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‘Road to Abandonment’: Belgium’s Approach to Eupen-Malmedy, 1925–1929

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Book cover The Annexation of Eupen-Malmedy

Abstract

In April 1925, the people of Eupen, Malmedy and St Vith took part in their first national election as Belgian citizens. By June, the transitory regime had been abolished as the population looked forward to a more settled political environment; they were to be disappointed. Belgium’s precarious post-war financial situation exposed it to German irredentist opportunism. This chapter shows how the potential retrocession of Eupen-Malmedy to Germany in exchange for financial concessions became the political soundtrack to the immediate post-Baltia period. Although terminated following French intervention, Belgium’s dubious dealings with Germany on the Eupen-Malmedy question seriously undermined any chance of a successful assimilation of the population. Coupled with Belgium’s incoherent and ad hoc approach to the administration of the districts, this allowed for a resurgence of anti-Belgian feeling to take root.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Pierre Forthomme addressing a Liberal Party meeting at the Hôtel de l’Europe, La Nouvelle Belgique, 4 April 1925.

  2. 2.

    Pierre Maxence, Les atouts gaspillés, ou le drame des Cantons de l’Est (St. Niklaas: D’Hondt, 1951), 29–30; Pabst, Eupen-Malmedy , 354–356.

  3. 3.

    During the election campaign, Jenniges was the target of much anti-German vitriol. One particular account in L’Express reminded its readers that Jenniges, who was born in Verviers (‘by chance’), was of German parentage and had been ‘severely punished by the Conseil de l’Ordre for his ‘pro-boche’ behaviour during the war. ‘Les superpatriotes du cléricalisme’ L’Express, 10 April 1925.

  4. 4.

    Marc Somerhausen (1899–1992) served in the Great War, after which he undertook some study in the United States. First elected to the Belgian parliament in 1925–1929 and again for the period 1932–1936, he was a staunch advocate for a new and secret plebiscite in the cantons up to 1933 when the political environment not only in the cantons but throughout Europe became more extreme following the coming to power of the National Socialists in Germany. Beck, Umstrittenes Grenzland, 117–118.

  5. 5.

    ‘Das Ergebnis der Wahlen! Dr Jenniges ist gewählt!’, Der Landbote, 8 April 1925; ‘Les résultats officiels’, La Nouvelle Belgique, 11 April 1925.

  6. 6.

    Heinz Warny, Erste Schritte im Nebel: Grenz Echo (1926–1940), in Heinz Warny (ed.) Zwei Jahrhunderte deutschsprachige Zeitung in Ostbelgien (Eupen : Grenz Echo Verlag, 2007), 11–78 (19–21).

  7. 7.

    ‘Warum ist Herr Jenniges nicht gewählt?’, Eupener Nachrichten, 25 May 1925; Heidi Christmann, Presse und gesellschaftliche Kommunikation in Eupen-Malmedy zwischen den beiden Weltkriegen (Munich, 1974) [Unpublished], 249.

  8. 8.

    Roger E. de Smet, René Evalenko & William Fraeys, Atlas des élections belges 1919–1954: Annexe statistique (Bruxelles: Institut de Sociologie Solvay, 1958), 10.

  9. 9.

    Pabst, Eupen-Malmedy , 334.

  10. 10.

    Carl Henrik Höjer, Le régime parlementaire belge de 1918 à 1940 (Uppsala and Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1946), 145–147; Emmanuel Gerard, La démocratie rêvée, bridée et bafouée, 1918–1939, in Michel Dumoulin, Emmanuel Gerard, M. Van den Wijngaert & V. Dujardin, Nouvelle histoire de Belgique 1905–1950 (2 vols), ii, (Bruxelles: Éditions Complexe), 96.

  11. 11.

    Peter Scholliers, Koopkracht en indexkoppeling: de Brusselse levensstandaard tijdens en na de Eerste Wereldoorlog (Purchasing power index: Brussels’ standard of living during and after the First World War), Revue belge d’histoire contemporaine, IX (1978), 333–338 (335).

  12. 12.

    Henry L. Shepherd, The Monetary Experience of Belgium, 1914–1936 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978), 16–17.

