Statue of Gabrielle Petit, Brussels

A brief stroll from the Little Pissing Man ("Manneken Pis"), up Rue du Lombard, you'll come across a memorial in the center of Saint-Jean Square, dedicated to the remarkable Gabrielle Petit (1893-1916). Known for her formidable, some say photographic, memory, Petit played a prominent role in the Belgian Resistance movement during the German occupation of World War I.

When the war erupted, she was residing in Brussels working as a saleswoman but promptly volunteered to join the Belgian Red Cross. Her involvement in espionage commenced in 1914 when she assisted her wounded soldier fiancé, Maurice Gobert, in crossing the border to the Netherlands to rejoin his regiment. During this journey, she relayed information about the Imperial German army to British Intelligence. Impressed by her efforts, the British recruited her, provided her with brief training, and deployed her as a spy behind enemy lines. Petit gathered intelligence on enemy troop movements under various false identities. Moreover, she actively distributed the underground newspaper "La Libre Belgique" and aided the clandestine mail service "Mot du Soldat", as well as assisting several young men in crossing the Dutch border.

Eventually, Petit was betrayed by a German operative posing as Dutch. Upon her capture, she chose not to appeal, even though, as a woman, her sentence would likely have been reduced. Instead, she defiantly declared her intention to show the Germans how a Belgian woman could face death. True to her words, in 1916, she was executed by firing squad.

Tip:
Just to the south of the square, you'll find a charming triangular plaza that houses the Fondation Jacques Brel, celebrating the life and legacy of the Belgian singer who was born in Brussels in 1933 and passed away in Paris in 1978. Brel gained fame in the 1960s for his melancholic chansons about love and death, and his music continues to resonate deeply with many French-speaking souls.