German Military Cemeteries

Reconciliation about the gravesWork for peace

Belgium

Volksbund DeutscheKriegsgräberfürsorge e. V.

Recogne-Bastogne

Belgium

First and foremost, this country is an irregularly shaped triangle, embedded between the North Sea and the Ardennes –the splendid area of forest in the south of the country – but it isalso sandwiched between France and Germany, a position thathas often proved Belgium’s undoing. Within this triangle livealmost ten million people: 56% are Dutch-speaking Flemings,32% are francophone Walloons, 6% are German-speakingnationals, and the rest live in the multilingual cosmopolitanmetropolis of Brussels. Nowhere are the language boundariesbetween the national groups so acute as in Belgium – and, yet,it is in Brussels that the heart of a united Europe beats.

Belgium – it is also the travel destination for those in theknow. For they will be greeted not just by miles of sandy beachbetween the Dutch and French borders, but also the ports ofOstende and Zeebrugge, the glorious towns and cities where –despite all the wars – the people have managed to preserve agood proportion of their medieval centres, such as Gent, Bru-ges, Brussels and Ant-werp, and not forget-ting the impressiveforest region of theArdennes, with itsdeep river valleys andstreams, rich with fish,a veritable eldorado for walkersand anglers.

Belgium is also,however, the countryof the dead soldiers.Hardly any othercountry in the courseof history has had to put up with so manyenemy occupations bythe major powers ofEurope: Celts,Romans, Burgundi-ans, Lorrainians, Spa-niards, French, Austri-ans, English, Dutchand Germans have allleft behind their tra-ces, still visible eventoday. It is here that, al most 200 years ago,French revolutionaryarmies fought against

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the Habsburgs, and the French against the English and Prus -sians. And it is here where Napoleon finally met his un doing. Finally, two world wars again cast Belgium under a veil of death and destruction.

From this period alone, 204,000 war dead from all countriesof the British Commonwealth, 180,000 German war dead,16,000 Belgian soldiers, 13,500 Americans, not to mentionPoles, Russians and the war dead of many other nations, allhave been given their final resting place on Belgian soil. Add to this, too, the victims of persecution during the years of theGerman occupation from 1940 to 1944.

For the German war dead, the German War Graves Com-mission has, on behalf of the Federal Government, taken onthe role of building, designing and maintaining the war ceme -teries located on Belgian soil. Examples include Menin (FirstWorld War) with 47,864 war dead and Lommel (Second WorldWar) with 38,556 war dead.

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First World War

After the German Reich declared war on France (3.8.1914)and Belgium (4.8.1914), and Great Britain declared war on theGerman Reich (4.8.1914), and as the German army advanced,border fighting broke out – still on Belgian soil – between 22ndand 24th August 1914 near the Belgian-French border: in thesouth of the country in the wooded region of the Ardennes andnear Charleroi, the fighting was between the Germans andFrance; and further on to the west near Mons there wereclashes between the Germans and the English.

The war dead were first placed in field graves during thefighting. In 1916/ 1917, German rearguard forces began toplace the dead together and build the cemeteries, with theinvolvement of renowned architects and artists. The result sawpeople such as Rhine-based architect Ludwig Paffendorf helpin the design of the military cemeteries in the Ardennes.

During the initial phase of the war, the obvious thing to dowas to bury friend and foe alike, together in a final resting placeand to add a natural stone cross to their grave later on, provi-ded their names could be identified. Here, too, for the first timegeneral burial areas were laid out, with uniform landscaping,instead of the individual mounds normally used hitherto.

Between the wars, following the conclusion of a War GravesAgreement between Germany and Belgium in 1925, the „Amtliche Deutsche Kriegsgräberdienst” (Official German WarGraves Service) attended to these cemeteries. After theSecond World War, the German War Graves Association, or„Volksbund” as it was known, was commissioned by theFederal Republic of Germany to see to their maintenance andupkeep. In the 1950s, at the request of the Belgian government,a number of smaller cemeteries set in remote spots were closed. The dead were transferred to larger sites.

