During the First World War, the German occupier used the Senate hemicycle as a military court. This bronze plate lists the names of 35 resistance fighters who were sentenced to death and executed here.

One of them was Oscar Hernalsteens, a widower with three young children. On hearing his death sentence, he hid a note in the senator’s bench where he was sitting, begging for his children to be looked after. The Senate took this task very seriously after the war.

• Oscar Hernalsteens’ note: in French - in Dutch
• A film about these trials before the German military court seen through the eyes of senator and lawyer Alexander Braun, who defended the accused for free: in French - in Dutch