A walk with Jean-Paul

ROMAGNE'S UNEXPECTED MEMORIES OF THE GREAT WAR

by Cor Speksnijder

After more than a century, Romagne still bears traces of the Great War. Not much remains of the former villagescape, but those who make a tour with Jean-Paul de Vries through the quiet village in the undulating landscape of northern France will come across unexpected memories of the war years 14-18.

Romagne-sous-Montfaucon was behind the front, served as a garrison town for the German occupiers and came under heavy artillery fire during the final offensive by the Americans. The fact that most of the village was destroyed in 1918 can be seen from photographs taken shortly after the war. The current street scene bears little resemblance to those old images. Yet the legacy of the war has not been completely erased.

During the war years, Romagne was a German village. After the conquest in 1914, which involved arson, looting and rape, German officers moved into the French houses, sometimes together with the original inhabitants.
Thousands of soldiers were housed in barracks in the wooded area. Romagne had German shops, bathhouses, restaurants, pubs, brothels, a theatre. Doctors, cooks, butchers, stonemasons, shoemakers worked there. The war brought a German atmosphere.

Romagne was a place for German troops to recover from the fighting at the front. These took place, for example, around the Butte de Vauquois, a strategically placed hill where the French and Germans were engaged in a bizarre underground struggle - la guerre des mines. After four weeks of fighting, there was a two-week break. In Romagne, wounds were treated, lice removed and soldiers were given the opportunity to amuse themselves with German ladies. Then they returned to the front, often to their deaths.

Crownprince Frederik Wilhelm Victor August Ernst van Pruisen 1882-1951

Crown Prince Wilhelm

A few buildings along the road that divides Romagne into two have survived the destruction that followed the German occupation. Like the former hotel-restaurant that houses a now-closed flea market and a house that served as a German field hospital. The village square is still there. And so is the beautiful Villa Nantrisé on the edge of the village, until recently a bed and breakfast. In this stately white country house, the German crown prince Wilhelm held office.
The prince was formally in command of a German army unit, but in practice left the command to his chief of staff. He dreamed of fame and great deeds, but concentrated mainly on French women.

Villa Nantrisé

Jean-Paul has pictures of Prince Wilhelm posing with his guards at the gate of the villa. He once found a helmet plate of one of those guards in a field. The insignia of this reservist is currently in Huis Doorn. This is the former place of exile of Wilhelm's father, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had sought refuge in the Netherlands after the German defeat in 1918.

Next to the Crown Prince's villa in Romagne there is a barn in which, during the war, photos were taken of French children celebrating carnival in the company of a priest and German officers. There was a Christmas tree, there were sweets, there were drinks.
Not everyone in Romagne disliked the Germans, who brought a degree of prosperity to the poor village. A German shoemaker was appreciated because he turned discarded soldiers' boots into shoes for French children walking barefoot. After a violent start to the war, Romagne experienced several years of relative peace. The carnage was miles away.

Haylofts

Jean-Paul points out a house along the main street that was part of a school that was converted into a hospital by the Germans. The solemn opening by Kaiser Wilhelm has been photographed. Military personnel lined up to give the event an extra cachet. The Kaiser's visit, which was surrounded by protocol, underlined the importance of Romagne to the German war effort on the western front.

The Germans built and rebuilt. They apparently thought they would stay in Romagne for a long time. They turned haylofts into sleeping quarters for their men. On some of the facades, you can still see the outlines of doors that gave access to the first floor from the outside via a staircase. Jean-Paul points to ironwork protruding from the side wall of a house: behind it is a bunker built by the Germans. ‘It is now a perfect wine cellar.’

Post War

In the post-war years, Romagne was rebuilt with money from German reparations and with help from the Americans. Rubble from the destroyed houses served as building material. The centuries-old village began a second life, in which the American cemetery built after the war played an important role. Countless Americans came to Romagne in the decades following WWI to visit the graves of their fallen relatives. The largest American military cemetery in Europe still regularly attracts visitors from the United States.

The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery
at Romagne-sous- Montfaucon

Romagne did not escape the exodus from the French countryside. Once the village had more than two thousand inhabitants. When Jean-Paul first arrived in Romagne, over forty years ago, it was a lively place with cafés, restaurants, a petrol station, a butcher, a grocer and a post office. He saw the hustle and bustle disappearing at a rapid pace. His war museum and the American cemetery are now the main attractions of Romagne.

Mata Hari

On one of the narrow side roads leading to the main street, Jean-Paul stops at a simple house with a pointed roof and shutters that are bored. A house like a child would draw. It is built of rusty corrugated iron and other material from a former German barrack. In Romagne, a few more of these ramshackle structures are fighting against decay. They form an almost cozy memento of the German presence.

Along the road to Bantheville, Jean-Paul leads the way to the German military cemetery, enclosed by red stone. Here, under sober grey slate crosses, lie 1412 German soldiers. That is the official number', says Jean-Paul, 'in reality there are many more, probably about 8000. Many of the dead are buried nameless.’
Between the German headstones are four crosses with the names of French soldiers. They died during the German advance in 1914 and, as a result of a rearrangement of cemeteries, now rest among their former enemies.

The German cemetery at Romagne

Margaretha Geertruida Zelle (1876-1917), a.k.a. Mata Hari

In the adjacent municipal cemetery, Jean-Paul points out the grave of Maurice Albin, one of the twelve soldiers who executed the Frisian dancer and spy Mata Hari in Vincennes in 1917. For his role in the firing squad, Albin received the highest French decoration. Legion d'honneur, is written on his tombstone. Jean-Paul says that the son of this Maurice Albin lived next to his museum for some time. ‘I have photos of the award, a beautiful medal on a velvet cushion. It was given to him in the 1990s, at the end of his life.’

Maurice Albin’s son presenting his fathers medals of honor. photo©Marco Magielse

Historians have long been divided over the guilt or innocence of the mysterious Mata Hari. According to the latest findings, her spying for the Germans did not amount to much, and she could have disproved most of the evidence against her if she had been given a proper trial. In this cemetery in Romagne, the man who, together with others, carried out her death sentence remains a hero for the time being.

Part of the cemetery is a grassy field without headstones. ‘Russian prisoners of war lie here in a mass grave', says Jean-Paul. They were among the hundreds of thousands of Russians who had surrendered on the Eastern Front. They were scattered over areas occupied by the Germans and used as laborers. In 1918, the Russians in Romagne were again made prisoners of war, this time by the Americans. They were locked up in camps and put to work. Some of them were only released in the 1920s. Others were never released, they died from illness, alcohol abuse or violence between themselves.

‘Russian prisoners of war lie here in a mass grave',

A walk with Jean-Paul begins and ends at his museum, located behind the church built of light-coloured stone that was rebuilt after complete destruction in the war and restored a few years ago.

A side wall of the museum shows striking red spots. They are holes accentuated with paint, caused by a heavy shell fired in the Second World War. They remind us that two decades after the German defeat in 1918, the roar of cannons sounded again in Romagne.