Today, in the southern provinces of Belgium the followingGerman war cemeteries devoted to the First World War stillexist:

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Anloy-HeideApprox. one mile from Anloy on the road to Framont;

1,384 German and 592 French war dead.

BellefontaineSituated just over a mile east of the town, about two miles

south of Tintigny; 502 German and 521 French war dead.

Bertrix-HeideAbout 2.5 miles north of Bertrix on the road to Ochamps;

254 German and 264 French war dead.

Bellefontaine

Anloy-Heide

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Maissin-NationalLies approx. 150 metres north-west of the centre of the town;

513 German and 283 French war dead. At the entrance to thecemetery there is a centuries-old, elaborate granite cross knownas a „Calvaire”, such as can be found in Brittany, the home ofthe French dead to be found here. The survivors of the battlefunded the cross and erected it on the 28th anniversary of thefighting.

Mousson-BaranzyApprox. 10 miles east of Virton on the N 88;

511 German and 431 French war dead.

Neufchateau-MalonneApprox. 1 mile south-west of Neufchateau on the N 85

towards Florenville; 340 German and 289 French war dead.

HalanzyLies on the north-eastern edge of the town at the local

municipal cemetery; 44 German and 22 French war dead.

Virton-Belle-VueLies on the Virton-Bastogne road, approx. half a mile from

Virton (Av. de la Grange au Bois CN 875) ; 1,288 German and288 French war dead, as well as 28 Austrians, 29 Italians and17 Russians.

TarcienneLies to the south of Charleroi, west of the N 5 towards

Rocroi, approx. 2 miles west of Tarcienne; 178 German and312 French war dead.

These cemeteries are jointly maintained today by the Volks-bund and the French Government. Both burial services have

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Virton-Belle-Vue

subcontracted the upkeep of the cemetery, but jointly overseethe work done by the landscapers. A few hundred German wardead lie at a total of 87 British military cemeteries. The largersites are Hautrage (375 war dead), Marcinelle (286 war dead),Poperinghe-Lyssenthoek (222 war dead), Zeebrugge (175 wardead) and St. Symphorien (274 war dead).

St. SymphorienThis is part of the Hainaut/Hennegau province, lying approx.

two miles east of Mons and around 300 metres south of St.Symphorien; 74 German and 229 British war dead are here. It is one of the first military cemeteries laid out for the Germantroops of the First World War.

The first (22.8.1914) and the last (11.11.1918) British sol-diers killed in the fighting are buried here. Even during the war,the graves of the German soldiers who fell were, depending on which regiment they belonged to, given variously designednatural stone crosses. Since 1919, these cemeteries havebeen kept in perfect condition, first by the Imperial War GravesCommission, and today by the Commonwealth War GravesCommission.

German burial fields were also laid out at five municipal cemeteries:

Brussels-Evere 1,147 war deadEupen 122 war deadHerstal 95 war deadLüttich-Robermont 795 war deadSt. Vith 74 war dead

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Brussels-Evere

Belgium – holiday destination The route to the war cemeteries and monuments takes us to

places that reflect the history of the country in all its diversityand yet remind us at the same time of the things it has in common. Not far from the large German military cemeteries ofthe First World War are the famous „Flemish sisters”: Bruges,Gent, Antwerp and Ypres – well worth a visit! Perhaps you willbe lucky enough to look in on the famous Brussels lace makersat work in one of the narrow alleyways.

Brugesis still a beautiful place, and one of the most picturesque

cities in Europe, with churches, patrician houses and the oldestof the monumental town halls in Belgium (1376). The Basilicaof the Holy Blood has been home to the Relic of the Holy Bloodsince 1149. The Church of Our Lady and the Beguine’s House,since 1245 a cathedral chapter for women, and a place whereBenedictine monks live today, are also worth a visit. An eveningtour by motor boat down the canals allows visitors to see thefloodlit picturesque city from a different perspective.