  13. 13.

    The Versailles Treaty, i.232.

  14. 14.

    The repayment terms associated with Belgium’s debt to the USA were agreed in Washington, on 18 August 1925. On 31 December, Belgium agreed terms with Great Britain regarding its post-war debts and its Congo debts. Paul Hymans , Belgium’s position in Europe, Foreign Affairs, 9 (1) (October 1930), 54–64 (62).

  15. 15.

    Richard H. Meyer, Bankers’ Diplomacy: Monetary Stabilization in the Twenties (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1970), 16–17.

  16. 16.

    Shepherd, The Monetary Experience of Belgium, 8–9.

  17. 17.

    Sally Marks, Innocent abroad: Belgium at the Pairs Peace Conference of 1919 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1981), 179.

  18. 18.

    Grathwol, Germany and the Eupen-Malmedy affair, 223.

  19. 19.

    Herrebout, Memoiren, 75.

  20. 20.

    Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 35. Jacques, Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession d’Eupen -Malmédy par la Belgique à l’Allemagne, et la France (1925–1926). Un cas d’utilisation d’une arme financière en politique nationale’, Colloque Franco-Belge à Metz, Novembre 15–16, 1974 (Metz: Centre de Recherches Relations Internationales de l’Université de Metz), 325–348 (326–327).

  21. 21.

    The Comité National de Secours et d’Alimentation acted as the distribution arm of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, which provided international aid to the war-stricken country. In 1923, Francqui became vice-governor of the Société Générale and later its governor in 1932. He would play a pivotal role in the retrocession talks on Eupen-Malmedy .

  22. 22.

    Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession, 326.

  23. 23.

    Germany agreed to pay the sum of 4 billion marks (5 billion Belgian francs) to Belgium from April 1922 over 25 years at an interest rate of 2%. In exchange, Belgium would credit Germany with the profits accumulated from the sale of German property in Belgium. Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 39–42.

  24. 24.

    Annales Parlementaires Belges (APB), Georges Theunis , Chambre, 24 October 1922, 1839.

  25. 25.

    Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 46.

  26. 26.

    Following the London Conference of the Reparations Commission in April 1921, the allies finally reached agreement on a reparations figure which Germany would have to pay after much consultation and debate. A figure of 132 billion gold marks ($33 billion) was decided upon. However, reparation payments took other forms also, including shipments of coal, timber and chemical products. A definitive reparations figure had not been agreed at the Paris Peace Conference and the matter was left to the deliberations of the Reparations Commission, which reached a decision on 27 April 1921. Sally Marks, ‘The myth of reparations’, Central European History, 11 (3) (September 1978), 231–255.

  27. 27.

    Robert P. Grathwol, Germany and the Eupen-Malmedy affair, 1924–1926: ‘Here lies the spirit of Locarno’, Central European History, 8 (3) (September), 221–250 (223); Fernand Baudhin, La Balance économique de la Belgique avant et après la guerre, in Bulletin d’Études et d’Information de l’École Supérieure de St. Ignace (November 1924), 3–55.

  28. 28.

    Conan Fischer, The Ruhr Crisis, 1923–1924 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 29–39.

  29. 29.

    Jacques Bariéty, France and the politics of steel, from the Treaty of Versailles to the international steel entente, 1919–1926, in Robert Boyce (ed.), French Foreign and Defence Policy 1918–1940: The Decline of a Great Power (London: Routledge, 1998), 32–33.

  30. 30.

    Gustav Stresemann served as chancellor of Germany for little more than three months. However, he retained the portfolio of foreign minister from August 1923 until his death in October 1929.

  31. 31.

    Jacques Néré, Foreign Policies of the Great Powers VII: The Foreign Policy of France from 1914–1945 (London and New York: Routledge and Paul Kegan, 1975), 65.

  32. 32.

    Hans W. Gatzeke (ed.), European Diplomacy between Two Wars, 1919–1939 (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1972), 5.

  33. 33.

    Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 101.

  34. 34.

    Klaus Pabst, Eupen-Malmedy , 456–457.

  35. 35.

