Dinant: Reconciliation after more than a century

By Jürgen Klute

“It is the first major rupture in European civilisation in the 20th century,” writes the Dutch historian Christoph Driessen in his book „Geschichte Belgiens – Die gespaltene Nation” (History of Belgium – The Divided Nation), published in 2018. This sentence can be found in the chapter on the German army’s invasion of Belgium in August 1914 (p. 152). Right at the start of the German invasion, several massacres of Belgian civilians took place in eastern and southern Belgium, claiming the lives of some 5,500 civilians in total – including women, children and babies. The massacres occurred in several locations. The picturesque town of Dinant, situated on the Meuse, suffered one of the worst of these massacres. There, a total of 674 civilians were shot by German soldiers.

With its attack on Belgium, the German Empire had not only disregarded Belgium’s neutrality. When Belgium seceded from the Netherlands in 1830 and became independent, the five major European powers of the time – Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia – had recognised Belgium’s independence on the condition that the new state commit to neutrality, in order not to upset the balance of power in Europe that had only just been negotiated at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In return, the five great powers mentioned had declared themselves guarantors of neutrality, including Prussia, writes Driessen in his book (p. 106). The German Empire, dominated by Prussia, had thus invaded its western neighbour as one of the guarantor powers of Belgian neutrality.

In his description of the German invasion, Driessen explains that the imperial troops encountered unexpected resistance in Belgium in August 1914 and suffered more casualties than anticipated. This is also reflected in the information at the memorial in Dinant, the Mémorial 674 in the Jardins du CPAS on Avenue des Combattants.On 15 August 1914, the 3rd Saxon Army encountered massive resistance from French troops in Dinant and was initially repelled, as stated there. Heavy artillery battles took place, resulting in the destruction of around a third of Dinant’s buildings. On Sunday, 23 August 1914, the Saxon army then carried out acts of revenge. Saxon units marched through the streets of Dinant and randomly attacked civilians. They regarded them as “Franctireurs”, i.e. resistance fighters in civilian clothing, and carried out executions of civilians at several locations throughout the city that day.

The bronze relief; photo: J. Klute

The monument and its destruction by the Wehrmacht in 1942

This massacre in Dinant is linked to a particular story that came to an end on 12 June 2026.

On 23 August 1927, a memorial was unveiled to commemorate the murder of the 674 citizens of Dinant. The memorial was commissioned by the association ‘Le Souvenir Dinantais’. It was located at the Mur Bourdon, 146 Rue Arthur Defoin. A bronze plaque was affixed to the memorial, depicting a scene in which German soldiers were firing on civilians.

When Belgium was once again occupied by German troops in 1940, the Nazi military authorities viewed the memorial as a reminder that was a thorn in their side. The archivist of the city of Dinant, Michel Coleau, described the events that followed to Belgieninfo in the following words: “Since the occupation of the city in May 1940, the German military authorities had demanded that the city council demolish the memorials and remove the inscriptions, which were considered dishonourable to the imperial troops. The town refused, and the Germans had to resort to local stonemasons. On 25 September 1942, the rubble of the monument, which had been located at the Bourdon Wall, was stored in the garden, and the bronze plaque was taken to Berlin on the orders of the major in charge of the Dinant-Philippeville district.”

Other bronze plaques commemorating the massacre, including the ‘Incendiaire’, which had been affixed to one of the walls of the Bouille smithy in the Saint-Roch district, were, Comeau continued, taken to Berlin in 1942 to be melted down. Some of the items stolen in 1940 and 1942 were returned to Dinant in 1963.

The handover ceremony: Ambassador Martin Kotthaus, Prof. Dr Raphael Groß and Mayor Richard Fournaux (from left); Photo: J. Klute

The long journey back from Berlin to Dinant

The relief then passed through various locations. In 1945, it was stored in what was then the German Army Museum. After the capture of Berlin, it was discovered by Soviet troops, who handed it over to what would later become the GDR. Until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the relief was part of a museum in the GDR. With reunification, the piece found its way to the Federal Republic of Germany and was incorporated into the collections of the German Historical Museum.

However, the Berlin museum was unaware of the memorial plaque’s provenance. Following historical research commissioned by the museum’s director, an enquiry was sent to the local council in Dinant in January 2019. Initially, however, there was no response from the administration. Yet thanks to the persistence of the director of the Dinant Cultural Centre, Marc Baeken, and his archivist, a process was finally set in motion that led to the return of the relief to the city of Dinant – a gesture of friendship desired by the German side.

The return took place on 12 June 2026, carried out by the German Ambassador to Belgium, Martin Kotthaus, during a formal ceremony. First, the Ambassador met with relatives of those murdered by Saxon troops in 1914 at the Bourdon Wall. Following a conversation with the families, the Ambassador and the families laid wreaths in front of the current memorial, which was rebuilt in 1947 by the Comité du Monument aux Martyrs rivageois with the support of the association “Les XXI”, just a few steps away from its original location near the Bayard Rock.