View of the belfry in Bruges

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Gent

Gentis the birthplace of Kaiser Karl V. (1500 to 1558) and the

former capital of Flanders. This is commemorated by the huge„Gravensteen”, the old, fortified castle. Real musts for visitorsinclude the belfry, the old symbol of the freedom of the city, theGraslei square, complete with its merchant and guild housesdating back to the 12th to 15th centuries, not to mention thetown hall with its late-gothic wings and Renaissance-styleextension.

The highpoint is surely the famous „Gent altar”, created bythe van Eyck brothers between 1426 and 1432 and which canbe seen in the cathedral of St. Baafs. It should be mentioned inpassing that Gent has around 650,000 inhabitants and is thesecond largest port in Belgium.

Antwerpwith its population of around 500,000, it is the capital of the

province of the same name and the second largest port inEurope (after Rotterdam). A trip around the port will open upthe eyes of visitors to the significance of this lock harbour, aport linked via canals to the German industrial centres and via the river Scheldt to the North Sea.

It is here that Peter Paul Rubens worked for a long time. His works hang in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts and in theCathedral of Our Lady („The Elevation of the Cross” and „Des-cent from the Cross”). The cathedral, with seven aisles and its123-metre high tower, is the largest in the old Netherlands. The„Groote Markt”, with its town hall in an Italian-Renaissance style,is also worth seeing (1561 to 1565), as are the guild housesdating from the 16th century and the fountain, that explains thestory of how the city got its name. In „Steen”, an old castle, visitors can enter the Maritime Museum; the former Meat House(1504) is home to a museum about the history of the town.

Ypreswas almost virtually wiped out during the First World War.

Not until after the Second World War was it possible to completerestoration. Visitors should visit the colossal major Cloth Hall(originally 1260 to 1304), in the middle of which the massive70-metre high belfry rises up, reminding visitors of the high-point in the town’s golden era during the 13th century. In thehall there is a war museum that, thanks to its exhibits from thewar of 1914 to 1918, impressively recounts the occupation ofthe town.

The Menin gate (Menenpoort) was built after the First WorldWar to commemorate the lives of some 56,000 British whowent missing after the battles for the „Arch of Ypres”, and hastheir names engraved into the walls. For more than 60 years,every evening at around 8 p.m. the traffic flowing past the gateis halted and a trumpeter plays the „Last Post”.

In the south of Belgium lie the towns of Mons, Namur andLiege, all of which have endured a tragic past in connectionwith the fighting in 1914.

In Mons (Bergen), the capital of Hennegau, as well as theremnants of the old Grafenburg there is an 87-metre high belfrywith magnificent glockenspiel chimes. It is the only one in thecountry in a Baroque style.

The Collegiate Church of St. Waudru is also worth seeing,one of the prettiest churches in Belgium and dating back to the15th century (late-gothic style).

Namur is the gateway to the Ardennes. A rocky massif at thepoint where the Sambre and Maas rivers merge rises abovethe town, crowned by a major fortress, the citadel, that can betoured.

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Menin gate

The tower of the Cloth Hall

War cemeteries in Flanders

At the end of October 1914, the situation was bad for theBelgian province of West Flanders. South and north of the townof Ypres, the armies which, following the battle of the Marne,were in a “race to the sea”, clashed in a series of battlesagainst one another – the most well-known and by far the bloodiest being the one near the village of Langemark. Afterfurther attacks by the Germans in the spring of 1915, wherepoison gas was used for the first time, the fighting here too gotbogged down in positional warfare.

In May 1917, the English began an offensive which, afterdread ful losses of men on both sides and low initial successes,literally got stuck in the mud in November. Since then, the soldiers compared Flanders with the „hell of Verdun” and the„grey of the Somme”.

