Flanders Fields in Ypres
The First World War
Flanders is a land steeped in history and culture. Maybe that is why you can find so many museums all over Belgium. One of the most exciting but also the most difficult parts of history could certainly be the First World War. It can also be a war known to mainly oppose France and Germany even if, as its name suggests, it was global. This war started in 1914 and ended in 1918. Belgium was involved from the beginning in 1914 because of the German occupation.
Three parts of this trip marked me. The Menin gate, the museums and the trenches, everything was kept to not forget what happened before to these humans more than one hundred years ago.
In Flanders Fields museum in Ypres is an immersive exhibition that makes you follow the lives of these people who went to the battlefield and who lived the war outside of it. They can be from Belgium but not only. French, German and British soldiers are indeed represented there. This museum allows the audience to reflect on their culture if they are from these countries or to compare and learn from the differences.
This visit was not a full discovery because in France, I used to study a lot about World Wars. However, I found it interesting to see it from another prism.
Outside of the museum, in the city, you can find the Menin gate. There is a celebration where people play music everyday. This was really surprising. It was the first time I heard about something like this, you would not find this in France. Moreover, I find that this is a good way to keep the memory of these people who died during the war. It’s important to not remember them not only once a year.
As a French student, I used to learn a lot about World Wars and it was, although harrowing, really interesting. Discovering another point of view from Belgium culture was far from what I had imagined. Before, I was thinking that every point of view was really different, however, I noticed
that soldiers lived the same pain and the same hard time. The most emotional part is about the Christmas truce. During the exposition, there is this video about four soldiers, one from each army, that talk about this moment of the First World War. Even if war echoes to dead bodies, massacre, weapons, we always forget the people and their feelings in this horrible part of their life.
It was my first time seeing a tranchée in real life and it was in Belgium. I have to say that it changed a lot of things. Feelings. Definitely, I was agape. Of course, you learn about it and you know that it happened but being at the same place as they were was perturbant.
We tend to say that the war was different from every side and every country but what we discovered now is that people from the North of France and Belgium have a common experience under the German occupation : rapes, pillaging, deaths… Differences exist of course, on the other hand, what is depicted there is only people trying to survive.
The museum is huge, you can spend the whole day there. It is really interactive and immersive with the audios and videos.
Furthermore, at the entrance you can appreciate the painting that you see below. I was subjugated first, by the beauty of it and then by the work and details that the artist put in it. I think I stood there for at least twenty-five minutes and I still managed to find new forms. Moreover, it reminds me a lot of what I used to study in France. There were a lot of similarities in the stories that were told even if I never see a painting as amazing as this one before.
If you go there, do not miss it, it is a must see!