    AAEB, Eupen-Malmedy , 10.792/I/304/1446, Baron de Gaiffier, Ambassadeur de Belgique à Paris to Paul Hymans , Ministre des Affaires Étrangères, 10 March 1925; Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 102.

  36. 36.

    AGR, BE-A0510/1252/02, Conseil des Ministres (1916–1949), 24 March 1925.

  37. 37.

    Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession, 328.

  38. 38.

    Ennsle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 91.

  39. 39.

    Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession, 329. Documents Diplomatiques Belges, 1920–1940, ii (1925–1931) (hereafter, DDB, ii) (Bruxelles: Ch. De Visscher & F. Vanlangenhove, 1964), Document 59, Le Baron de Gaiffier, Ambassadeur de Belgique à Paris to Baron Ruzette, 28 Mai 1925, 197–199.

  40. 40.

    DDB, ii, Document 64, Conversations de M. Paul Hymans , représentant de la Belgique au Conseil de la Société des Nations à Genève, 211–213.

  41. 41.

    DDB, ii, Document 72, Note de M. Everts, Ministre de Belgique à Berlin, 228–230.

  42. 42.

    Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 106–107.

  43. 43.

    The Locarno Conference took place between 5 and 16 October 1925. The Rhineland Pact was one of several accords, known collectively as the Locarno Treaties, agreed upon at the conference. The conference was attended by representatives from Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Poland and Czechoslovakia.

  44. 44.

    The Treaty of Versailles, i.19, 28 June 1919.

  45. 45.

    Valentine Thomson, Briand: Man of Peace (New York: Covici-Friede, 1930), 29.

  46. 46.

    AA, R 29057k, Eupen-Malmedy —zeit der Sicherheitspaktverhandlungen bis zur 1. Ablehenden Antwort der belg. Regierung, E120424–5, Gustav Stresemann , Abschrift, Reichsministerium, 2534, 20 October 1925.

  47. 47.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/7116/1957, Eupen-Malmedy , ‘Pacte de Sécurité’, Robert Everts to Émile Vandervelde, 21 October 1925; AA, R 29.057 k, Eupen-Malmedy -zeit der Sicherheitspaktverhandlungen bis zur 1. Ablehenden Antwort der belg. Regierung, E120424-5, Gustav Stresemann , ‘Abschrift’, Reichsministerium, 22 October 1925; Carl von Schubert, Staatssekretär, ‘Abschrift’, 22 October 1925; AA, R 29.057 k/E120426/5-8, Eupen-Malmedy zeit ser Sicherheitspaktverhandlungen bis zur 1. Ablehenden Antwort der belg. Regierung, Stresemann to Schacht, 22 October 1925.

  48. 48.

    Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession, 331.

  49. 49.

    Cited in Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession d’Eupen -Malmédy, 331.

  50. 50.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/29/4034/630, Eupen-Malmedy , Baron de Cartier de Marchienne, Belgian ambassador to Washington to Émile Vandervelde, 6 December 1925.

  51. 51.

    Der Landbote, 10 December 1925; ‘La campagne allemande pour la ‘restitution’ d’Eupen -Malmédy’, La Nation Belge, 15 December 1925.

  52. 52.

    L’Action Nationale, 20 December 1925.

  53. 53.

    AAEB, Dossier 331, Eupen-Malmedy , Émile Vandervelde to Robert Everts , 3 November 1925.

  54. 54.

    Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession d’Eupen -Malmédy, 331; Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 115–116.

  55. 55.

    Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession d’Eupen -Malmédy, 332.

  56. 56.

    Marc Somerhausen , cited in Die Arbeit, 26 December 1925.

  57. 57.

    Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 130–131.

  58. 58.

    AA, R28.581, Belgien, Bd. 2–3, D/590670-74/91-5, ‘Unterredung mit Herrn Delacroix’, 26 March 1926.

  59. 59.

    Bariéty observes how during the interwar period members of international commissions such as Delacroix enjoyed more power at times than elected politicians and diplomats. Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession, 333.

  60. 60.

    AAEB, 10.792/I, Eupen-Malmedy , Robert Everts , Belgian Minister in Berlin to Émile Vandervelde, 27 March 1926; Pabst, Eupen-Malmedy , 462.