In 1918, first the Germans and – from the middle of thatyear – the allies attacked. When the war ended in November,more than 670 German and countless allied burial sites contai-ning war dead were recorded in the province of West Flandersalone. Between the two wars, the „Official German War GravesService” – the government body associated with the ForeignOffice – took on the work to maintain the sites after a campaignto merge the 128 German cemeteries that remained. TheVolksbund laid out the military cemetery in Langemark at theend of the 1920s, at the time containing 11,000 war dead andtherefore one of the biggest, as well as the cemetery at Roese -lare (Roulers). In 1954, a new war graves agreement dissolvedthe previous agreement of 1925 that had been signed between Germany and Belgium.

The Volksbund, on behalf of the German government, nowtook on the task of rebuilding and maintaining the cemeteriesthat remained in West Flanders, after more than 120 sites weredissolved between 1956 and 1958 and the dead (those whowere known by name) were taken to the cemeteries at Lange-mark, Menin and Vladslo. They were buried in individual gra-ves. The unknown dead were given their final resting place in a communal grave at the cemetery in Langemark. Because theywere placed so closely together, the individual graves weremarked by plaques in the ground, on which the names anddates of up to 20 dead are engraved. The final structural workcarried out by the Volksbund was completed between 1970 and1972, according to the plans of the then chief architect, RobertTischler, who had already previously drawn up the blueprintsfor the cemeteries in Langemark and Roeselare (Roulers).

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Hooglede About 4 miles north west of Roeselare (Roulers), on the

eas tern road going out of the town where the road joins withthe Roeselare-Ostende road, lies the Hooglede German military cemetery with 8,247 war dead. Through a narrow gatewith wroughtiron grating, visitors from the road reach a small forecourt area from where it is possible to see the burial sites,planted with heather. Groups of small trees on both sides of theburial plots lead visitors to a commemorative hall decoratedwith a co lourful mosaic and which is open on the side facingtowards the cemetery by means of nine high, round arches.

It had been laid out by the official German war graves servi-ce even before the Second World War. The stone material thatwas used for this came from the German pavilion built in 1937for the World Exhibition in Paris and then broken up.

An elaborate wrought-iron gate marks the boundary to thecommemorative room, situated at the left-hand end of the hall. In the middle of the room there is a piece of diabas rock and anelaborate shrine that contains the books of the names of thewar dead. On each grave plaque the names of two war deadare inscribed.

Thanks to financial support from the Flemish government,the cultural heritage authorities and the town of Hooglede, theCommission was able to carry out a complete renovation of theGerman military cemetery. The renovation work was largelycompleted in late autumn 2011.

A ceremony to mark the reopening of the cemetery was heldon 5 May 2012.

Hooglede, along with Langemark, Menen and Vladslo, isone of the four main German military cemeteries in West Flan-ders, all of which are classified as historic monuments andrecognised as part of the cultural heritage of Flanders.

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LangemarkOn the northern exit road – on the road to Houthulst-

Diksmuide – lies the German military cemetery of Langemark, with 44,324 war dead.

Visitors enter the cemetery through an entrance buildingmade of red Vosges sandstone. Inside, there are two memorialrooms. The left-hand room contains a map of Belgium carvedin wood, showing the location of former and current cemete-ries. Visitors can also see the books of names here. The roomon the right contains – carved in oak panels – the names of theknown war dead, who lay at this cemetery even before themajor reburial efforts from 1956 to 1958.

Upon leaving the entrance building, visitors walk via a smallforecourt area to the large communal grave, in which lie themortal remains of more than 25,000 unknown German sol-diers. The Volksbund has since been able to work out thenames of some 17,000 or so. These have been cast on bronzeplaques, which – secured on heavy stone cuboids – are posi-tioned around three sides of the cemetery. In the background,it is possible to see a group of four soldiers in mourning, castin bronze – a work by sculptor Prof. Emil Krieger. The burialfield itself has been planted with oaks and is surrounded by awall, with graves in front of it.

