🏛️ In Flanders Fields Museum — Death was written large everywhere
It’s finding out where we came from that helps guide us to where we are going.
– Mona Rodriguez
The 11th of November, 2021. The day I first visited Ypres. It was a visit for a reason. Armistice Day, a public holiday in Belgium. Every year on this day Belgium commemorates the end of World War I, giving tribute to all the soldiers and victims who lost their lives during the war.
When I received the invitation for this school trip, I accepted without thinking. Why? Because even though I am far from my country, this day is equally important for us Serbs. Although we were one of the winning countries in the First World War, we suffered huge losses, just like Belgium. I felt that this is the right moment to get to know the Belgian side of history by visiting Ypres and giving tribute to all soldiers who lost their lives.
Armistice Day in the First World War is a national holiday in Serbia as well. The symbol of this holiday and victory in the Great War in Serbia is the flower of Natalija Ramonda, an endemic plant that grows in eastern Serbia on the mountain Nidza, the highest peak of Kajmakcalan, important territory for the Serbian army in the war.
Before the Last Post Ceremony, which begins every day at 8 pm, we visited St. Martin’s Church — an impressive building that was rebuilt after being razed to the ground in the First World War. The families of the deceased still bring things that the soldiers took with them when the cathedral was destroyed.
Last Post on the 11th of November is a special and heartbreaking experience. The ceremony this day lasts longer than usual, and completely different energy is felt in the air. A mix of pride, anger, and helplessness, but also grief for the innocent lives lost and all those who have not yet been found and buried. Grief for those who, even after that many years, cannot rest in peace.
Not even a cold winter night stopped thousands of people from gathering and witnessing this event. Brass band and trumpeters played a touching tribute to the thousands of soldiers who lost their lives on the battlefields around Ypres.
After visiting Ypres on the 11th of November, I knew that I would return to this city one day to explore it better and understand what was happening in this area more than a century ago. Two weeks later I visited Yper and Flanders Fields museum again as a part of a school trip. That day was a completely different experience compared to the previous visit.
Before the museum, we visited the Gate cemetery where many soldiers are buried, including the youngest British soldier W. J. Scholz. I was again overwhelmed with sadness, anger, and pride at the same time. I was thinking not only of the soldiers buried in this cemetery where I was standing but also of those who sacrificed and lost their lives on the Balkan front.
MUSEUM STORY
At the entrance to the museum, a painting by the Flemish artist Sam Dillemans with the symbolic name “Ypres” is placed. When you take a deeper look into this work, you can see the shocking scenes of the war. Dillemans has been collecting war photographs for years and was looking for inspiration in them to show a new, wild universe in which he precisely portrayed the violence and suffering of soldiers.
Historians say that many countries were unaware that the war would not remain only in the Balkans. With the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia, the Declaration of war, and the activation of European military blocs, it was clear that the war would not be limited only to the Balkans.
Belgium and The Netherlands announced the mobilization even before Germany, on the 31st of July. And then, on the 2nd of August, an ultimatum arrived at the Belgian government in which the Germans asked to be allowed to pass. The fortifications around Liege in the border area were prepared for battle. Trees were cut down, houses were demolished and barricades were erected. Roads next to the border were cut. Food had already begun to run out, horses and cattle had been requisitioned.
ESCAPING THE WAR
The fear of wartime violence and terror made many thousands take flight. At the height of the conflict, in October 1914, one and a half million Belgians — a quarter of the population — sought shelter in The Netherlands, France, or Great Britain. Many would return shortly afterward, but escalating violence and uncertain circumstances later created more streams of refugees. In November 1918 around 600 000 Belgians were still living in other countries. Others had sought refuge in the small part of unoccupied Belgium. On the German side, the occupier deported many of the inhabitants of the Front zone inland. Refugees and displaced persons were not only homeless but also often depended on the charity of others to survive.
IN THE JAWS OF WAR
West Flanders was a battlefield for four years, and a territory where the Belgian and British army, and also a large number of their allies fought against the Germans. That is incredibly important. The Battle of the Isère River in West Flanders meant survival for the Belgian nation. The Belgians fought like lions in the trenches.
Like Serbia, Belgium in the First World War showed that even much smaller forces can ruin the plans of “great” forces. At the Robermont military cemetery in Liege, Belgium built a monument to its ally, next to which Serbian soldiers are buried.
The truth remained flooded with drops of blood and tears. In a report to his government French general Franchet d’Espèrey wrote about Serbian soldiers:
“Operations must be slowed down, the Serbian troops do not need communications, they are going like a storm—forward.”
Robert Lansing, the US Secretary of State said: “When the history of this war is being written, its most famous section will be called SERBIA.”
Serbian fame remained recorded, but Serbian sacrifices were also enormous. Serbia paid a high price for the great victory in the First World War. During the war, it lost between 1,100,000 and 1,300,000 inhabitants, which was almost a third of the total population or 60% of the male population.
PERSONAL REMEMBRANCE
More than half a million of the nearly 10 million combatants dead or reported missing were lost in and around Ypres. For them, the War was finally over. The survivors would have to live with the aftermath for the rest of their lives — those with physical and mental scars, those who had lost friends and family, and the many unemployed old soldiers. Sorrow and loss were expressed in stone memorials or framed photographs. Objects brought back from the battlefields were highly charged with memories. Even today, souvenirs soldiers once brought home from the ruins are now returned by their descendants.
LOOK AND FEEL OF HISTORY
The walk-through history of the Flanders region in Flanders Fields Museum was stunning. A dark period in human history is well covered and presented from so many different perspectives. An excellent combination of traditional museum exhibits (contemporary objects, maps, documents) and modern audiovisual presentations is used to create a pretty comprehensive experience.
Sometimes it was emotionally hard to look at the pictures and listen to testimonies about terrible life and conditions which soldiers endured between 1914–18, especially during the infamous battles known as Passchendaele. This museum takes us through all phases and makes us experience the Great war, stripped form romance, tragedy and pain.
The whole town of Ypres is a testament to rebuilding after a tragedy. Whether you are on the ‘good’ side or the ‘bad’ side of World War 1 history, you are guided through a period in a fair, educational and challenging way.