  61. 61.

    AGR, BE-A0510/1252/02, Conseil des Ministres (1916–1949), 3 May 1926.

  62. 62.

    AAEB, 10792/III/43/350/26, Eupen-Malmedy , Émile Vandervelde to Robert Everts , 8 May 1926.

  63. 63.

    Marc Poulain, Querelles d’Allemands entre locarnistes: La question d’Eupen -Malmédy, in Revue Historique, 524 (October–December 1977), 393–439 (422).

  64. 64.

    Ibid.

  65. 65.

    The treaties signed at the Locarno Conference were effective from 14 September 1926, six days after Germany’s admittance to the League of Nations , and as a permanent member of the Council. AAEB, 10.792/III/44, Eupen-Malmedy , Robert Everts to Émile Vandervelde, 27 May 1926.

  66. 66.

    Meyer, Bankers’ Diplomacy, 26.

  67. 67.

    Poulain, Querelles d’Allemands entre locarnistes: La question d’Eupen -Malmédy, 423.

  68. 68.

    Max Tacel, La France et le monde au xxè siècle (Paris: Masson, 1989) 135–136.

  69. 69.

    Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 134–135.

  70. 70.

    Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession d’Eupen -Malmédy, 337.

  71. 71.

    Jon Jacobson & John Walker, The impulse for a Franco-German entente: The origins of the Thoiry Conference, 1926, Journal of Contemporary History, 10 (1975), 157–181 (166).

  72. 72.

    Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession d’Eupen -Malmédy, 337.

  73. 73.

    Hjalmar Schacht , 76 Jahre meines Lebens (Bad Wörishofen: Kindler und Schiermeyer, 1953), 57. An English translation of this work is also available: The Magic of Money (Paul Erskine, trans.) (London: Osbourne, 1967).

  74. 74.

    The Cartel des gauches comprised a political alliance of the Parti Radical (Radical-Socialist Party) and the Section Française de l’Internationale Ouvrière (French Section of the Workers’ International). The alliance first formed in 1924 following the legislative elections.

  75. 75.

    Ibid., 340.

  76. 76.

    Bariéty, Le projet de rétrocession, 339.

  77. 77.

    Jacobson & Walker, The impulse for a Franco–German entente, 166.

  78. 78.

    Pabst, Eupen-Malmedy , 467.

  79. 79.

    Enssle, 138–139; Pabst, Eupen-Malmedy , 468.

  80. 80.

    Akten Zur Deutschen Auswärtigen Politik, 1918–1945, Serie B, I.1. (Dezember 1925–Juli 1926) (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht in Göttingen, 1966) (hereafter, ADAP), Document 293, Schubert to Delacroix, 28 July 1926, 682–683.

  81. 81.

    Vincent O’Connell, Left to their own devices: Belgium’s ambiguous annexation of Eupen-Malmedy (1919–1940), Journal of Belgian History, XLIII (2013) 4, 10–45 (24).

  82. 82.

    AGR, BE-A0510/1252/02, Conseil des Ministres (1916–1949), 26 July 1926.

  83. 83.

    Ibid.

  84. 84.

    Poincaré took over as prime minister of France and leader of the Democratic Alliance government (Alliance Démocratique), which was a government of National Union (1926–1929), replacing the Cartel des Gauches under Aristide Briand , and briefly under Édouard Herriot. It would be his final tenure as French prime minister.

  85. 85.

    AAEB, 10.792/1/55, E. de Gaiffier, Entrevue entre les ministres belges et français du 30 Juillet 1926 à 2 heures de l’après-midi, 7 August 1926, 3; O’Connell, Left to their own devices, 24.

  86. 86.

    AAEB, 10.792/1/55, E. de Gaiffier, Entrevue entre les ministres belges et français du 30 Juillet 1926, 5.

  87. 87.

    AAEB, 10.792/1/55, E. de Gaiffier, Entrevue entre les ministres belges et français du 30 Juillet 1926.

  88. 88.

    AGR, BE-A0510/1252/02, Conseil des Ministres (1916–1949), 2 August 1926.

  89. 89.

    Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 147.

  90. 90.

