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Hendrik Geeraert (15 July 1863, Nieuwpoort, Belgium – 17 January 1925, Bruges) was a Belgian folk hero who, during the interwar period, came to symbolize the Belgian resistance movement against the German forces in World War I. He became famous among Belgian soldiers in 1914 after the Battle of the Yser where he, serving as a Nieuwpoort skipper, opened the sluices of the Yser River, flooding the polders and bringing the German advance to a halt.
Geeraert was born at Langestraat 40 in Nieuwpoort, the son of the skipper Augustine Gheeraert and Anna Veranneman, a housekeeper and lace-maker. Hendrik became a riverboat skipper. At the age of 24, he married Melanie Jonckheerein in Veurne. The couple had eight children.