France, Belgium seek UNESCO recognition for WWI memorials

BRUSSELS—France and Belgium are urging UNESCO to designate scores of their World War I memorials and cemeteries as World Heritage sites as the centennial remembrance of the 1914-1918 war nears its end.

Both sides of the Franco-Belgian border, where much of the fiercest fighting of World War I took place, are dotted with monuments to the dead who fought on the decisive Western Front battlefields like Verdun in France and Passchendaele in Belgium.

The war between a group led by Germany against France, the British Commonwealth and the United States saw some 3 million people die around the front line, which stretched from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. More than 2 million men are buried in the region, hailing from almost 80 present-day nations.

“These sites force us to draw lessons from the past in order to construct a more peaceful future,” said Minister-President Geert Bourgeois from Belgium’s Flemish region, which was particularly hard hit during the war.

France and Belgium are seeking recognition for 139 sites. UNESCO’s World Heritage committee will assess their request and 29 other nominations for inclusion on the list during a meeting in Bahrain that starts Sunday and runs until July 4.

Even though the scenes of dank trenches and pockmarked battlefields where nerve gas could kill thousands a day are iconic, France and Belgium are centering on the dead and the cemeteries and memorials instead. They stress they do not want to glorify war.