War Memorials Waimes

Rue du Centre, 4950 Waimes

Belgium Liège Waimes

Near the church of Waimes there are 4 memorial stones which commemorate the 60 soldiers from Waimes (and the villages belonging to Waimes; Bruyeres, Champagne, Grosbois, Libomont, Remonval-Steinbach and Walk) who died during the First World War.

The special circumstance here is that although the memorial stones are located in a Belgian municipality, the soldiers involved were killed in German service. Except for a few names, they are all French/Walloon names.

This can be explainedby the that Waimes belonged to Germany before World War I and was called Weismes at that time. The official language here is therefore German as well as French. This border area with Germany was allocated to Belgium after the 1st World War as part of the compensation imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. Belgium claimed some border areas with Germany as compensation. Including the area to which Weismes belonged. From the time of its annexation to Belgium in 1920, the language of communication was French.

Despite the fact that the area was thus German territory before World War I, the names are almost all of French/Walloon origin. This is because the area belonged to France (Ourthe department) for a long time. After 1815, the area was assigned to Prussia, after which it passed to Belgium in 1920.

Some of the soldiers mentioned on the monument are still buried in the Waimes cemetery.

BASTIN Leon, age 33, died in a lazaret (hospital) at Cologne on January 28th, 1916. (brother of Bastin Henri)

BASTIN Henri, age 26, killed in Souain France on September 26, 1914.

DETHIER Joseph, age 33, killed in Chauny (France) on August 24, 1915 (His son Jean died in World War II and is on the other memorial).

PIETTE Henri, age 21, killed at Bellicourt (France) on September 23, 1918.

WARLAND Henri, age 22, killed at Lap-Colonne (France) on June 7th, 1918.

To the left of these 4 memorial stones, 2 new memorial stones were erected after the 2nd World War. On these stones are the names of the soldiers originating from Waimes and died in Belgian service ore German service.

It is striking that one Belgian soldier coming from Waismes died at the beginning of the 2nd World War.

MELOTTE François, age 25, soldier with the 7th regiment of cyclists, killed on May 26th, 1940 at Geluwe.

This is followed by 55 soldiers who died in German service. This can be explained by the fact that many people living in this area had German nationality when the area was incorporated into Belgium in 1920. For this reason, they were later drafted into the German army after this area was conquered by the German army in May 1940.

This can also be deduced from the dates of death. The soldiers did not die until the 2nd half of World War II, from 1942 onwards.

The two youngest were only 18 years old when they fell.

DROSSON Jean, age 18, killed June 27th, 1944 in Austria.

MARGREVE Fernand, age 18, killed on December 24th, 1944 in Luxembourg.

The oldest 53 years old

LAMBY Jean, age 53, killed on March 17th, 1945 in Germany.

A number of soldiers mentioned on this memorial are also still buried in the Waimes cemetery.

DEMOULIN Charles, age 19, killed November 14th, 1943 at Leninka, Russia.

DETHIER Jean, age 23, killed October 29th, 1943 in Russia (His father died during World War I in France and is listed on the monument to the fallen of World War I).

REUTER Emil, 26, missing in Russia since November 15th, 1944.

SEREXHE Benoit, 27, killed February 23rd, 1943 in Russia.

Also mentioned on the monument are three victims of the Nazi regime and 5 civilian victims.

MARGREVE Charles who, according to the monument, died at Ellrich on October 1st, 1944. According to the cenotaph in the nearby cemetery, he was murdered in Buchenwald on Oct. 3, 1944. Both Ellrich and Buchenwald were German concentration camps.