Editing Lilian Baels (section)

==Beginnings of World War II in Belgium==
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Following the [[Nazi]] invasion of Belgium, Lilian's mother put herself at the service of the [[Red Cross]] during the Belgian and Allied military campaign against the invaders. Lilian helped her mother actively in her new role, transporting wounded Belgian and French to the hospital of St. John in [[Bruges]] by car and helped to evacuate the elderly from an asylum in [[Aalst, Belgium|Aalst]], which was inside the combat zone. Meanwhile, her father, Governor Baels, attempted to alleviate the plight of his invaded province. On 18 May, Henri Baels went in search of the Minister of the Interior, thinking he had left for France, to obtain his signature for an important relief measure. On his journey, however, Governor Baels had a car accident and injured his legs. He was admitted to a hospital in [[Le Havre]]. As the military situation in Belgium headed towards disaster, his wife decided to bring her daughters to safety in France, and Lilian drove the family car on the trip. Governor Baels' wife and daughters met him again, by pure chance, in a hospital in [[Poitiers]]. Baels was subsequently accused of having abandoned his post as Governor without justification by fleeing to France. He succeeded, however, in obtaining an audience with the King following the capitulation of the [[Belgian army]] on 28 May 1940 and the King's own [[imprisonment]] by the [[Germany|Germans]] at Laeken Castle.  Baels and his daughter Lilian, who drove him to the audience, explained the real circumstances of his departure from Belgium, and the Governor was thereby vindicated. Subsequently, Lilian and her father returned to France and occupied themselves with the care of Belgian [[refugee]]s in the region of [[Anglet]]. After Belgium's liberation, Henri Baels was accused of [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborating]] with the Nazis during the war, while he lived in France.<ref name="cleermans"/>