Eupen-Malmedy
Encyclopedia
Eupen-Malmedy, or the East Cantons (in German
, die Ostkantone; in French
, les Cantons de l'Est; in Dutch
, de Oostkantons; in Walloon
, les Redîmés Payis ), is a group of cantons
in Belgium
, composed of the former Prussia
n districts (Kreise in German) of Malmedy
and Eupen
, together with the Neutral Moresnet. French-speaking Belgians also once called them the Redeemed Cantons. These territories were annexed to Belgium
in 1920 by the Versailles Treaty.
. After Belgian municipality mergers in 1976-1977, the 11 municipalities sharing the territory of the East Cantons were regrouped to their current status as follows:
District of Eupen:
District of Sankt Vith:
District of Malmedy :
and on an isogloss
dividing several German dialects. In general, over the past decades, the local dialects have lost ground to German and French.
Historically, in Aubel, Baelen, Plombières, Welkenraedt (neighbouring Belgian municipalities), Eupen, Kelmis and Lontzen, the local languages have been classed as Limburgish, or better as Low Dietsch
, the inhabitants of Raeren Ripuarian and those of the district of Sankt Vith Moselle Franconian
(Luxembourgish), all of which are more related to German. On the other hand, most of the people living in Malmedy and Waimes speak Walloon
or French, with a minority of German speakers. Some of the folklore and carnival traditions there are still in the Walloon language. That is also the case for the children: 'The New Year’s wishes have hardly been uttered when the children start going round from house to house in order to celebrate the three kings. The individual groups sing a song at the doors and demand a “lôtire” for their efforts, in other words a small sweetmeat. They sing in Walloon and say that the kings have sent them.
The East Cantons as a whole should therefore not be confused with the German language region created in 1963 or with the German-speaking Community of Belgium
, which does not include the (smaller) Malmedy and Waimes areas.
, a dependancy of the Duchy of Brabant
, and was latterly owned by the Austria
n Habsburg
s, as part of the Austrian Netherlands. The Southern part (i.e. more or less what is now the district of Sankt Vith) belonged to the Duchy of Luxembourg. The small village of Manderfeld-Schönberg belonged to the Archbishopric of Trier
. Malmedy and Waimes, except the village of Faymonville, were part of the abbatial principality of Stavelot-Malmedy which was — like Luxembourg and Trier — an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire
.
entered the Austrian Netherlands, the area was also taken over and eventually incorporated in its entirety into the French department of the Ourthe.
At the Congress of Vienna
, the whole area was awarded to Rhenish Prussia
. In the North West of the area, Moresnet
, coveted by both the Netherlands
and Prussia
for its calamine
, was declared a neutral territory. After 1830, the 50% guardianship of the Netherlands was taken over by newly independent Belgium, and this remained so even after 1839, when Belgium relinquished its claims to neighbouring Dutch Limburg
.
This change did not significantly affect the inhabitants of this region. Even in the mainly French or Walloon speaking Malmedy, changes went smoothly since the municipality was allowed to continue to use French for its administration.
For instance, during a visit to the city in 1856, the King Frederick William IV is believed to have said "I am proud to have in my kingdom a little country where people speak French". For the people of Malmedy, this would eventually change when German was implemented as the only official administrative language. This was no problem in Eupen and St.Vith but more so in Malmedy-Waimes. There was some resistance to the change: for instance, Roman Catholic priests who were forbidden to preach in French started to preach in Walloon in order to avoid having to preach in German.
Most of the territory had spoken German or German dialects for centuries, with Walloon being spoken by about two-thirds of the population in the district of Malmedy at the time it was newly created in 1816. The overwhelmingly German-speaking district of Sankt Vith further south was, in 1821, united with the district of Malmedy to form a new, much larger district of Malmedy that then had a majority of German-speakers. According to the 1 December 1900 population census this new district of Malmedy had only a minority of 28.7% Walloon-speaking inhabitants. The smaller but more populous district of Eupen was almost entirely German-speaking, with Walloon and French speaking minorities making up less than 5%. At the beginning of World War I
, most of the inhabitants of the Eupen and Malmedy districts considered themselves German and fought for the German Empire during the war.
was drawing to a close, the French government
was determined to increase the size of Belgian territory at the expense of Germany
. The French attempted to annex the Saarland
and to persuade the neutral Netherlands
to exchange territory claimed by Belgium in 1830 but relinquished in 1839 (Dutch Limburg and Zeeuws Vlaanderen) with German territory that had once been Dutch (Bentheim
, Emden
and the Land of Cleve
).