    Baron Pierre Van Zuylen was appointed to the second section of the comité politique at the Belgian Foreign Ministry in January 1921, with responsibility for Northern Europe. He would serve in this post until October 1944.

  91. 91.

    AAEB, Dossier 331, Note pour le Roi sur la Question d’Eupen-Malmedy , 6 August 1926, 16–17.

  92. 92.

    Note pour le Roi, 18–19.

  93. 93.

    John F.V. Keiger, ‘Raymond Poincaré and the Ruhr crisis’, in Robert Boyce (ed.), French Foreign and Defence Policy 1918–1940: The Decline and Fall of a Great Power (London: Routledge, 1998), 50.

  94. 94.

    Bariéty, ‘Le projet de rétrocession d’Eupen -Malmédy’, 342.

  95. 95.

    Ibid., 343.

  96. 96.

    ‘Germany’s lost provinces: Repurchase plan, Eupen , Malmedy and the Saar, Conversations begun.’ Manchester Guardian, 13 August 1926; Heidi Christmann, Presse und gesellschaftliche Kommunikation, pp. 318–324.

  97. 97.

    Manchester Guardian, 13 August 1926.

  98. 98.

    ‘Lettre de Belgique—la manoeuvre allemande pour Eupen -Malmédy’, Le Temps, 15 August 1926.

  99. 99.

    Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 147–148.

  100. 100.

    Le Temps, 15 August 1926.

  101. 101.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/179/260, Eupen-Malmedy , Maurice Valcke, Belgian Consulate Danzig to Émile Vandervelde, 14 August 1926.

  102. 102.

    Of course, the Treaty of Versailles had not ‘definitely turned over’ the territory to Belgium, as this was conditional on the outcome of the much-maligned popular consultation. ‘Belgium offers Germany border towns for debt’, New York Herald Tribune, 18 August 1926.

  103. 103.

    Heidi Christmann, Presse und gesellschaftliche Kommunikation, 318; Eupener Nachrichten, 10 June 1925.

  104. 104.

    ‘Geben wir Eupen-Malmedy preis?’, Der Landbote, 11 July 1925; Christmann, Presse und gesellschaftliche Kommunikation, 319.

  105. 105.

    ‘Aus Eupen und Umgebung’, Eupener Zeitung, 24 November 1925.

  106. 106.

    Volksgazet, 3 December 1925; Eupener Zeitung, 3 December 1925; AA, R 29.057k, Eupen-Malmedy zeit der Sicherheitspaktverhandlungen bis zur 1. Ablehenden Antwort der belg. Regierung, E120424/12-13, Ganz geheim Telegram, 8 December 1925.

  107. 107.

    Pabst, ‘Eupen-Malmedy ’, 317; Christmann, Presse und gesellschaftliche Kommunikation in Eupen-Malmedy , 319.

  108. 108.

    Le Peuple, 26 December 1925.

  109. 109.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/63, Eupen-Malmedy , Pierre Van Werveke in a letter to Bien Public, 11 August 1926.

  110. 110.

    ‘Aus Eupen und Umgebung’, Eupener Zeitung, 11 January 1926.

  111. 111.

    Eupener Zeitung, 6 February 1926; Christmann, Presse und gesellschaftliche Kommunikation in Eupen-Malmedy, 319.

  112. 112.

    Malmedy -St. Vither Volkszeitung, 21 August 1926.

  113. 113.

    Lieutenant General Baron Baltia cited in Matin Belge, 18 August 1926.

  114. 114.

    AGR, BE-A0510/1252/02, Conseil des Ministres (1916–1949), 18 August 1926.

  115. 115.

    La Nation Belge, 20 August 1926.

  116. 116.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/6433/1770, Eupen-Malmedy , Robert Everts to Émile Vandervelde, 18 August 1926.

  117. 117.

    Bariéty, ‘Le projet de rétrocession d’Eupen -Malmédy’, 345.

  118. 118.

    Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 155; ADAP, Serie B, Bd. I, 2. (Bonn: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht in Göttingen, 1968), Document, 52, Der Gesandte in Kopenhagen von Mutius an das Auswärtige Amt, 20 August 1926, 106.

  119. 119.

