Memorial O.R.D.

On Rue du Collège there is a special memorial.

The plaque commemorates the 1,000th house rebuilt on May 25th, 1922 with the help of the O.R.D. The Office des Régions Devastées. The Devastated Areas Service.

During World War I, a reign of terror was waged by the Germans in the villages and towns east of Liège. Any opposition or suspicion of espionage or covert shooting on passing troops (by so-called franc-tireurs) was punishable by death. The houses of the villages and towns that resisted were burned. Not infrequently, both the mayor and the pastor of the village or town were shot or hanged.

After the war, a special commission was established especially for the areas where the Germans had destroyed the houses as a punitive action, which was to deal with the rebuilding of the burned houses. The Office des Régions Devastées, abbreviated to O.R.D.

These houses can still be recognized by a stone in the facade bearing the letters O.R.D. and the year of rebuilding. In several villages and towns such as Visé, Moelingen, Voeren, Barchon, Blegny, Soumagne, Herve, houses can be found that were rebuilt by this service and to which the facade stone still bears witness. The dates vary from 1919 to 1923. By following the houses in the direction of Germany, one can follow the marching route of the German army in reverse.

Photo 5 has an ORD stone with year 1920. Photo 4 the left house year 1921 and the right house 1922. These houses are also in Visé.

Therefore, these stones cannot be found in the equally fierce and badly hit Ypres or other Flemish villages and towns. The reason for this is that they were left in ruins by war and not burnt by revenge attacks.

With the rebuilding of the 1,000th house, the house of the mayor of Visé Mr. Lambert Dehousse, on May 25th, 1922, Minister Van de Vyvere, the royal high commissioner Baron Delvaux de Fenffe, the director of construction works Hanssen and the architects Lambert, Davister and Lejeune, this special stone was bricked into the house on Rue de Collège. This house is now a flower store.

To find the stone, you have to look carefully. In front of the stone is a large olive tree, so the stone is not visible. Left in Photo 3.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Ed Lewandowski