Frustrated in these attempts, the French sided with Belgium's claim to the "lost" cantons of Eupen, Malmedy and Sankt Vith. In 1920, the Treaty of Versailles
awarded all the communities on a provisional basis to Belgium. A five-year transition period under the command of the Royal High Commissioner, General Herman Baltia
, ensued. Under pressure from the United States
, whose war aims had included popular sovereignty, a plebiscite was planned, and between 26 January and 23 July 1920, it was held on Baltia's orders under Article 34 of the Treaty. However it was not a secret ballot
- inhabitants of the cantons who objected to the annexation had to register (by name) at the village hall. This procedure led to mass intimidation - people were led to believe that anyone objecting to annexation by Belgium would not receive Belgian nationality, but be deported to Germany or at least have their food ration cards taken away.
In 1925, the area around Eupen, Malmedy, and Sankt Vith, together with the former Neutral Moresnet (Kelmis
) was finally included in the Belgian state. However, in 1926 Belgium and the Weimar Republic
conducted secret negotiations which would have led to the return of the East Cantons to Germany in return for 200 million gold marks - but the fury of the French Government on hearing about the plan led to the break-up of the talks.
After the inhabitants of the East Cantons finally received full Belgian nationality and the vote, parties who favoured a return of the East Cantons to the German Reich got between 44% and 57% of the vote in the East Cantons, achieving high scores even in predominantly French-speaking Malmedy. After the accession to power of Adolf Hitler
, the socialist
party of the East Cantons stopped agitating for a return to Germany. This caused a drop in the irredentist vote but also meant that the pro-Germany vote was now dominated by the openly Nazi "Heimattreue Front".
the East Cantons (and some other small villages that had been Belgian but German speaking in 1914) were annexed by Nazi Germany, with the clear consent of most of the inhabitants. Support for the German takeover eroded sharply after the German invasion of the Soviet Union
and the subsequent conscription of most of the male population into the German army (out of 8,700 drafted new Germans, 3,200 perished in the East). In December 1944 bomber raids first destroyed Malmedy, then Sankt Vith almost completely. Many communities were similarly affected by the Ardennes Offensive of 1944-45. Indeed, the southern part of the East Cantons was the theatre of hard battles including St. Vith, Rocherath-Krinkelt, Bütgenbach and many others.
The bad blood caused by the reluctance of the Belgian government to remedy the legal situation concerning the annexation (only remedied by an amnesty
law in 1989), would lead to the emergence of a German Belgian national party, the PDB, or Party of German-speaking Belgians
. The PDB (which at the European level co-operates with both the Scottish National Party
and the Greens
) has never agitated for a return to Germany, but advocated increased rights for the German minority in Belgium, including full equality with the Flemish and Walloon linguistic groups.
The nine German-speaking communities of the East Cantons now comprise the German-speaking Community of Belgium
, while Malmedy and Waimes are part of the French Community of Belgium
. There are protected rights for the minority language in both areas.
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, die Ostkantone; in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, les Cantons de l'Est; in Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, de Oostkantons; in Walloon
Walloon language
Walloon is a Romance language which was spoken as a primary language in large portions of the Walloon Region of Belgium and some villages of Northern France until the middle of the 20th century. It belongs to the langue d'oïl language family, whose most prominent member is the French language...
