German‑speaking Community Of Belgium
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The German-speaking Community (, , DG), also known as East Belgium ( ), is one of the three federal communities of
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
. The community is composed of nine municipalities in
Liège Province Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is the easternmost province of the Wallonia region of Belgium. Liège Province is the only Belgian province that has borders with three countries. It borders (clockwise from the north) the Dutch province of Limburg, the ...
,
Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...
, within the Eupen-Malmedy region in Eastern Belgium. The primary language of the community is German, making this one of the three official languages in Belgium. Traditionally the community and the wider area around it forms an intersection of various local languages and/or dialects, namely
Limburgish Limburgish ( or ; ; also Limburgian, Limburgic or Limburgan) refers to a group of South Low Franconian Variety (linguistics), varieties spoken in Belgium and the Netherlands, characterized by their distance to, and limited participation ...
, Ripuarian and
Moselle Franconian Moselle Franconian (; ) is a West Central German language, part of the Central Franconian languages area, that includes Luxembourgish. Overview Moselle Franconian is spoken in the southern Rhineland and along the course of the Moselle, i ...
varieties. The community has an area of , and has a population of around 79,000 (as of January 2024)about 7.0% of Liège Province and about 0.7% of the national total. Bordering the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and
Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
, the area has its own parliament and government at
Eupen Eupen (, , ; ; ; former ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Belgium, Belgian Liège Province, province of Liège, from the Germany, German border (Aachen ...
. The German-speaking Community of Belgium was annexed in 1920 from Germany. There are also some other areas where German is spoken that belonged to Belgium before 1920, but these are not part of the German-speaking Community. This category includes the Bleiberg- Welkenraedt- Baelen area in the northeastern part of the province of Liège, as well as
Arelerland The Land of Arlon ( ; ; ; ) is the traditionally Luxembourgish-speaking part of Belgian Lorraine, which is now predominantly French-speaking. Arlon is the main city of this region. The area has borders with the Gaume to the west and with th ...
(the city of
Arlon Arlon (; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Luxembourg (Belgium), province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. With a population of just over 28,000, it ...
and some nearby villages in the southeastern portion of the province of Belgian Luxembourg). However, German is declining in these areas outside of the core German-speaking Community due to the expansion of French.


History

The area known today as the East Cantons consists of the German-speaking Community and the municipalities of
Malmedy Malmedy (; , historically also ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2018, Malmedy had a total population of 12,654. The total area is 99.96 km2 which gives a population dens ...
and Waimes (), which belong to the
French Community of Belgium In Belgium, the French Community (, , CFB) refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation (, , FWB), which is controversial because ...
. The East Cantons were part of the
Rhine Province The Rhine Province (), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. ...
of
Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
in the
German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
until 1920 (as the counties ( Landkreise) of Eupen and Malmedy), but were annexed by
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
following Germany's defeat in World War I and the subsequent
Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...
. Thus they also became known as the ', "redeemed cantons". The peace treaty of Versailles demanded the "questioning" of the local population. People who were unwilling to become Belgians and wanted the region to remain a part of Germany were required to register themselves along with their full name and address with the Belgian military administration, headed by Herman Baltia, and many feared reprisals or even expulsion for doing so. In the mid-1920s, there were secret negotiations between Germany and the kingdom of Belgium that seemed to be inclined to sell the region back to Germany as a way to improve Belgium's finances. A price of 200 million gold marks has been mentioned. At this point, the French government, fearing for the stability of the broader postwar order, intervened with Brussels and the Belgian-German talks were called off. The new cantons had been part of Belgium for just 20 years when, in 1940, they were retaken by Germany in World War II. The majority of people of the east cantons welcomed this as they considered themselves German. Following the defeat of Germany in 1945, the cantons were once again annexed by Belgium, and as a result of alleged collaboration with Nazi Germany an attempt was made to de-Germanize the local population by the Belgian and Walloon authorities. File:Former German territories.svg, Eupen-Malmedy area and other German territories lost in both World Wars are shown in black, present-day Germany is marked dark grey on this 1914 map. File:Eupen 1943-CP2a.jpg, 1943 postcard; Nazi propaganda postmark reads ' ("Return to the Greater-German Fatherland") In the early 1960s, Belgium was divided into four linguistic areas, the Dutch-speaking Flemish area, the French-speaking area, the bilingual capital of
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, and the German-speaking area of the east cantons. In 1973, three communities and three regions were established and granted internal autonomy. The legislative Parliament of the German-speaking Community, ', was set up. Today the German-speaking Community has a fair degree of autonomy, especially in language and cultural matters, but it still remains part of the region of predominantly French-speaking
Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...
. There has been much argument in the past few years that the German-speaking Community should also become its own region, which is an ongoing process with the permanent transfer with the previous accord of some competences concerning social policy, conservation of sites and monuments, environment protection policy, transport, the financing of municipalities, among other things from the Walloon Region. One of the proponents of full regional autonomy for the German-speaking Community is
Karl-Heinz Lambertz Karl-Heinz Lambertz (born 4 June 1952) is a Belgian politician holding a master's degree in law from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) with an additional specialisation in German law ( University of Heidelberg). Lambertz was president of th ...
, the minister-president from 1999 to 2014. According to the government of the German-speaking Community, special consideration should be given to regional autonomy for spatial planning, city building, and housing.