    AA, R28.581 Belgien, Bd. 2–3, 54/204–5, Telegram no. 179, from Keller to Auswärtiges Amt, 23 August 1926.

  120. 120.

    ADAP, Serie B, Bd. I, 2, Document 64, Der Gesandte in Brüssel von Keller an das Auswärtige Amt, 27 August 1926, 136.

  121. 121.

    Although Briand had been critical of the German interpretation of Locarno, he had not closed the door on rapprochement with Germany. While not an outright advocate of the retrocession of Eupen-Malmedy , at least not before Germany’s entry into the League of Nations , he agreed that Article 19 of the League of Nations ’ charter could be used to effect change. Furthermore, Briand was anxious to develop the détente with Germany that had emanated from Locarno.

  122. 122.

    ADAP, Serie B, Bd. I, 2, Document 64, 136–137.

  123. 123.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/77, Eupen-Malmedy , Extrait d’un Rapport de Louis de Brouckère, 18 September 1926.

  124. 124.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/78, Eupen-Malmedy , Robert Everts to Émile Vandervelde, 21 September 1926; Berliner Tageblatt, 26 September 1926.

  125. 125.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/77, Eupen-Malmedy , Extrait d’un Rapport de Louis de Brouckère, 18 September 1926.

  126. 126.

    ‘The Fashoda Incident’ concerned rival French and British claims to Egypt and control of the Nile in the late nineteenth century. In 1898, the French attempted to establish a French protectorate near Fashoda (modern-day Kodok in South Sudan). The incident was eventually resolved diplomatically, and is believed to have served as the basis for the Entente Cordiale.

  127. 127.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/78, Eupen-Malmedy , Robert Everts to Émile Vandervelde, 21 September 1926; Berliner Tageblatt, 26 September 1926.

  128. 128.

    AAEB, Dossier 331, 10.792/I, Eupen-Malmedy , Albert De Bassompierre, Belgian Ambassador to Japan to Vandervelde, 3 September 1926.

  129. 129.

    AGR, BE-A0510/1252/02, Conseil des Ministres (1916–1949), 21 September 1926.

  130. 130.

    AGR, BE-A0510/1252/02, Conseil des Ministres (1916–1949), 6 October 1926.

  131. 131.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/82, Eupen-Malmedy , Extrait d’un Rapport de la Legation de Belgique à Berlin, 30 September 1926.

  132. 132.

    Jon Jacobson & John T. Walker suggest that Briand had not kept a written account of the Thoiry meeting. However, from the correspondence of Baron de Gaiffier d’Hestroy it is clear that at least one diary entry on the Thoiry meeting was entered by Briand. AAEB, 10.792/I/11667/4451, Eupen-Malmedy , Baron de Gaiffier d’Hestory, Belgian Ambassador to France to Émile Vandervelde, 8 October 1926; Jacobson & Walker, The impulse for a Franco–German entente, 161.

  133. 133.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/90, Eupen-Malmedy , compte-rendu de l’entretien de Émile Vandervelde et Aristide Briand , 12 November 1926; 10.792/I/92, Suite du résumé analytique du 4 Octobre 1926 concernant la question d’Eupen -Malmédy, 23 October 1926.

  134. 134.

    Ibid.

  135. 135.

    Meyer, Bankers’ Diplomacy: Monetary Stabilization in the Twenties, 26–30; Enssle, Stresemann’s Territorial Revisionism, 164.

  136. 136.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/7981/221, Eupen-Malmedy , Robert Everts to Émile Vandervelde, 18 October 1926.

  137. 137.

    APB, Marc Somerhausen , Chambre, 15 March 1927.

  138. 138.

    Vorwärts, 18 October 1926.

  139. 139.

    La Semaine, Die Arbeit, Eupener Nachrichten, Der Landbote, Malmédy St. Vither Volkszeitung. Three newspapers did not sign the petition however: La Nouvelle Belgique, L’Invalide, and La Gazette des métiers et négoces.

  140. 140.

    Eupener Nachrichten, 1 January 1927.

  141. 141.

    AAEB, 10.792/III, Eupen-Malmedy , ‘Proclamation’, 3 February 1927.