, les Redîmés Payis ), is a group of cantons
Cantons of Belgium
-Judicial:A judicial canton is a group of municipalities in which there is one Justice of the Peace that has jurisdiction over those municipalities. A judicial arrondissement consists of all judicial cantons on its territory. There are 225 judicial cantons in Belgium. Most judicial cantons cover...
in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, composed of the former Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n districts (Kreise in German) of Malmedy
Malmedy
Malmedy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region, Province of Liège. It belongs to the French Community of Belgium, within which it is French-speaking with facilities for German-speakers. On January 1, 2006 Malmedy had a total population of 11,829...
and Eupen
Eupen
Eupen is a municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border , from the Dutch border and from the "High Fens" nature reserve...
, together with the Neutral Moresnet. French-speaking Belgians also once called them the Redeemed Cantons. These territories were annexed to Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
in 1920 by the Versailles Treaty.
Current Administration
At the beginning of the 1920s, the municipalities composing these territories were regrouped into three districts: Eupen, Malmedy, and Sankt VithSankt Vith
St. Vith is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège, and in the German speaking community in Belgium. It was named after Saint Vitus....
. After Belgian municipality mergers in 1976-1977, the 11 municipalities sharing the territory of the East Cantons were regrouped to their current status as follows:
District of Eupen:
- EupenEupenEupen is a municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border , from the Dutch border and from the "High Fens" nature reserve...
(Eupen and Kettenis) - KelmisKelmisKelmis is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1, 2006, Kelmis had a total population of 10,396...
, in French La Calamine (Kelmis, Neu-Moresnet and Hergenrath) - MoresnetMoresnetNeutral Moresnet was a tiny Belgian-Prussian condominium that existed from 1816 to 1920 between present-day Belgium and Germany. Prior to Belgian independence in 1830, the territory was a Dutch-Prussian condominium...
(LontzenLontzenLontzen is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1, 2006 Lontzen had a total population of 5,071. The total area is 28.73 km² which gives a population density of 177 inhabitants per km²....
and WalhornWalhornWalhorn is a village in the municipality of Lontzen, in the German speaking area of the province of Liège, Belgium.The HSL 3 passes immediately next to Walhorn....
) - RaerenRaerenRaeren is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. It was part of Germany until the First World War, after which it became part of Belgium. It is one of several towns in Eastern Belgium which still predominantly speak German....
(Raeren, EynattenEynattenEynatten is a village in the Belgian municipality of Raeren into the German-speaking Community of Belgium. Eynatten is on the border to Germany, 6 km south from Aachen. Around half of the population are foreigners, most of them Germans....
and HausetHausetHauset is a village in the Belgian municipality of Raeren into the German-speaking Community of Belgium with around 1700 inhabitants. The village is around 260m over Mean Sea Level, along the small river Geul and borders the Forest of Aachen. The population is German speaking and is about half of...
)
District of Sankt Vith:
- Sankt VithSankt VithSt. Vith is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège, and in the German speaking community in Belgium. It was named after Saint Vitus....
, in French Saint-Vith, (Sankt Vith, Crombach, Lommersweiler, SchönbergSchönberg- Germany :*Schönberg, Lower Bavaria, a town in the district of Freyung-Grafenau in Bavaria*Schönberg, Upper Bavaria, a town in the district of Mühldorf in Bavaria*Schönberg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, district Nordwestmecklenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
and Recht) - BütgenbachBütgenbachBütgenbach is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1, 2006 Bütgenbach had a total population of 5,574. The total area is 97.31 km² which gives a population density of 57 inhabitants per km². The official language in this municipality is German....
, in French Butgenbach, (Bütgenbach and Elsenborn) - BüllingenBüllingenBüllingen is a largely German language-speaking municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1, 2006 Büllingen had a total population of 5,385. The total area is 150.49 km² which gives a population density of 36 inhabitants per km²....
, in French Bullange, (Büllingen, Manderfeld and Rocherath) - AmelAmelAmel is a Belgian municipality in the Walloon province of Liège, and is part of the German-speaking Community of Belgium .On January 1, 2006 Amel had a total population of 5,282...
, in French Amblève, (Amel, Heppenbach and Meyerode) - Burg-ReulandBurg-ReulandBurg-Reuland is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège.The name of the municipality refers to the castle "Burg-Reuland", which is located in the center of the community.On January 1, 2006 Burg-Reuland had a total population of 3,903...
