What are the "Redeemed Cantons", and why were they called so?

edmund80

They are the German-speaking Community of Belgium and the municipalities of Malmedy and Waimes (Weismes), collectively called the East Cantons of Belgium. They are called the Redeemed Cantons because they used to belong to the Rhine Province of Prussia in Germany until 1920 (as the counties (Landkreise) of Eupen and Malmedy), but were annexed by Belgium following Germany's defeat in World War I and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles. "In the mid-1920s, there were secret negotiations between Germany and Belgium and the kingdom of Belgium seemed to be inclined to sell the region back to Germany as a way to improve its finances. A price of 200 million gold marks has been mentioned. At this point the French government fearing for the complete postwar order intervened at Brussels and the Belgian-German talks were called off." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German-speaking_Community_of_Belgium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eupen-Malmedy Dec 23 08, 10:58 PM