KELMIS, BELGIUM – As the field of Waterloo is dressed in battle colors to mark next week’s 200th anniversary, another corner of Belgium is preparing for a less warlike bicentenary.
In one of the more arcane consequences of the new European borders that followed Napoleon’s defeat outside Brussels, a tiny statelet was born. For a century after Waterloo, the square mile that diplomats named Neutral Moresnet, on the present-day Belgian-German border, thrived in a state of virtual anarchy.
Today’s inhabitants of what is now part of the Belgian town of Kelmis fondly recount a largely lawless but prosperous history of freewheeling independence and are gearing up for their own bicentenary celebrations next year.
“We are very proud of the town’s past, particularly its ability to manage its own economy,” said alderman Erik Janssen. “The history of Kelmis is a fundamental part of the history of Belgium.”