(ReulandReulandReuland is a village in the commune of Heffingen, in central Luxembourg. , the village has a population of 188....
and Thommen)
District of Malmedy :
- MalmedyMalmedyMalmedy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region, Province of Liège. It belongs to the French Community of Belgium, within which it is French-speaking with facilities for German-speakers. On January 1, 2006 Malmedy had a total population of 11,829...
(Malmedy, Bévercé and Bellevaux-Ligneuville)- WaimesWaimesWaimes is a Walloon municipality located in the province of Liège, in Belgium. On January 1, 2006 Waimes had a total population of 6,728. The total area is 96.93 km² which gives a population density of 69 inhabitants per km²....
, in German Weismes (Waimes, FaymonvilleFaymonvilleFaymonville is a town in Liège, Belgium, part of the municipality of Waimes. Its inhabitants are nicknamed the "Turks" by the neighbouring towns and villages. It is believed that the inhabitants refused to join the crusades against the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, and were called as Turks...
and Robertville)
- Waimes
Languages spoken in the area
The linguistic situation of the wider area is complex since it lies on the border between the Romance and Germanic languagesGermanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
and on an isogloss
Isogloss
An isogloss—also called a heterogloss —is the geographical boundary of a certain linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or use of some syntactic feature...
dividing several German dialects. In general, over the past decades, the local dialects have lost ground to German and French.
Historically, in Aubel, Baelen, Plombières, Welkenraedt (neighbouring Belgian municipalities), Eupen, Kelmis and Lontzen, the local languages have been classed as Limburgish, or better as Low Dietsch
Low Dietsch
Low Dietsch is a term mainly used within the Flemish terminology for the transitional Limburgish–Ripuarian dialects of a number of towns and villages in the north-east of the Belgian province of Liege, such as Gemmenich, Homburg, Montzen and Welkenraedt....
, the inhabitants of Raeren Ripuarian and those of the district of Sankt Vith Moselle Franconian
Moselle Franconian
Moselle Franconian is a group of West Central German dialects, part of the Central Franconian language area.It is spoken in the southern Rhineland and along the course of the Moselle River, from the Siegerland in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia throughout western Rhineland-Palatinate and...
(Luxembourgish), all of which are more related to German. On the other hand, most of the people living in Malmedy and Waimes speak Walloon
Walloon language
Walloon is a Romance language which was spoken as a primary language in large portions of the Walloon Region of Belgium and some villages of Northern France until the middle of the 20th century. It belongs to the langue d'oïl language family, whose most prominent member is the French language...
or French, with a minority of German speakers. Some of the folklore and carnival traditions there are still in the Walloon language. That is also the case for the children: 'The New Year’s wishes have hardly been uttered when the children start going round from house to house in order to celebrate the three kings. The individual groups sing a song at the doors and demand a “lôtire” for their efforts, in other words a small sweetmeat. They sing in Walloon and say that the kings have sent them.
The East Cantons as a whole should therefore not be confused with the German language region created in 1963 or with the German-speaking Community of Belgium
German-speaking Community of Belgium
The German-speaking Community of Belgium is one of the three federal communities of Belgium. Covering an area of 854 km² within the province of Liège in Wallonia, it includes nine of the eleven municipalities of the so-called East Cantons...
, which does not include the (smaller) Malmedy and Waimes areas.
History before 1795
Historically, those territories have little in common. The Northern part around Eupen was originally part of the Duchy of LimburgDuchy of Limburg
The Duchy of Limburg, situated in the Low Countries between the river Meuse and the city of Aachen, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its territory is now divided between the Belgian provinces of Liège and Limburg , the Dutch province of Limburg , and a small part of North Rhine-Westphalia in...
