Temporary Belgian Military Cemetery

On May 10, 1940, the German army invaded Belgium: the Eighteen Days' Campaign had begun. Between May 24 and 26, the Battle of the Leie was fought along the Leie and the Schipdonk Canal. During that battle, 53 Belgian soldiers fell in Oeselgem. Fifty-two of them were temporarily buried in the field across the street. Most of the bodies were transferred to their hometowns the same year. At the end of 1948, the 53rd soldier was found in the Neerhoek. He was temporarily interred in the cemetery of Oeselgem, along with the two remaining soldiers still resting here. Nothing at this site now reminds us of this painful past.

Vlassenhove

In the villages along the Leie, more than 60% of the families depended on the flax industry, from farming in the fields to spinning and weaving flax fiber. One of these activities was the retting of flax in the Leie, the “Golden River” named for the color of the retted flax. After World War I, Leie retting was replaced by artificial retting using heated water in concrete chambers. Today, the ancient field retting method is again being used.

On the site of this housing block was a warm water retting facility operated by three generations of flax growers. On the drying meadow, where the retted flax was once dried in the typical flax sheds, the residential area of Vlassenhove now stands. Oeselgem evolved from a rural village to an urbanized village.

ludwigvan