Geography


Location

The territory of the German-speaking Community is bounded on the north by the Belgium-Germany-Netherlands border
tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...
, on the east by Germany and on the south by Luxembourg, and on the west by the territory of the French-speaking Community of Belgium. Within Belgium, the German-speaking Community exercises its political powers on the German-speaking territory, which comprises nine municipalities. Eupen is the seat of the government, the parliament and the administrative centre. The municipalities of Malmedy and Weismes belong to the territorial community of the French Community of Belgium. The German minority has its own rights there. Occasionally, the nine German-speaking communities, together with the communities of Malmedy and Weismes, are historically called East Belgium or East Cantons because of their common political past, formerly also as Eupen-Malmedy-St. Vith. In March 2017, the government of the German-speaking community decided to market the area as East Belgium. Analogous to
South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...
(officially: Autonomous Region of Bolzano – South Tyrol), the name of the German-speaking Community of Belgium will continue to be used on official documents, on the external presentation, on the Internet and on the official posters of the ministry, the government and the parliament.


Government

The German-speaking Community has its own government, which is appointed for five years by its own parliament. The Government is headed by a Minister-President, who acts as the "
prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
" of the Community, and is assisted by the Ministry of the German-speaking Community. The 2024–2029 government is formed by four Ministers: *
Oliver Paasch Oliver Paasch (; Malmedy, 21 October 1971) is a Belgian politician of the German-speaking ProDG (Belgium), Pro Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft party and the incumbent Minister-president of the German-speaking Community of Belgium. Between 2004 a ...
( ProDG), Minister-President and Minister for Local Government * Gregor Freches ( PFF), Minister for Culture, Media and Tourism * Lydia Klinkenberg ( ProDG), Minister for Family, Social Affairs, Housing and Health * Jérôme Franssen ( CSP), Minister for Education, Training and Employment


Municipalities

The German-speaking Community consists of nine municipalities, listed in the table below. Numbers on the map to the right correspond to the "Map #" column in the table below. ( = comparable to previous year). The population figures are those on 1 January 2020 (compare to a total of 73,675 on 1 January 2007). The municipalities are grouped into two
cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...
, namely the Canton of Eupen in the north and the Canton of Sankt Vith in the south. The wider region is included in the
Arrondissement of Verviers The Arrondissement of Verviers (; ; ) is one of the four administrative arrondissements in the Walloon province of Liège, Belgium. It includes all the 9 municipalities of the German-speaking Community (about 1/4 of population), while the remai ...
.


Demographics

In 2007, 73,675 inhabitants (86.3 inhabitants / km2) lived in the area of the German-speaking community. However, the population density in the canton of Eupen (north) and the canton of St. Vith (south) is very different: *District of Eupen: 44 159 inhabitants – 196.4 inhabitants / km2. *District of St. Vith: 29 516 inhabitants – 46.9 inhabitants / km2 The North-South demographic gap is particularly evident when comparing the North and South of the community: *The most densely populated municipality is Kelmis (577.9 inhabitants / km2); *The least densely populated municipality is Büllingen (36.2 inhabitants / km2). By comparison, the population density is 346.7 in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, 204.0 in Wallonia and 452.4 in Flanders. Men represent 49.72% with a slightly lower proportion of the total population of the German-speaking community, women are in the majority with 50.28%. As of 2020 over 21% of the community is foreign-born, with Germans representing the overwhelming majority of that group, followed by Turks.


See also

* Parliament of the German-speaking Community and Government of the German-speaking Community *
Minister-President of the German-speaking Community The minister-president of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, German-speaking Community () is the head of government, head of the Government of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, one of the three Communities of the country. List of o ...
*
German-speaking electoral college The German-speaking electoral college is one of three constituencies of the European Parliament in Belgium. It elects just one MEP for East Belgium, making it the only such constituency, effectively making it first past the post between partie ...
(European Parliament constituency) *
German-speaking Europe This article details the geographical distribution of speakers of the German language, regardless of the legislative status within the countries where it is spoken. In addition to the Germanosphere () in Europe, German-speaking minority languag ...
* German diaspora * * Lists of protected heritage sites in the German-speaking Community of Belgium * Belgian annexation plans after the Second World War


Notes


References


External links

* , the official site of the German-speaking Community in Belgium.
Government website

Parliament website
*
Prospecting an In-Between, East Belgium 1920–2020
{{Authority control Communities of Belgium Society of Belgium
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
Geography of Liège Province Regions of Wallonia Politics of Wallonia Liège Province Wallonia Countries and territories where German is an official language States and territories established in 1984