, a dependancy of the Duchy of Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
, and was latterly owned by the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
s, as part of the Austrian Netherlands. The Southern part (i.e. more or less what is now the district of Sankt Vith) belonged to the Duchy of Luxembourg. The small village of Manderfeld-Schönberg belonged to the Archbishopric of Trier
Archbishopric of Trier
The Archbishopric of Trier was a Roman Catholic diocese in Germany, that existed from Carolingian times until the end of the Holy Roman Empire. Its suffragans were the dioceses of Metz, Toul and Verdun. Since the 9th century the Archbishops of Trier were simultaneously princes and since the 11th...
. Malmedy and Waimes, except the village of Faymonville, were part of the abbatial principality of Stavelot-Malmedy which was — like Luxembourg and Trier — an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
.
1795-1815 French annexation
In 1795, as the French Revolutionary ArmyFrench Revolutionary Army
The French Revolutionary Army is the term used to refer to the military of France during the period between the fall of the ancien regime under Louis XVI in 1792 and the formation of the First French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804. These armies were characterised by their revolutionary...
entered the Austrian Netherlands, the area was also taken over and eventually incorporated in its entirety into the French department of the Ourthe.
1815-1919 Prussian administration
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
, the whole area was awarded to Rhenish Prussia
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
. In the North West of the area, Moresnet
Moresnet
Neutral Moresnet was a tiny Belgian-Prussian condominium that existed from 1816 to 1920 between present-day Belgium and Germany. Prior to Belgian independence in 1830, the territory was a Dutch-Prussian condominium...
, coveted by both the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
for its calamine
Calamine (mineral)
Calamine is a historic name for an ore of zinc. The name calamine was derived from the Belgian town of Kelmis, whose French name is "La Calamine", which is home to a zinc mine...
, was declared a neutral territory. After 1830, the 50% guardianship of the Netherlands was taken over by newly independent Belgium, and this remained so even after 1839, when Belgium relinquished its claims to neighbouring Dutch Limburg
Limburg (Netherlands)
Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...
.
This change did not significantly affect the inhabitants of this region. Even in the mainly French or Walloon speaking Malmedy, changes went smoothly since the municipality was allowed to continue to use French for its administration.
For instance, during a visit to the city in 1856, the King Frederick William IV is believed to have said "I am proud to have in my kingdom a little country where people speak French". For the people of Malmedy, this would eventually change when German was implemented as the only official administrative language. This was no problem in Eupen and St.Vith but more so in Malmedy-Waimes. There was some resistance to the change: for instance, Roman Catholic priests who were forbidden to preach in French started to preach in Walloon in order to avoid having to preach in German.
Most of the territory had spoken German or German dialects for centuries, with Walloon being spoken by about two-thirds of the population in the district of Malmedy at the time it was newly created in 1816. The overwhelmingly German-speaking district of Sankt Vith further south was, in 1821, united with the district of Malmedy to form a new, much larger district of Malmedy that then had a majority of German-speakers. According to the 1 December 1900 population census this new district of Malmedy had only a minority of 28.7% Walloon-speaking inhabitants. The smaller but more populous district of Eupen was almost entirely German-speaking, with Walloon and French speaking minorities making up less than 5%. At the beginning of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, most of the inhabitants of the Eupen and Malmedy districts considered themselves German and fought for the German Empire during the war.
1919-1925 Provisional Belgian administration
In 1918, as World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
was drawing to a close, the French government
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
was determined to increase the size of Belgian territory at the expense of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The French attempted to annex the Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
and to persuade the neutral Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
to exchange territory claimed by Belgium in 1830 but relinquished in 1839 (Dutch Limburg and Zeeuws Vlaanderen) with German territory that had once been Dutch (Bentheim
Bentheim
County of Bentheim is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe, the district of Emsland, and the districts of Steinfurt and Borken in North Rhine-Westphalia.- History :The District has roughly the same territory as the County of...
, Emden
Emden
Emden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...
and the Land of Cleve
Duchy of Cleves
The Duchy of Cleves was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was situated in the northern Rhineland on both sides of the Lower Rhine, around its capital Cleves and the town of Wesel, bordering the lands of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster in the east and the Duchy of Brabant in the west...
).