  142. 142.

    ‘Nous devons répondre à cela, que les articles du traité de Versailles dont s’agit, que nous connaissons aussi, ont été exécutés dans leur letter, mais non dans leur esprit!’ APB, Somerhausen, Chambre, 15 March 1927, 979.

  143. 143.

    Ibid.

  144. 144.

    APB, Somerhausen, Chambre, 15 March 1927, 979.

  145. 145.

    ‘…on essayait d’insuffler à la population des sentiments belgophiles à coups de matraques.’ APB, Somerhausen, Chambre, 15 March 1927, 979.

  146. 146.

    Ibid., 981.

  147. 147.

    APB, Somerhausen, Chambre, 15 March 1927, 981.

  148. 148.

    APB, Somerhausen, Chambre, 15 March 1927, 981.

  149. 149.

    APB, Sébastien Winandy , Chambre, 7 March 1925, 982.

  150. 150.

    Ibid., 985.

  151. 151.

    The Heimatbund , was founded in the Hotel Genten in St Vith in 1926, and boasted some 450 members at the time of its inception. Its founding members included an industrialist Peter Bohlen from the nearby town of Hauset, and a local farmer Josef Dehottay, who also ran the local agricultural newspaper Der Landbote. Bruno Kartheuser, Les années trentes à Eupen-Malmedy : regard sur le réseau de la subversion allemande (Neundorf: Krautgarten, 2001), 59.

  152. 152.

    Membership could be gained by the payment of one franc. By 1930, its membership had passed 3000. Julius Boehmer, Eupen-Malmedy -St. Vith : Ein Heimatbuch (Eupen : Esch, 1934), 72–74.

  153. 153.

    Gazette de la Croix, 10 August 1926; AAEB, 10.792/I/33/6256, Eupen-Malmedy , Ministère de la Justice to Ministère de l’Intérieure, 25 August 1926.

  154. 154.

    G. Havenith, Le Grenz Echo, 1927–1940: Une voie vers l’intégration’ [unpublished thesis] (University of Liège, 1995) (2 vols), i, 2–10; Christmann, Presse und gesellschaftliche Kommunikation, 372–373.

  155. 155.

    APB, Henri Jaspar , Chambre, 15 March 1927, 986–987.

  156. 156.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/195, Eupen-Malmedy , Note to Le Tellier, 27 October 1930.

  157. 157.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/207, Eupen-Malmedy , Rapport de Thier, 13 January 1931.

  158. 158.

    AAEB, 10.792/III, Eupen-Malmedy , Rapport Jules de Grand Ry , Commissariat de District à Eupen , 23 March 1927.

  159. 159.

    AAEB, 10.792/I/213/2, Eupen-Malmedy , Jules de Grand Ry to Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, 24 February 1928.

  160. 160.

    APB, Sénat, 13 March 1928, 570–577.

  161. 161.

    Landesarchiv Nordrhein Westfalen, Regierung Aachen-Prasidialbüro und Sondergruppen, 1651/6806/132, Dr Loehrs to Preussiche Minister des Innern, 2 October 1928; Preussiche Minister des Innern to Oberpräsident der Rheinprovinz, 12 October 1928.

  162. 162.

    Albert Renard, Paix ou guerre? Eupen -Malmédy, Alsace Lorraine, L’Anschluss, Pays-Bas et Belgique (Raymond Poincaré , pref.) (Paris: F. Alcan, 1930), 149–155.

  163. 163.

    Pabst, Eupen-Malmedy , 483.

  164. 164.

    DDB, Document 189, ‘Évacuation de la Rhénanie’ (troisième séance), 16 September 1928, 556.

  165. 165.

    Pierre Van Werveke , La Belgique et Eupen -Malmédy: où en sommes nous? (Bruxelles: Les Éditions du Pays Belge 1937), 12.

  166. 166.

    Van Werveke, La Belgique et Eupen -Malmédy, avant-propos.

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    Vincent O’Connell

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O’Connell, V. (2018). ‘Road to Abandonment’: Belgium’s Approach to Eupen-Malmedy, 1925–1929. In: The Annexation of Eupen-Malmedy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95295-3_6

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