In the northern section lies part of the former frontline, marked by three restored bunkers and a series of graniteblocks. The stone blocks bear the names of the troop regiments that took part in the fighting and who, between thewars, helped by making donations to develop the cemetery.

An Information Centre was built in 2006 next to the cemeteryto provide information both as to the fighting in and around Langemark during World War I and the creation of Germanmilitary cemeteries.

Complete restoration work is planned for 2013/14.

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Menin

Not far from the Belgian-French border on the north-easternedge of the town lies the largest German military cemetery inthe West. 47,864 war dead have their final resting place here.Visitors enter the cemetery from the main road via a small entrance building where there is a room containing the booksof names. Visitors then proceed via a paved walkway to theeight-cornered chapel of remembrance in the middle of thelawned burial fields, shaded by a number of tall trees. The inside of the chapel consists of a room, supported by a columnin the middle. Some of the walls have mosaics on them, reflecting biblical images.

Two elaborately designed shrines contain books bearing thenames of the war dead lying here, written in parchment.

Vladslo From the Diksmuide-Beerst-Torhout road, turning left approx.

three miles east of Beerst (it is signposted), after a few hundred metres visitors will reach the German military ceme-tery, home to 25,644 war dead.

From the entrance building, which contains a room with thebooks of names inside, you can look down the entire length ofthe cemetery onto an impressive group of figurines entitled„Parents in Mourning” by Käthe Kollwitz.

The artist created these statues, which bear the facialcharacteristics of her husband and herself, to commemorateher son, Peter. He fell in October 1914 in Flanders and wasgiven his final resting place here.

In 1932, the statues – made from Belgian granite – were erec ted in the presence of Käthe Kollwitz and her husbandright in front of her son’s grave.

In Koekelare, about three miles west of the cemetery, therelies the Käthe-Kollwitz museum, housed in a listed building. Aswell as drawings, lithographs and wood carvings, exhibits onshow also include personal letters. One area is devoted to the„Parents in Mourning” statues.

Complete restoration work is planned for 2013/14.

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Second World War

With the German advance on 10th May 1940, Belgium –until then still neutral – was once more thrown into a globalwar. Once again, German cemeteries had to be laid out on Belgian soil. The cemeteries were first home to members of theoccupying forces who were killed until, in the summer of 1944– after the Allies had landed in Normandy – Belgium once morebecame a theatre of war.

The fighting in the winter of 1944/45, and with it the level ofGerman losses, reached their climax during the German Arden-nes offensive. The dead – German and Americans – wereburied by the American burial service and placed in temporarycemeteries.

In 1946/47, the American war dead were reburied into twocemeteries at Neuville-en-Condrez in Liege and Henri-Chapelle,west of Aachen. The German dead, on the other hand, weretaken to Lommel in the Belgian province of Limburg and placednear the Heidegebiet.

At the same time, the Belgian burial service began to closedown all other German war grave locations for the SecondWorld War throughout the country and started to transfer thedead to Lommel and – to a lesser extent – to a site at Bastognein the Belgian province of Luxemburg in the south.

In 1952, a war-graves agreement was signed between Belgium and Germany. The Volksbund was commissioned onbehalf of the German government to develop and maintain thetwo German war cemeteries that were home to the war dead ofthe Second World War.

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LommelThe German military cemetery lies on the road leading from

Lommel to Leopoldsburg (N 746). It is here that 38,556 wardead from the Second World War and 542 dead from the FirstWorld War lie, having been at the Belgian military cemetery inLeopoldsburg until transferred to Lommel.

After reburial work had been completed in 1947, the Belgianauthorities had a massive concrete cross erected for every twodead. The names – in so far as identifiable – were attached thecrosses on small enamel signs.

Because of the reburial work, the surface structure was de -stroyed over an area of some 16 hectares. A desert-like surfacedeveloped, the sand being driven in windy weather in long gustsof dust across the cemetery.

