Memorial Wortel-Kolonie

There is a small memorial plaque at the tramp cemetery of the Wortel-Kolonie:
"Honour to our
war victims
Wortel-Kolonie
13-10-1944"

The tramp cemetery of Wortel-Kolonie is located in a deserted place in the middle of the woods. Until the abolition of the vagrancy law in 1993, more than 1,500 people were buried there.
The tramps were given a number when they arrived in the Colony. Lead plates hang on the white crosses, often showing only a number, but no name.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the government established a benevolent colony in this area. Poor people from the cities were given a farm and land here. After the independence of Belgium, Wortel-Kolonie became a colony for tramps and beggars.
In 1881, white prison buildings were erected for tramps.
In 1929, the colony in Wortel was abolished and the buildings became empty. Six years later they were used as a psychiatric institution. During the Second World War the patients were transferred and in 1945 the buildings were again inhabited by tramps until the abolition of the law against vagrancy in 1993.

The cemetery is now owned by the Nature and Forest Agency. The area has been a protected landscape since 1999 and can be walked freely.
Since 1999, Wortel-Kolonie has been a cultural-historical heritage and since 2021 it has also been a UNESCO world heritage site.

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