What are German-speaking Belgians called?
Ostbelgien
But a recent move to rebrand the region, officially known as the German-speaking community of Belgium (die Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft Belgiens), as the snappier “Ostbelgien” has caused tremors of anxiety in a country long plagued by talk of separatism. Eupen is the capital of Ostbelgien, or east Belgium.
How many Americans were killed in the Malmedy Massacre?
84 U.S.
| Malmedy massacre | |
|---|---|
| Date | December 17, 1944 |
| Attack type | Mass murder by machine gun and gun-shots to the head |
| Deaths | 84 U.S. POWs of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, and other units |
| Perpetrators | Joachim Peiper Werner Poetschke Sepp Dietrich |
What is the dialect of Alsace called?
Alsatian
Alsatian is a Germanic dialect spoken in Alsace. Even though the French government forbade the use of Germanic languages in schools in 1945, the dialect saw something of a revival in the 1970s when a number of independent movements fought against the state’s crackdown on regional languages.
Why were Eupen and Malmedy given Belgium?
Eupen-Malmedy is the name given to the two districts that Germany ceded to Belgium in 1920 as a consequence of the Treaty of Versailles. This cession and the semblance of a “referendum”, organised in 1920, turned the territory into a Belgian-German conflict space during the interwar years.
How did Eupen Malmedy become part of Belgium?
Eupen-Malmedy became part of Belgium in the aftermath of World War I. The region, which had formerly been part of Prussia and the German Empire, was allocated to Belgium by the Treaty of Versailles. It was formally annexed after a controversial referendum in 1920, becoming part of Liège Province in 1925.
What is the Eupen-Malmedy region?
It consists of three administrative cantons around the towns of Eupen, Malmedy, and Sankt Vith which encompass some 730 square kilometres (280 sq mi). Elsewhere in Belgium, the region is commonly referred to as the East Cantons ( French: Cantons de l’Est, Dutch: Oostkantons ). Eupen-Malmedy became part of Belgium in the aftermath of World War I.
What is the difference between Eupen and Malmedy?
Historically, there have been little in common between these areas, Eupen is a German speaking region with historic ties to the Habsburgs of Austria and the German Empire, and Malmedy is a French / Walloon speaking district with historic ties to the Duchy of Luxembourg.
What happened to Eupen-Malmedy after the war?
After the war, the Belgian authorities opened 16,400 investigations into citizens from Eupen-Malmedy, representing around 25 percent of the region’s entire population. In comparison, the figure for the rest of Belgium represented less than five percent. After the war, demands to return Eupen-Malmedy to Germany faded.