In 1953, the Volksbund – after the completion of the planningand approval process – was able to start its redevelopmentwork at the cemetery. The most urgent task was to recultivatethe ground and to secure it by planting vegetation. Severalthousand pieces of turf and many square metres of humuswere worked into the sand, 15,000 trees and shrubs were planted and, finally, heather was planted on the graves. For thefirst time, youth camps provided major help in this work, thehelpers having been called up by the CVJM and Kolpingwerk.

Whilst even in 1953, 100 young people – mainly from Ger-many – came to help, the numbers grew in 1954 to almost 400, with helpers coming from 16 nations. They symbolised the watchwords of what they did, namely „reconciliation across thegraves” – a motto still valid today and to which was later addedthe statement „Working for Peace”.

This campaign started in Lommel, and soon spread to allcountries in Europe where German military cemeteries werelocated. In 1955, the work by these young people reached itsend. The work had, among other things, included the buildingof a wall – complete with graves – more than 1,100 metres inlength, as well as the construction of the access road and the

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car park. Young people from Schleswig-Holstein in Germanyalso helped. Today, there are still youth camps in Lommel.

To provide a central point at the large site, the building ma nagement of the Volksbund had a crypt built in the entrancearea, inside of which lay a stone figure, raised from the ground,symbolising the dead in the wars. The work – set on solidblocks of basalt lava – supports an impressive crucifixion scene,also made of basalt lava. The crucifix is almost six metres high,and the two figures on either side each measure 3.30 metres.The entire piece weighs around 39 tonnes.

The cemetery was inaugurated on 6th September 1959.Since then, of the original 13,000 unknown war dead, the Volks-bund has been able to identify more than 7,500 of them, and toinform their relatives.

In the cemetery building a youth meeting place was built in1993, which was extended in 2001 to create sleeping accom-modation and the necessary seminar rooms and leisure areas.School classes and youth groups from Germany and Belgiumdiscuss war history here. They also learn, by working on thewar graves, how important it is to work and live together inpeace.

The locationLommel is one of the largest communities in Belgium by land

area. Because of its good economic conditions, the populationis continually rising. These good conditions also include con nections to the European road network via the F 314, the E 34 and the Boudewijn expressway.

The Kempenland museum offers an extensive insight into lifeat the time, right up to the present day. The Fränkische Markt-platz, with its historical buildings, is also worth a look. Unspoiledbeauty spots, dunes, heather and forest invite people to taketrips here in summer and winter alike.

Lommel youth meeting place

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Recogne-Bastogne About three miles north of Bastogne on the Bastogne-

Houffalize-Liege, road lies the war cemetery of Recogne-Bastogne near the small village of Noville. At this Germanwar cemetery, 6,809 dead lie in peace.

The name Bastogne, the small town that became knownthroughout the world as a result of the Ardennes offensive inDecember 1944, leads one to suppose that the cemetery isonly dedicated to those dead who fell during the hopelessstruggle in the last stage of the Second World War. But this isonly part of the story. German war dead who fell during fightingon German soil also lie here.

On 4th February 1945, the Americans began to create ajoint cemetery. It took 2,700 US soldiers and more than 3,000German war dead and combined them at two separate burialsites on an area left of the Bastogne-Noville road. These temporary burial sites were given the name of the village, Foy.

In 1946/47, the American dead were removed and transfer-red to Henri-Chapelle, a small place between Liege andAachen where the Americans had also set up a temporarycombined cemetery. In Bastogne the German remained.

Meanwhile, the Official Belgian Burial service resumed itswork. It started to close the German burial fields, individual graves at municipal cemeteries and smaller sites. Around3,000 dead were transferred to Bastogne, the rest to Lommel.

The Volksbund began in 1954 to identify the countless

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un known war dead. This work was completed in the spring of1956 – 1,121 war dead were given their names once more.Along the road, on the north side of the cemetery, a low wallwas built from red Eiffel, springing up bastion-like in the north-western corner. A chapel complete with clock tower rises fromthe brickwork. The inside of the chapel forms a vaulted holyroom, the walls of which have been decorated by two reliefs –St. Michael and the Archangel Gabriel.