Frustrated in these attempts, the French sided with Belgium's claim to the "lost" cantons of Eupen, Malmedy and Sankt Vith. In 1920, the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
awarded all the communities on a provisional basis to Belgium. A five-year transition period under the command of the Royal High Commissioner, General Herman Baltia
Herman Baltia
Baron Herman Baltia was a Belgian military officer, the son of the Belgian General Charles Baltia and of a German mother....
, ensued. Under pressure from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, whose war aims had included popular sovereignty, a plebiscite was planned, and between 26 January and 23 July 1920, it was held on Baltia's orders under Article 34 of the Treaty. However it was not a secret ballot
Secret ballot
The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery. The system is one means of achieving the goal of...
- inhabitants of the cantons who objected to the annexation had to register (by name) at the village hall. This procedure led to mass intimidation - people were led to believe that anyone objecting to annexation by Belgium would not receive Belgian nationality, but be deported to Germany or at least have their food ration cards taken away.
1925-1940 Integration into Belgium
In the event, only 271 people out of 33,726 voted for the communes to remain in Germany. Hence it was no actual plebiscite that was held, because those opposing annexation into Belgium had to enter a register at city hall; those who did risked being fired, losing their ration cards etc.; few registered and so annexation proceeded unopposed.In 1925, the area around Eupen, Malmedy, and Sankt Vith, together with the former Neutral Moresnet (Kelmis
Kelmis
Kelmis is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1, 2006, Kelmis had a total population of 10,396...
) was finally included in the Belgian state. However, in 1926 Belgium and the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
conducted secret negotiations which would have led to the return of the East Cantons to Germany in return for 200 million gold marks - but the fury of the French Government on hearing about the plan led to the break-up of the talks.
After the inhabitants of the East Cantons finally received full Belgian nationality and the vote, parties who favoured a return of the East Cantons to the German Reich got between 44% and 57% of the vote in the East Cantons, achieving high scores even in predominantly French-speaking Malmedy. After the accession to power of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, the socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
party of the East Cantons stopped agitating for a return to Germany. This caused a drop in the irredentist vote but also meant that the pro-Germany vote was now dominated by the openly Nazi "Heimattreue Front".
1940-1945 Annexed to Germany
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the East Cantons (and some other small villages that had been Belgian but German speaking in 1914) were annexed by Nazi Germany, with the clear consent of most of the inhabitants. Support for the German takeover eroded sharply after the German invasion of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the subsequent conscription of most of the male population into the German army (out of 8,700 drafted new Germans, 3,200 perished in the East). In December 1944 bomber raids first destroyed Malmedy, then Sankt Vith almost completely. Many communities were similarly affected by the Ardennes Offensive of 1944-45. Indeed, the southern part of the East Cantons was the theatre of hard battles including St. Vith, Rocherath-Krinkelt, Bütgenbach and many others.
1945 Back to Belgium
After the war, the Belgian state reasserted sovereignty over the area, which caused the male inhabitants of the area who had served in the German army to lose their civil rights as "traitors to the Belgian state". After the war, the Belgian authorities opened more than 15,000 inquiries procedures against citizens of Eupen-Malmedy, which represents 25% of the population. In comparison, for the whole of Belgium, these inquiries concerned less than 5% of the population. Even though the ratio of the effective trials and convictions in comparison to the number of files opened was lower than the Belgian national average, it is clear that this repression left scars that needed time to disappear.The bad blood caused by the reluctance of the Belgian government to remedy the legal situation concerning the annexation (only remedied by an amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
law in 1989), would lead to the emergence of a German Belgian national party, the PDB, or Party of German-speaking Belgians
Party of German-speaking Belgians
ProDG , is a political party active in the German-speaking community of Belgium. The party groups politicians from the previous PDB and PJU parties. The party was formed in 2008 and figured on the voting bulletins at first in 2009...
. The PDB (which at the European level co-operates with both the Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
and the Greens
Greens
Greens may refer to:*Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc.-Politics:Supranational* Green politics* Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics* Global Greens...
) has never agitated for a return to Germany, but advocated increased rights for the German minority in Belgium, including full equality with the Flemish and Walloon linguistic groups.
