after WW1 , when all the land here was pretty much a desolate wasteland
the first folks that returned, made a living out of recycling pretty much anything they could find
which incidently, was just weaponry, unexploded shells, empty casings...
i've got books here about those first few years, unfortunately they are in flemish only else i'de post the ISBN numbers...
needless to say, that many of these pioneers , because that's what they were, pioneers of the wastelands...met an unfortunate demise... those who didn't however... made their families extremely rich.
just to give you an idea of what 1919 looked like in these parts
there was absolutely nothing
those abroad, who had fled (probably 99.9% of civilians), weren't even allowed to return unless they had somewhere to stay, those who were eager to return, usually had dad and hte oldest son , sneak into the region , and then fabricate a make shift shelter out of whatever they could find , and then they'de bring the family back...
in 1919, there wasn't a bakery within 10 miles of where my current house is
Ypres was under military lock down while the brass figured out whether or not to make the whole town a historical site, the closest bakery was Poperinge...
no decent roads, no cars, those who were here didn't have bicycles , nothing
truly a post apocalyptic existence for those in that period of time
the "reparations" was agreed upon at Versailles, but the distribution of those reparations took a terrible long time... don't have the book at home now, but from memory i think it lasted at least 3 years till houses were being built from those reparations
much of those reparations didn't even make it to Flanders, lot's got stuck in Brussels, where the french speaking governement ruled the country, Flanders was a backward region , no industry, no political power... WW1 was a catalyst for the Flemish to act out against that discrimination based on our language devide...
The book also showed how a priest who was in the army as a chaplain, was the first in a town , and instrumental at getting basic town functionality going.... it had notes about how they organized a first church in barracks, then fought to fund the reconstruction of a church, how they had to repatriate all the church items and art that was moved to safety and such...
there was very, very little in actual, practical relief for those here during those first 4-6 years
the allies were all to busy patting eachother on their backs, thinking about how to deal with what Churchil called Holy Land... if it weren't for the locals disagreeing with the historical site plan ... my home town would be a living ruin, a tourist attraction with no inhabitants (it is partly a tourist destination now, but it's also my home, it's more now)
at some point, the War Mayor, a Canadian officer (always the Canadians, eh
) tried to bluf his way into becoming the after war ruler of Ypres... with false credentials he tried to tell the other Allies, that his government had appointed him given him a mandate to take control
set himself up in a shack on the ramparts, but his bluff was called and he was shipped back to Canada...
there is one book specifically about the Menin Gate, and those early years in Ypres
it's not so much about the "pioneers" more about the politics of those days in Ypres, and the construction of the Memorial, as well as info about the WW2 years , when Hitler came to visit several times , to visit the British memorial ( he did not order it destroyed, it appears he had some form of respect for the dead who fought in the same hell he did, doesn't make him a fine man, but it's note worthy ) how Leaders, Royals and Popes visited Ypres and the Gate over the years, it's written by my neece's ex hubby who's a researcher for the local museum
Dominiek Dendooven, Ypres as Holy Ground: Menin Gate and Last Post (Koksijde: de Klaproos, n.d.) ISBN 90 5508 051 9.