Ambassador Kotthaus talking to the victims’ families; Photo: J. Klute

The actual handover of the relief took place at the Mémorial 674 in the Jardins du CPAS. The handover ceremony was opened by the Mayor of Dinant, Richard Fournaux. In his speech, he emphasised the significance of the return of the relief, after it had been lost for decades in the archives of various German museums: “Since the massacres and the destruction of the town on 23 August 1914, the people of Dinant have found it difficult to show resilience and to rebuild relations with the German people. … even though we had all become Europeans. In May 2001, together, we celebrated reconciliation. Since then, exchanges have multiplied. The restitution of the bronze relief marks a new stage, one that is deeply symbolic and solemn, bearing witness to the strength of our relations, marked by respect, within our shared history and in our determination to carry out projects together for the common good.”

Mayor Richard Fournaux; Photo: J. Klute

Michel Coleau, the town archivist of Dinant quoted above, then recalled in his speech the events of August 1914 and the subsequent history.

The German Ambassador, Martin Kotthaus, once again expressed the German side’s regret over these war crimes with the following words: “Over 670 residents of Dinant were killed by German soldiers in 1914. The wounds inflicted by the massacre still hurt today. They have not been and will not be forgotten. Since the plea for forgiveness by German State Secretary Kolbow in Dinant in 2001, we have commemorated the event every year together as friends of the victims. The happy return of the bronze relief, which has commemorated the massacre since 1927, more than 80 years after the original monument was destroyed by the Nazis, closes a gap in the reconciliation between Dinant, Belgium and Germany. Especially today, as we once again witness hatred and violence in the east of our continent, we must always be mindful that peace and reconciliation are possible, but cannot be taken for granted. Each and every one of us can play a part in this. Every day. As Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Kingdom of Belgium, I am deeply grateful to the people of Dinant for the hand of friendship they have extended over the past decades, and I am delighted that the bronze relief will be returning home on 12 June 2026. My thanks also go to the German Historical Museum, which found and returned the relief.”

The German Ambassador, Martin Kotthaus; Photo: J. Klute

Raphael Groß, President of the Foundation of the German Historical Museum in Berlin, briefly summarized the history of the bronze relief’s identification up to the day of its return in his remarks and explained: “Thanks to extensive research within our collection, the Deutsches Historisches Museum has been able to trace the provenance of the bronze relief in detail and to enter into dialogue with the rightful owners in Belgium. it is a matter of great importance to the German Historical Museum that this work is now returning to its original location in Dinant after almost 100 years. I am therefore all the more delighted to be present at today’s commemorative ceremony in Dinant.”

MEP Oliver Schenk and Raphael Groß in conversation; Photo: J. Klute

As the troops responsible for the massacre in Dinant came from Saxony, Oliver Schenk, a Member of the European Parliament who also comes from Saxony, spoke at the ceremony. He recalled that “European unification arose from the experiences of war, suffering and destruction. Places like Dinant remind us,” Schenk continued, “why peace, understanding and cooperation in Europe can never be taken for granted.”

Finally, the younger generation had their say. Three students spoke in German and French about their experiences of today’s cooperation between European states within the framework of the European Union.

Students talk about their experiences with the EU; Photo: J. Klute

The return of the relief was no coincidence on 12 June 2026. This day marks the 25th anniversary of the aforementioned official German apology to the town of Dinant and the families of the victims of the massacre of 23 August 1914. The apology was made in June 2001 in Dinant by Walter Kolbow, then Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Defence. On the Pont Charles-de-Gaulle, which connects the two halves of Dinant on the left and right banks of the Meuse, the city honours its most famous son, Adolphe Sax (1814–1894), the inventor of the saxophone. In his memory, the bridge features several oversized replicas of the musical instrument he developed, each in the colours of a different country – mainly European nations. Until 2001, a saxophone in the colours of the German flag was not among them, due to the massacre at the beginning of the First World War. Following this official apology, a saxophone in the colours of the German flag can now also be seen on the Meuse Bridge in Dinant as a sign of reconciliation.

With the return of the original relief from 1927, as the former Belgian ambassador to Berlin (2011–2014), Renier Nijskens, who was born in Dinant and also attended the ceremony, told Belgieninfo that with the return of the original 1927 relief, and Germany’s apology and acknowledgement of responsibility for the 1914 massacre already made in 2001, this terrible chapter in German-Belgian history has finally been closed.

The Dinant municipal council has yet to decide on the new location for the returned bronze relief. “In 2027, Dinant will mark the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of the memorial trail, which opened in August 1927,” explained Marc Baeken, director of the Centre Culturel in Dinant. According to Baeken, this could be an opportunity to pay due tribute to the memorial plaque in question and to find a suitable location for it.