Editing Lilian Baels (section)

==Deportation to Nazi Germany==
In 1944, the Belgian royal family was deported to [[Nazi Germany]], where they were strictly guarded by 70 members of the [[SS]], under harsh conditions. The family suffered from a deficient diet and lived with the constant fear that they would be massacred by their jailers, as an act of revenge on the part of the Nazis, angered at their defeat (by now becoming increasingly certain) by the Allies, or that they would be caught in the cross-fire between Allied forces and their captors, who might try to make a desperate last stand at the site of the royal family's internment. The family's fears were not unfounded. At one point, a Nazi official tried to give them cyanide, pretending it was a mixture of vitamins to compensate for the captives' poor diet during their imprisonment. Lilian and Leopold, however, were rightly suspicious and did not take the pills or give them to their children. During their period of captivity in Germany, (and later [[Austria]]), Leopold and Lilian jointly homeschooled the royal children. The King taught scientific subjects; his wife, arts and literature. In 1945, the Belgian royal family was released by the American [[106th Cavalry Regiment]] under the command of Lieutenant General [[Alexander Patch]], who thereafter became a close friend of King Leopold and Princess Lilian until he died 2 months later.<ref name="cleermans"/><ref name="dujardin"/>