In order to build the wall, protectively surrounding the burialplots on three sides, and to cultivate the land, young peoplefrom six nations volunteered their services. With the help of theKolpingwerk and the CVJM an international youth camp wasset up in Noville in the summer of 1956. The concrete crossesthat were originally used were later replaced by crosses madeof natural stone.

To cover the costs of the work, not only the Volksbundand the Federal government helped by making considerabledonations, but so too did the workforce at the Volkswagenplant.

On 25th September 1960, the cemetery was inaugurated,many relatives joining in attendance.

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Liegeis the capital of Wallonia, situated north of Recogne-Bastog -

ne, and once marked by coal and steel. Home to the inventionof a steel-extraction process, Liege also has armaments facto-ries here, a feature of the city for centuries.

The pit frames and headgear have since disappeared – onlythe slag heaps are left to remind visitors of the era of mining. As well as the citadel, from which you can get a fantastic pano -ramic view of the city and the Maas valley, you should also visitSt. Paul’s cathedral (971) and the following famous museums: the Museum of Wallonian Art, the Glass Museum, the Museum of Architecture, the Arms Museum, the Museum of Modern Artand more besides.

Bouillonwith its well preserved castle above the narrow valley of the

Semois, Bouillon is a reminder of the first crusade once com manded by Gottfried von Bouillon. The castle is the oldest monument from the days of feudalism. Just 50 miles as the crow flies from its source to the point where it opens into theMaas, the river Semois snakes for almost 125 miles throughthe wooded Ardennes region. Bouillon is the starting point formany walks, and if you go on one you may even come acrossthe heraldic animal of the Ardennes: the wild boar. Conse-quently, you will also find restaurants and butchers everywhereselling the famous „Ardennes Ham”.

Brusselsof course, no trip to Belgium would be complete without a

visit to Brussels: the capital of the country, residence of theroyal family and home of all things European – a city with a lotof history. Visitors are reminded of this history today when they visit the Market Square, described by residents as the most beautiful in the world. This is a view definitely shared by thecountless tourists who have stood – and will continue to stand– on this square in astonishment, marvelling too at its city halldating back to the 15th century and its unique merchant and guild houses. Well-known museums draw in art lovers, ethnologists and historians alike. The „Maneken Pis” is situatedjust round from the city hall, symbolising the mischievousstubborn ness of the Brussels natives.

Just over ten miles to the south lies Waterloo. This was thescene in 1815 where the battle between the English and Prus-sians on one side and Napoleon on the other marked the endof an era. Countless monuments and souvenir sellers serve asa reminder of this major event in history. A further 15 miles tothe south west at Ronquiere is Europe’s longest boat lift, exten-

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Brussels town hall

ding along a sloped plane for 1,400 metres.

That was just a rather brief and somewhat arbitrary look atsome of the things visitors to Belgium can expect to see.

There is, perhaps, one more thing: do not stumble over thewordings on the signposts: for example, „Rijsel” is Lille inFrance (did you know that?), Luik is Liège or even Lüttich;Aix-la-Chapelle is Aken or Aachen; Anvers is Antwerp, and soon. Sometimes, you may have to let your imagination run wild, for street maps will sometimes be of no help. In the Flemish provinces, people understand German or English well.

Hans Soltau

The German War Graves Commission ...

... cares for the German war graves here and nearly 100 countries all over the world.

... helps the next of kin in finding out about their relatives’ fateand searches for their graves.

... works in the Eastern European countries since 1990 whenthe borders were opened.

... finds the war dead and brings them to central cemeteries.

... advocates through its work understanding and reconciliationwith former enemies.

... leads young people to war graves in order to make themunderstand the terrible conse quences of war, thus recogni-zing how important it is to work for peace.

... finances its work almost exclusively with contributions of itsmembers and donors and would be very grateful for YOURhelp.

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