The inter-allied memorial commemorates the First World War and the fallen, as well as the wartime cooperation between the Allies. Its inter-allied character and its scale make this memorial one of a kind

Karla Vanraepenbusch

Vanraepenbusch, Karla

DIAL UCLouvain

Mémorial interallié

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|Version 1.0 Last updated 06 November 2017Mémorial InteralliéBy Karla VanraepenbuschThe inter-allied memorial commemorates the First World War and the fallen, as well as thewartime cooperation between the Allies. Its inter-allied character and its scale make thismemorial one of a kind.1  Between Peace Museum and Culture of Victory2  The Inter-Allied Memorial Twice Inaugurated3  The Centenary Commemoration of the WarNotesSelected BibliographyCitationThe FIDAC (Fédération Interalliée des Anciens Combattants) was an international veterans’association that strove for peace and veterans’ well-being, and that offered its members a platformfor war commemoration. During its first conference, held in 1921 in Paris, it took the decision to buildan inter-allied memorial. Although the memorial was conceived as a museum of peace, this did notprevent the FIDAC from excluding the Central Powers from participation.[1] The inter-allied memorialmust therefore be considered as an expression of the “culture of victory” that the FIDAC sustainedduring the immediate post-war period.[2]Originally, the idea was to erect the memorial in Sarajevo, where the war had started in 1914 whenFranz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-Este (1863-1914) was assassinated. However, the Italianmembers of the FIDAC, who, at that moment, had fallen into conflict with Yugoslavia over the controlof the Adriatic Sea, used their right to veto. The Belgian city of Liège was chosen instead, for it hadTable of ContentsBetween Peace Museum and Culture of VictoryMmorial Interalli - 1914-1918-Online 1/4been the first city, after the outbreak of the war, to have been attacked and to have opposed theenemy.The Belgian committee responsible for erecting the memorial was presided over by Princess Jeande Merode (1874-1955), a well-known veteran charity benefactor. Her main problem was finding aplace to build it. She eventually merged her project with that of a local association wishing toconstruct a church to commemorate the war, and which already possessed a plot of land on the hillof Cointe, but which lacked financial support.[3] After three architectural competitions, architect JosSmolderen (1889-1973) was selected to design both an inter-allied tower and a regional church of theSacred Heart. The first stone of the church was laid in 1925, and the first tuff of the tower was dug on4 September 1928, though it would take another decade before both were completed. Due to thepoor quality of the rock and the presence of old mineshafts, laying the foundation proved much moreexpensive than anticipated, while the financial crisis of the early 1930s made it difficult to procurefunds.[4] The church was finally sanctified in 1936, while the tower was inaugurated a year later on 20July 1937 in the presence of Leopold III, King of the Belgians (1901-1983), the French MarshalPhilippe Pétain (1856-1951), the British Marshal Rudolph Lambart (1865-1947), 10th Earl of Cavan,and Princess Jean de Merode. By then, France, Romania and Great Britain had each already placedsmaller monuments inside the tower.[5]During the Second World War, Liège was yet again occupied by Germany. In May 1944, the inter-allied memorial tower incurred considerable damage as a result of Allied tactical bombing, and wasleft abandoned for over two decades. It was a local veteran association, the Comité d’entente desgroupements patriotiques de Liège, that took the initiative to repair the bomb damage. On 20November 1968, as part of the local celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war, asecond inauguration of the memorial took place. Apart from the Baudouin I, King of the Belgians(1930-1993), no other high-profile guests were present. The local character of this ceremony stood instrong contrast with the inter-allied character of the first inauguration.[6]After the 1968 anniversary, public interest in the First World War waned, and the inter-allied memorialwas left abandoned. Its tower was only recently completely restored, in 2007-2008 and in 2010, asthe centenary commemoration of the war drew near. On 4 August 2014, the Belgian governmentorganized a ceremony at the memorial to commemorate the cententary of the outbreak of the war. Itwas attended by the Belgian king and queen, the prime minister, and by international heads of statesuch as the French president, François Hollande; Prince William and Catherine, Duke and Duchessof Cambridge, and the German president, Joachim Gauck. Hence, it was the first time that a formerenemy was represented at the inter-allied memorial during a commemorative event.The Inter-Allied Memorial Twice InauguratedThe Centenary Commemoration of the WarMmorial Interalli - 1914-1918-Online 2/4Karla Vanraepenbusch, Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Society(CEGESOMA)Reviewed by external referees on behalf of the General Editors1. ↑ The membership to Fidac was also restricted to those nations that had been Allies during thewar. Note that the other main international veteran association of the interwar period, theCIAMAC (Conférence Internationale des Associations de Mutilés et d’Anciens Combattants),did extend its membership to all veterans, including the Central Powers. Eichenberg, Julia /Newman, John Paul (eds.): The Great War and Veterans’ Internationalism, Houndmills, 2013,p. 4-7.2. ↑ Horne, John: Beyond Cultures of Victory and Cultures of Defeat? Inter-War Veterans’Internationalism, in Eichenberg, Julia / Newman, John Paul (eds.): The Great War andVeterans’ Internationalism, Houndmills, 2013, p. 215-216.3. ↑ Colignon, Alain: Le beffroi de la victoire: un lieu de mémoire belgo-wallon avorté, in CourtoisLuc / Pirotte, Jean (eds.): Les lieux de la mémoire wallonne. Louvain-la-Neuve, 1999, p. 240-241.4. ↑ Barlet, Jacques / Hamal, Olivier / Mainil Sébastien: Le Mémorial interallié de Cointe à Liège.Liège, 2014, p. 13-14.5. ↑ State Archives of Liège, Archives du Comité d’entente des groupements patriotiques deLiège 1916-1991, XVII, Fédération nationale des militaires mutilés et invalides de la guerre(asbl), home des invalides (asbl), et oeuvre nationale des invalides de guerre, 333 Dossierconcernant le Mémorial interallié de Cointe.6. ↑ State Archives of Liège, Archives du Comité d’entente des groupements patriotiques deLiège 1916-1991, 10 Cérémonies de la réinauguration du mémorial interallié de Cointe, le 20novembre 1968, documents concernant l’organisation.Barlet, Jacques / Hamal, Olivier / Mainil, Sébastien: Le Mémorial interallié de Cointe àLiège, Namur 2014: Institut du Patrimoine wallon.Colignon, Alain: Le 'Beffroy de la Victoire'. Un lieu de mémoire belgo-wallon avorté, in:Courtois, Luc / Pirotte, Jean (eds.): Les lieux de la mémoire wallonne, Louvain-la-Neuve1999: Fondation wallonne P.-M. et J.-F. Humblet, pp. 217-244.Eichenberg, Julia / Newman, John Paul (eds.): The Great War and veterans'internationalism, Basingstoke; New York 2013: Palgrave Macmillan.Horne, John: The living, in: Winter, Jay (ed.): The Cambridge history of the First World War,volume 3. Civil society, Cambridge 2014: Cambridge University Press, pp. 561-583.NotesSelected BibliographyMmorial Interalli - 1914-1918-Online 3/4Vanraepenbusch, Karla: Mémorial Interallié , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of theFirst World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, AlanKramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2017-11-06. DOI:10.15463/ie1418.11179.This text is licensed under: CC by-NC-ND 3.0 Germany - Attribution, Non-commercial, NoDerivative Works.CitationLicenseMmorial Interalli - 1914-1918-Online 4/4

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