German wargraves Waismes

The Waismes municipal cemetery contains some German war graves.

The graves are soldiers from Waismes and it is remarkable that most of them have French/Walloon surnames and first names. This can be explained by the fact that Waimes belonged to Germany before the 1st World War and was called Weismes at that time. The official language here is German as well as French. This border area with Germany was allocated to Belgium after the First World War as part of the reparation payments imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. Belgium claimed some border areas with Germany as reparations. Including the area to which Weismes belonged. The language of communication became French from the time of annexation to Belgium in 1920.

Despite the fact that the area was 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 thus passed to Belgium in 1920.

There are graves of a number of soldiers who fell during the 1st World War. They are also mentioned on the monument near the church of Waimes.

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

BASTIN Henri, age 26, killed at Souain (France) on September 26th, 1914. (Brother of Bastin Leon).

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

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

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


Also there are graves of a number of soldiers who fell during World War II.

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

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

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

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


Also located there is a cenotaph of a victim of the Nazi regime.

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

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski