Murdered, Lost, and Missing Children - Mechelen, Belgium
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chrissyml
N 51° 01.680 E 004° 28.740
31U E 603715 N 5653979
A memorial to children next to St. Rumbold's Cathedral.
Waymark Code: WM13RV0
Location: Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
Date Posted: 02/11/2021
Views: 0
This monument to children who never grew up is situated next to St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen, Belgium. It was dedicated in March of 2004.
Article from Standaard newspaper in Belgium:
March 26, 2004
“Silent commemoration in Mechelen
The celebration of seven years of Wit Kinderbos takes place on Saturday. Mechelen acts as a host city. It is not conceived as an event for the masses, but as a serene day of remembrance. At half past nine a delegation under police escort goes to the place where the first trees of the White Forest were planted seven years ago. Children take soil from the forest in white buckets.
At 11 a.m., a memorial stone will be unveiled in the shadow of St. Rumbold's Cathedral, as well as the White Forest in honor of all the murdered, lost and missing children. Relatives of young victims are present. It is a work of art in white stone and bronze by Frans Wuytack. He also made the gravestone for Wouter Vande Walle. The son of Paul Vande Walle, chairman of the non-profit organization Parents of Children in Accidents, was killed in February 1993 at the age of sixteen. The memorial stone will contain a text by Luc Versteylen.
Politicians were explicitly asked not to make speeches on this quiet day.”
Source: (
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Translation of the top marker:
"To all killed, murdered and missing children of and in this country."
Rough translation of poem on the bottom marker:
"Enter this place
with reserved trepidation
estimate every dead child
to value
after all, it says here
the soft temple tree
where so much dreadful
gathered
he keeps henceforth
further violence in check
because here starts
actually a new earth"
--Luc Versteylen