, who kindly shared this holster with us. 

“My father was a police officer in Sint-Andries, so he was ordered to patrol the city during the search,” Lieven recalls, “We saw him put on his uniform when he was called to duty. For five nights straight, he left home with his pistol in the holster. My mother and siblings watched him leave, worried that he would perhaps not return. My father passed away two years ago. His holster was still sitting in the closet.”

After a tense five-day manhunt, he was finally captured — and the public could breathe a sigh of relief.