The pole

Here is the "Strontpaal", the legendary border post between Belgium and the Netherlands at Horendonk. This border post owes its name to the customs officers who used the border post during the First World War to relieve themselves behind it. It is also the place where on 5 May 1916 the smuggler Geert Schrauwen, alias "Klaveren Vrouwke", was shot dead by a soldier-commie at the age of 37. In memory of the legendary smuggler from St. Willebrord, a cross and the letters K.V. of "Klaveren Vrouwke" are carved into the unnumbered square bluestone boundary post. It is the pseudonym of that notorious smuggler, who, like the trump card in the card game, kept changing his disguise. In 1973, the legendary pole disappeared from the woods near Horendonk. Another post has been placed as a replacement until recently the original boundary marker resurfaced. On 6 May 2006, ninety years after smuggler Geert Schrauwen was killed at the Dutch-Belgian border, the legendary and original border marker returned to its original location. A red and white guardhouse has also been placed next to it, in which the history of "Klaveren Vrouwke" and the regional smuggling business is highlighted.

Toineke