Dawn Rouffelaers and Frédéric Boulet (agency Trump North). PHOTO PATRICK JAMES Memorial tourism is among us, a fairly new idea. On this, Dawn Rouffelaers, docent, proposed to the Office Lille tourist circuit discovery of the Great War in Weppes.
The front line may well have happened, for four years, about twenty miles from Lille, person, or almost no one seemed to remember - although for the record, historians are aware that Adolf Hitler, then Corporal messenger, stayed there a few months at the forefront in 1915
And then came the case of Fromelles in spring 2008: several hundred bodies, Australian and British spotted in mass graves dating from summer 1916. Following the identification of major operations conducted last summer by teams of archaeologists, historians and forensic experts from London and Canberra and the first burial in January, a ceremony will be held July 19. It is the anniversary of the 1916 battle that took in less than twenty-four hours, 5,500 dead, wounded or missing among the Australians, in 1400 the British, Germans in 1200.
Measuring tragedy
The remains of 250 soldiers will find their final resting place in a cemetery. " It will probably be the last such ceremony for this conflict: the Australians are going to give it an enormous place, "says Annette Becker, a historian of the Great War.
In this very particular context Aurore Rouffelaers considering this unique circuit. "Explain how this earth was marked by the conflict is one thing. Tell on the spot, visitors can take the full measure of the tragedy. A circuit that has developed with the agency Trump North (Lievin) in partnership with the regional committee of tourism (via the label paths of memory 14-18) and the tourist office of Commons of countries Weppes to Fournes en Weppes.
From Lille (9 h 30 Sunday), the circuit offers a series of steps at Fromelles (the cemetery, the Australian memorial), Neuve Chapelle, Auber (German sector), The Bassée to complete the Portuguese of Richebourg cemetery and memorial to Indian Newfoundland chapel. " At each stop, it will evoke the memory of places, speaking of these young boys came to die so far from home. "
On a practical level, this circuit (bilingual) will be offered every Sunday until the end of September (except Sundays from the flea market): registration, individual, are made at the tourist office of Lille or provide en Weppes (44 E).
This type of tourism is widely practiced by the Belgians, especially around Ypres, another terrible battlefield of the Great War. Taking into account very contemporary reality of a terrible story, already very old (the last Hairy died two years ago), but still rooted in the memory of this part of Flanders. •
JEAN-MARIE DUHAMEL
in La Voix du Nord, regional edition of April 12, 2010
Lille Tourist Office: Tel: 56 2004 0891.
Tourist municipalities in the country of Weppes: Tel: 03 20 506 385.
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