Waking tour of Brussels under German occupation - 1914-1918

Rainer Hiltermann led a tour for fifteen Book Club members, during which he presented his period photographs of Brussels under German military occupation in the First World War. Particularly revealing was the closure of the area stretching from the Royal Palace and Parc Royal to the Grand Place. This became a no-go zone for Belgians, who could enter only with a military pass, much like the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, during the Anglo-American occupation of 2003–2011. Within this zone, the most important site for the German military was the administrative offices of the Belgian National Railroad. German civil and military officers were stationed there to ensure that the Belgian railways were operated strictly in line with German military and industrial interests.