After the reunion of
Germany the special troop statute was abolished and
the Belgian soldiers were sent back to their native
country.
The Belgian soldiers leave Germany
(La fin des forces belges en Allemagne),
30.12.2005 [pdf]
With them their family members also left Porz.
Residential buildings were sold, the Belgian schools
were closed and the infrastructure was completely
given up. Only 75 of 2500 families remained in the
area Bensberg - Porz - Siegburg -
Troisdorf.
The "Brasseurkaserne" in the north of Porz after the
deduction of the Belgians served as a „center for
foreigners liable to departure“, as an camp for
deportation for undesirable foreigners.
The city of Cologne
plans to make a businesspark out of the area until
2010.2)
KStA 9.4.2009 [pdf]
The barracks "Camp Spich" was rebuild and „Camp
Altenrath" was left to decay.
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Vehicle depot
Altenrath
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Former pick-up
point for cases of emergency
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Housing in
Altenrath
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Cafeteria Camp
Spich1) |
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No more radio
communication will take place here
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Tank washer in Altenrath
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Belgian bar
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Barbed wire
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In the midst of
a businesspark: middle: checkpoint of
the former barracks "Camp Spich"
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The former
belgian church
belongs to
the Greek church.
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A deconstruction of the physical structures, which
served more than five decades to the military,
Belgians didn't do.
Today the Wahner Heide is accessible to the Porzer
population after more than 70 years at any time and
some parts because of leftovers of ammunition of the
Belgian armed forces are not accessible.
In Porz, Siegburg and Troisdorf stones tablets
remind of the Belgians who had been citizens from
1951 - 2004.
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Memorial stone
Siegburg1) |
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Memorial stone
Troisdorf1) |
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Memorial stone
Porz (Humboldtstr.) |
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Memorial stone
next to a former appartment for belgian
soldiers (Porz) |
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On the homepage of
the former students of the Athénée royal in Rösrath
one finds impressions of the school hours in Germany
and the return to Belgium.3)
Sources:
1) Pictures from "Lost
Sites" with the permission Christoph
Kämper.
2) Das Bild ist dem Kölner
Stadt-Anzeiger, Nr. 84,
Donnerstag/Freitag, 9./10. April 2009, S. 33,
entnommen.
3)
Ehemaligenseite des Athénée Royal mit Dokumenten
über Zusammenleben und Abzug [pdf]
For
all other pictures the copyright is owned by J. Hindrichs
2009.
Literature:
•
Bemowski, Monika, Camp Spich - damals und heute
Vom Truppenübungsplatz zum Industriepark Belgische
Allee. Hrsg. von Trowista, Troisdorfer Wirtschaftsförderung
und
Stadtmarketing GmbH
•
Dederichs, Matthias, Historie Camp Spich,
Geschichte der
belgischen Besatzung, 2007
