Talking Dutch: Has Ypres gone over the top?
How much is too much when it comes to commemorating the fallen of the First World War?
Derek Blyth on war tourism
The museums have been renovated, the gravestones scrubbed clean and a shop has sprung up offering Over the Top Tours. But some of it is a bit dubious, according to De Morgen journalist Rik Van Puymbroeck.
Schuimwijn met een smaakje van klaprozen: in Ieper kun je het kopen – sparkling wine with a hint of poppies: You can buy it in Ypres. Shops like Minneke Poes are doing a brisk sale in war souvenirs – uurwerken van poppy’s, paraplu’s met poppy’s en oorbellen van klaprozen – poppy clocks, poppy umbrellas and poppy earrings. Het heeft ook Remembrance Beer – it also has Remembrance Beer.
Another shop stocks gift packs of Passchendaele beer (pictured) brewed specially for the war anniversary by Van Honsebrouck brewery in Ingelmunster. Kijk eens naar de slogan op de doos – take a look at the slogan on the box. It is in English, of course – “One minute of silence. 50cl of respect,” it suggests.
Zelfs op de fles staat het – it even says this on the bottle: “Before opening a bottle of Passchendaele, please hold a minute of silence to commemorate those who fell in the battlefield.”
Wiping your feet on the war
There seems to be no end to the souvenirs aimed at tourists who have come to visit battlefields and war cemeteries. Verder op de rekken zie je Flanders Paté, Flanders Bolle Beef, Wipers Poppy Wine en in een stenen kruikje Poppies Gin – further along the shelves, you see Flanders paté, Flanders bully beef, Wipers poppy wine and Poppies gin in an earthenware bottle.
You might begin to ask if this is all too much. In de Colruyt kun je sinds kort zelf deurmatten kopen met daarop soldaten en poppy’s – Colruyt recently introduced doormats with soldiers and poppies on them. Alsof je voeten veegt aan de oorlog – as if you are wiping your feet on the war.
But it has been like that in this region for the past 100 years. Back in January, Puymbroeck reported that an old advertising sign had been uncovered on the side of a house. Rijd je in Ieper de Poperingseweg op, dan roept een wit-blauw-gele reclame van het British Legion om ‘Haig House Ypres’ te bezoeken – if you drive into Ypres on Poperingseweg, you see a white, blue and yellow sign from the British Legion encouraging you to visit Haig House Ypres.
“For information and poppy wreaths,” it reads. It dates from a time when war tourism was a serious business, and no one would have dreamed of selling sparkling wine with a hint of poppies.
First World War
lives lost in West Flanders
annual visitors to the Westhoek
First Battle of Ypres
- The Great War in Flanders Field
- The Great War Centenary
- First World War Centenary
