The history of the German-speaking community still has a lot to reveal and Belgians still know relatively little about it. This small border region, situated at the crossroads of two great cultures, has nevertheless been the subject of a history troubled by successive changes of nationality. A team of authors from a variety of backgrounds, working with Carlo Lejeune, lecturer at the teaching training college in Eupen, and Christoph Brüll, FRS-FNRS research associate in the department of historical sciences at the University of Liège, set itself the monumental challenge of piecing together the history of this area, from antiquity to the present day. The first of six volumes in German has just been published by Grenz-Echo. Devoted to the post-war period, it focuses on the political and socioeconomic stakes that led to the cultural autonomy of a linguistic minority.

Originating from the east of Belgium, Christoph Brüll has always given priority to his native community in his research. Although not at the centre of his work, the German-speaking community nevertheless features as an on-going project.

When the government of the German-speaking community included work on the region’s past in its regional development plan, the young researcher from the University of Liège naturally took part in the project. Writing a history of the German-speaking community was indeed one of the stages in this plan.

Historians originating from the German-speaking community, but also researchers from Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium, joined forces to write this reference work together. A scientific committee, composed essentially of historians from the region or universities in the vicinity who had already worked on similar subjects, was formed to supervise the work, proceed with the choice of the various authors and establish the overall structure of the work. The role of the German-speaking community was limited to funding the project and taking care of the administrative aspects. All the work was coordinated by Carlo Lejeune, and by Christoph Brüll for the volumes concerning the 19th and 20th centuries.

A history in six volumes

In order to cover all these centuries of history, not one book but six were planned. Published in December 2013, the first volume was in fact the fifth according to the chronological order. Entitled Border experiences. A History of the German-speaking Community in Belgium. Purge, reconstruction, debates over autonomy (1945-1973) (1), it covers the post-war period, from 1945 to 1973, the year the Council of the German Cultural Community was established following the first constitutional revision of 1970. In all, ten authors contributed to this first volume.

Next to be published after this first volume (which is the fifth one chronologically), is the first book in the chronological order. Relating to a period ranging from ancient history up to the Middle Ages, this volume is close to completion and will be published in 2014. As for volumes II (16th century-1789), III (1789-1919) and IV (1919-1945), they are still in the research phase and should be completed by 2015 - 2016. Finally, the last volume, relating to the period from 1973 to the present day, is still in the draft stage. The researchers will require a certain amount of hindsight to write this contemporary history.

"The primary goal of the work is to present and analyse the history of a particular region in Western Europe", Christoph Brüll explains. “The German-speaking community’s past is rather interesting because it lies at the crossroads of two nation-states and two great cultures. The advantage of choosing such a subject of study, which is also a disadvantage, is the small size of the community studied. The research subjects can be quite rapidly defined and the investigation of the sources easy to manage. The negative side relates more to the reception of this work. The book will undoubtedly benefit from several articles in a number of scientific journals in the coming months but the main audience of this work in German will be the population of the German-speaking region and its neighbouring communes.”

While the audience targeted by these publications remains above all the German-speaking Belgian population and its close neighbours, a French, and even Dutch, version of the work is also planned. “The publication of a work in French and Dutch is envisaged. This won’t be a translation but rather a synthesis of the period spanning the 19th and 20th centuries”, Christoph Brüll suggests, keen to communicate the fruit of his research to the rest of Belgium as well.

(1) Carlo Lejeune et Christoph Brüll (eds), Grenzerfahrungen. Eine Geschichte der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft Belgiens, vol. 5: Säuberung, Wiederaufbau, Autonomiediskussionen (1945-1973), éd. Grenz-Echo, Eupen, 2014, 288 p. [title translated: Border experiences. A history of the german speaking community of Belgium, vo. 5: Civic screening, reconstruction, debate about the autonomy (1945-1973)].