Michel, our art director, had found a great picture of a girl crowning herself with leaves to illustrate the word of the week, herfst - autumn (so much more interesting than that boring pen which used to appear at the top of my column).

And that's usually it. The photo leads on to the story, or you turn the page. Recently, however, I came across a full-page article in De Standaard newspaper titled De zesde foto - The sixth photo. The subheading ran: Foto's over de deportatie van Joden uit ons land tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog zijn zeldzaam - Photos of the deportation of Jews from our country during the Second World War are rare. Apparently only five are known of. This has now changed: Mogelijk is er nu een zesde opgedoken - Possibly a sixth has now appeared.

I'll try to paint a picture of the scene. In a recognisable Antwerp street, an articulated lorry stands with a very long trailer crowded with people sitting on benches. Others stand around as the last climb aboard. The caption reads Wat is er op de foto te zien? What is there to be seen in the photo? An analysis refers to 13 numbered pointers on the photo. Pointer 8: De mannen met witte pet staan gebogen over documenten: Jodenjagers? - The men with white caps bent over documents: Jew hunters? Pointer 5: Deze vrouw draagt mogelijk een pruik - This woman is probably wearing a wig, as is the custom with some Jews.

By now I was peering at the picture for anything that might reveal more. Pointer 11: De lange schaduwen die de koffers werpen wijzen erop dat de foto in de vroege ochtend is genomen - The long shadows cast by the suitcases point to the fact that the photo was taken in the early morning. The sinister implications begin to dawn: these people have been in hiding and have just been flushed out by the dreaded Jodenjagers.

But perhaps they are just a group of workers. Not according to pointer 6: in de laadbak zitten mannen, vrouwen, kinderen en bejaarden - in the trailer are sitting men, women, children and old people.

You can lose yourself in de zesde foto. You begin to imagine where those unfortunates have come from and where they're going. Its ordinariness and lack of violence is striking. Thank you, Lieven Saerens of het Studie- en Documentatiecentrum Oorlog en Hedendaagse Maatschappij - the Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society (SOMA).

www.cegesoma.be