However, 1973 was a turning point, as the historians set out to establish. In 1973, the population had little to do with these debates concerning the cultural autonomy and political future of their region in a changing Belgium.

After the war, many people from the east of Belgium were accused of having collaborated with the German enemy. In order to prevent a recurrence of the situation during the interwar period, the Belgian state conducted a policy of assimilation. The integration of these new German-speaking populations after 1920 and until 1940 was considered a failure. Hence the attempt to pursue a more severe policy after 1945, first within the framework of civic screening then through this policy of assimilation.  In particular, this consisted of francisation through education. As of 1945, all classes were taught in French in secondary schools. It was clear by the end of the 1950s that this policy had failed.

This somewhat complicated past as well as the partial or distorted perception that the population had of Belgium explain the German-speakers’ lack of interest in Belgian political conflicts.  In the media, and especially in the Grenz-Echo, the region’s main newspaper, these Belgo-Belgian conflicts were rarely mentioned. “And yet, the German-speaking community would never have achieved autonomy without the Belgo-Belgian conflict. It’s a direct result of it”, Christoph Brüll adds. The population had very little involvement in the political world and its participation in debates on autonomy was almost inexistent. These discussions were the affair of a few restricted circles. The first members of the parliamentary assembly were therefore mainly the younger generation. They studied in Leuven, were involved in the student movement and the anti-establishment circles, and experienced the Belgo-Belgian conflict first hand. They arrived in this small region armed with their claims for identity.

The turning point in 1973 is therefore altogether relative. The importance it is given today was barely noticeable to the population at the time. Therefore, there is very clearly a difference between the later opinion and the opinion of contemporaries.

However, 1973 remains a significant year for other reasons. Besides the political changes, 1973 also marks the end of ‘The Glorious Thirty'.  The post-war period and the rapidly expanding economy which began in the 1950s, was coming to an end. In this essentially rural region, a phase of economic change began, later than in the rest of Belgium. Attitudes were also evolving. The process was similar to that in many regions of Western Europe, even if it arrived some years later and was far from being as violent. Several evolutions therefore converged in the middle of the 1970s and justified this turning point.

These various issues are analysed in the work, very often for the first time or from new points of view, by placing the events in a Belgian context.  While it leaves a fair number of doors open, the strength of this volume is to raise hitherto unasked questions and to offer a different point of view.