The nine German-speaking communities of the East Cantons now comprise the German-speaking Community of Belgium
German-speaking Community of Belgium
The German-speaking Community of Belgium is one of the three federal communities of Belgium. Covering an area of 854 km² within the province of Liège in Wallonia, it includes nine of the eleven municipalities of the so-called East Cantons...
, while Malmedy and Waimes are part of the French Community of Belgium
French Community of Belgium
The French Community of Belgium is one of the three official communities in Belgium along with the Flemish Community and the German speaking Community. Although its name could suggest that it is a community of French citizens in Belgium, it is not...
. There are protected rights for the minority language in both areas.
Chronology
- 6 March 1815 : Malmedy part of Prussia (from 1871 Germany).
- 1918 - 1920 : Under Allied occupation (British to Aug 1919, then Belgian).
- 28 June 1919 : Ceded to Belgium by Germany under Treaty of Versailles.
- 20 September 1920 : Eupen, Malmedy and Sankt-Vith annexed (fully re-incorporated 1925).
- 1926 The Belgian government wants to "sell" the East Cantons to the Weimar Republic. France objects furiously.
- 29 July 1940 - Feb 1945 : Eupen, Malmedy and Sankt-Vith are annexed to Germany, together with the Luxembourg village of Bého (renamed Bocholz) and former Neutral Moresnet (they were part of the Prussia's Rheinprovinz and within this province part of AachenAachenAachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
Regierungsbezirk). - 1956 Belgo-German peace treaty. The Federal Republic of Germany recognizes the illegality of the 1940 annexation.
- 1960-1964 The Belgian language borderLanguage borderA language border or language boundary is the line separating two language areas. The term is generally meant to imply a lack of mutual intelligibility between the two languages...
is fixed and finally divides the East Cantons. Eupen, Sankt Vith and others become German-speaking with special privileges for French speakers, Malmedy and Waimes join AubelAubelAubel is a Belgian municipality located in the Walloon province of Liège. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 4,082 inhabitants. The total area is 18.83 km², giving a population density of 217 inhabitants per km²....
, WelkenraedtWelkenraedtWelkenraedt is a Walloon municipality located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Welkenraedt had a total population of 9,163. The total area is 24.47 km² which gives a population density of 374 inhabitants per km²....
, Bleiberg and BaelenBaelenBaelen is a Belgian municipality located in the Walloon province of Liège. On January 1, 2006 Baelen had a total population of 4,060. The total area is 85.73 km² which gives a population density of 47.36 inhabitants per km².-People living in Baelen:...
as French-speaking with (potential) special privileges for German speakers. - 18 July 1966 Belgian law on the language use by local and national government. The "region of the German language" is mentioned. Federal Government services to answer German queries from a member of the general public in German.
- 1973 The Rat der Deutschsprachigen GemeinschaftGerman-speaking Community of BelgiumThe German-speaking Community of Belgium is one of the three federal communities of Belgium. Covering an area of 854 km² within the province of Liège in Wallonia, it includes nine of the eleven municipalities of the so-called East Cantons...
is set up. - 1989 New amnesty law, undoing the legal effects of the annexation and its voiding.
- 1993 The Executive of the Rat der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft is recognized as one of the Belgian regional governments in the new federal constitution. The German-speaking area remains a part of the Walloon economic area.
- 2005 The authority of the Rat is increased by granting it the right of tutelage over religious institutions and over its nine communities.
Sources
- Versailles Peace Treaty. (Note the mysterious reference in article 31 to the Kingdom of the NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, which as a neutral was not involved in the Treaty of Versailles. France had wanted to compensate the Netherlands with German territory in exchange for the return to Belgium of territory relinquished by it to the Netherlands in 1839) - History of the German community in Belgium, from the Rat's website Legalities and other German minorities in Belgium.
External links
- Daily life in the East Cantons from 1918-1935. (How a small businessman was ruined by the scarcity of Belgian money and hyperinflation in Germany.)
- How German Belgians see themselves
- Website of the German-speaking parliament.