Whispering Monuments
EN – You will understand that after a three year long immersion in all things WWI, we looked for a centenary free zone for our summer holidays. Budget as well […]
Applause
EN – I don’t think they feel as if we failed them, the 54.000 souls whose names are engraved at the Menin Gate. I guess they are quite surprised, really. […]
Expansion
EN – April 22, 2015: one hundred years after the first gas attack in history we had wreaths in Boezinge near Ypres, and at the Brooding Soldier in Langemark. A […]
Trees
EN – A warmer air, longer days, louder birdsong: they speak of Spring but the real messengers of the new season are the trees. Previously dead looking woods start growing […]
A Growing Family
EN – Suddenly he appears. A new uncle Leo. Not ‘my’ uncle Leo (the brother of my father) but my father’s uncle Leo who was brother to my grandfather. This […]
Safety in Numbers
“Not what is counted, no, what is recounted is remembered” (Gunter Grass) EN – The number of the fallen. The number of the missing. The number of the graveyards. The […]
Intercontinental Cooking
EN – My regular supermarket has no golden syrup on its shelves. There are no coconut flakes to be found either (raped coconut, yes, but that’s different). I have an […]
Keep Calm
EN – “Fellow citizens, keep calm. We stay with you” The poster appeared in the streets of Nieuwpoort while the seaside resort found itself in the eye of the WWI-storm. […]
Childish hope
EN – The Year is New, but it’s not a Happy one. While the Great War Centenary continues, so does the fighting in too many places on earth. A hundred […]
Widow and Children
EN – It’s much smaller than life. There’s no theatrical gesture, this is not an expression of Courage, Honour or Sacrifice (with capitals). The mother and children don’t represent the […]
