During World War II, the Dossin military barracks in Mechelen served as a point where Jewish prisoners were concentrated before being transferred to the death camps. The rails along which the death trains left have now been turned into a memorial, and the barracks into a museum documenting the Deportation and Shoah. Among the Jews held there were several painters who were forced to do the German officers' portraits, but who took advantage of their position to secretly draw pictures of life and conditions in the facility. These works are now on display in the museum.