Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Belgium: Grote Markt of Diksmuide

On Friday I got two postcards from Belgium.

One of them shows the Grote Markt of Diksmuide. Diksmuide is a town in Flanders. During World War I the town was first attacked on 16th October 1914, but was defended by Belgian and French troops who flooded the area by opening the flood gates of the Yser river. At the end of the war the town was largely destroyed. During the 1920s it was rebuilt. The Belfry at the Grote Markt is since 1999 on the UNESCO World Heritage List.


With a related stamp:
Centenary of World War I (from set of five) (issued 13-06-2016)
After Belgium was occupied by the German Empire in 1914, the Belgian newspaper were censored or disappeared. But still some newspapers from Entente countries were smuggled into the country and also clandestine newspapers started to appear short after the occupation. At the beginning the clandestine newspapers just reproduced news from other countries, but from 1915 onwards specific Belgian newspapers were published in the underground.


Thank You very much Gerda!

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