​​Memorial for the victims of national socialism​

​​The inscription reads:

​‘In memory of the victims of the Nazi regime’ (​‘Zum Gedenken an die Opfer des Naziregimes’).

​​The local section of Political Prisoners (PP) and of the ​‘Front Unique’ (Front Unique National des Anciens Combattants – National United Veteran’s Front) took the initiative to have this monument erected. It commemorates those who died in a prison or concentration camp because of their political views or their acts of resistance, as well as those who survived, and those ‘forcefully recruited’ by the Wehrmacht who died or returned physically or mentally wounded.

The regional daily newspaper Grenz-Echo covered the inauguration event, largely attended by Resistance groups and PP sections from Belgium, delegations from Germany and the Belgian section of the ‘American Legion’. The latter included Mathieu Moeris, a prominent member from Eupen, who was president of the local section for several years. You can find his grave in the neighbouring cemetery of honour.  

​The mass preceding the inauguration was celebrated by three former PP: Dean Benoît Ledur, and the concentration camp survivors, priests Joseph Olbertz and Nicolas Xhonneux. Ledur highlighted the fate of Jean Arnolds as a symbol for all victims. Arnolds had been a teacher and priest in Eupen and built up a network in Montzen, which helped fugitives to cross the border. He was arrested in 1944 and decapitated in Berlin. In Kirchgässchen, behind St. Nicholas church, you can find a commemorative plaque in his memory.

​For the stories of other known victims, see the following virtual exhibitions:

​https://www.zeitschichten.be/en/perspectives/kann-man-die-vergangenheit-saubern (in EN, DE, FR, NL)

​https://www.zeitschichten.be/en/perspectives/wie-erlebten-die-ostbelgier-den-krieg (in EN, DE, FR, NL)

​https://gerettete-erinnerung.geschichte.be/ (only in DE and FR).