Wervik Civil Cemetery

At one time, there were more than 3,000 German burials in this civil cemetery. It was first used by the German Army almost immediately after their arrival in October 1914 and continued in use until 1918. After the war, however, the graves gradually became more and more neglected - and certainly after the punitive terms of the Treaty of Versailles. On 10 September 1919, a group of German citizens decided to do something about this sorry state of affairs. Eight men launched a private initiative to secure the better maintenance of German war graves and each contributed 100 marks of their own money to help make this possible.

These humble beginnings eventually led to the setting up of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission). In 1925 the widely dispersed German burials in Flanders were grouped together in 128 'Soldatenfriedhofe' (Soldier Cemeteries). In 1954 a new agreement was reached between the governments of Belgium, France and Germany for the further concentration of the graves into a more limited number of sites. In West Flanders, remains were exhumed from 63 German burial grounds and transferred to the five large concentration cemeteries at Vladslo, Langemark and Menen. The graves at Hooglede and Zeebrugge remained undisturbed.

But during this concentration exercise a mistake - or rather, an oversight - was made here at Wervik. The grave of Leutnant Wolfgang Kühne was forgotten when all the other German war graves were transferred to Menen. Kühne was a mining engineer and a second lieutenant in the 1st Reserve Company of the 24th Pioneer Regiment, which was primarily active at Hill 60. He died of wounds at the Sint-Jans (St John's) Hospital, known by the Germans as 'Lazarett Nr.1', in Wervik on 6 August 1915. You can find his concrete grave marker along the third path on the left, leading off from the central pathway.

At the right front of the cemetery there is a plot of honour for the dead from the Second World War. There is also a plot for the five soldiers from Wervik who died during the 1914-1918 war and whose remains were repatriated here after the Armistice. All these plots have recently been renovated by the local authorities.

Vl. Toeristisch bezienswaardigheden