ABSTRACT
Introduction On the eve of the centenary of World War I (1914-18) the region of Flanders has started preparations for a unique commemoration project in which heritage occupies a key position. Nearly a century after the events took place, tangible and intangible evidence of World War I is still widely present in Flanders, especially in the Westhoek area, the westernmost tip of Flanders adjacent to the North Sea and France (see Figure 7.1). Wartime heritage such as (reconstructed) trenches, bomb and mine craters (Verboven 2014), bunkers and dugouts (Bostyn 1999; Decoodt 2014), and post-war memorials, monuments (Jacobs 1996) and military cemeteries (Geurst 2010; Freytag and Van Driessche 2011) are omnipresent in the Westhoek (Decoodt 2007). In addition, the numerous human remains and the enormous quantities of unexploded ordnance that are being recovered to this day, still testify to the intensity of the battles of World War I (henceforth: WW I) in this region.
