PROGRAM

In 2017, we commemorated the U.S. entry into the First War and the role of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and other Americans in that conflict. Now in 2018, just a few weeks after the centennial of the Armistice ending the war, please join us for a conversation about conserving the heritage of the First World War in Flanders, Belgium. Neutral Belgium was invaded by Germany in August 1914 and became a prison state, enduring that status until the end of the war. Many beautiful and ancient public buildings were destroyed, as well as cities and towns, and the residences of civilian populations who would have starved without the food relief organized by future president Herbert Hoover. Its earth was soaked with the blood of tens of thousands of Belgium and Allied soldiers. The speakers will discuss this relatively unknown—unknown to Americans—chapter of the war and the varied commemorative elements in Belgium cemeteries, literature, and exhibitions.

Professor Jonathan Rosenberg of Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center, will moderate a conversation featuring: Ivan Adriaenssens, author of World War I themed graphic novels The Nieuport Gathering, The Last Braedy, and Cher Ami; Karen Derycke, Scientific Officer at the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917; and Christopher Sims, author of The Soldiers of the Flanders Field American Military Cemetery.

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This event is in collaboration with the
General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA.