A museum in Ypres, Belgium draws a line from World War I to Ukraine – #museum #Ypres #Belgium #draws #line #World #War #Ukraine
BRUSSELS, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Massive rows of empty chairs at Belgium’s First World War exhibition – where they died a century ago soldier one for each sending country and region – with just two to mark the new conflict substitute was done. on the continent.
Ukraine an empty chair for Russia in both countries, the memory of those who will never return to their families is commemorated.
“Each chair is a symbol of the emptiness felt at home,” said Stephen Lodewyck, director of the Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres. “There are more parallels between the First World War and the war in Ukraine than we would like.”
His museum for the first time 2018In , he erected a massive chair to mark the centenary of the end of the war that was supposed to end all wars. Since then, the chairs have been repurposed as symbols of various casualties in the historic conflict.
The newly curated display makes a clear connection to the present, where Lodewyck hears echoes of the past.
The warring sides of World War I faced each other in the trenches for years. In Ukraine, both sides appear to be digging in for a protracted war of attrition.
Latest UpdatesTechnology categoryBig Tech ‘fair share’ debate to dominate mobile meeting in Barcelona, article with galleryGalleryEuropeCategoryOver 30 dead after migrant boat crashes in southern Italy, article with gallery
See 2 more stories
“It’s almost absurd to see similar trenches in Ukraine now,” Lodewyck told Reuters.
MARTYR CITIES
Centuries in the museum’s collection weather footage shows burned fields, damaged villages and towns in Belgium.
Some of them today Ukraine on it is very close to the digital videos shot by drones of the 21st century.
“of Ukraine Like Mariupol, Bakhmut, Bucha”martyr cities” makes one think of Leuven, Ypres and Passchendaele”, Lodewyck listed the places where the worst atrocities took place in Ukraine and Belgium during the First World War. “And mud everywhere.”
Lodewyck is not the first to make the comparison. In a speech in the Belgian Parliament last March Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky drew a parallel between the siege of Mariupol, which lasted for several weeks, and the battles of Ypres in the First World War.
“More than 90% of all buildings in this city were completely destroyed by Russian strikes – aviation, artillery, mortars, tanks. Thousands of peaceful residents of Mariupol perished has been People were buried in the city,” – Zelensky said.
The scenes, he said, were “no less terrible than those near Ypres.” Zelensky.
The results of the First World War and the number of casualties are listed in the history books. The war in Ukraine dragged into its second year on Friday with no end in sight.
The exhibition in Ypres concludes with a long list of armed conflicts, from the civil wars that began after the First World War to Syria from the Second World War.
this is Russia President Vladimir Putin’s “special military “operation” was drawn up before sending its troops across the border of Ukraine. The results of that decision are marked by two empty chairs in the museum.
“Nothing good can ever happen in war,” said Lodewyck. “People’s suffering is more important than anything.”
Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Edited by Andrew Heavens
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-02-26 15:28:49
Source – reuters
Translation“24 HOURS”