The German-speaking Community (German: Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft), also known as East Belgium (German: Ostbelgien),^[2] is one of the three federal communities of Belgium,^[3] with an area of 854 km² (330 sq mi) in the Liège Province of Wallonia, including nine of the eleven municipalities of Eupen-Malmedy. The primary language of the community is German, making this the third official language in Belgium. Traditionally the community and the wider area around it forms an intersection of various local languages and/or dialects, namely Limburgish, Ripuarian and Moselle Franconian varieties. The community population numbers around 77,949 (1st January 2020) – about 7.0% of Liège Province and about 0.7% of the national total.^[1]

Quick Facts Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft (German), Country ...

German-speaking Community Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft (German)
Community of Belgium
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 50°38′N 06°02′E
Country	Belgium
Region	Wallonia
Established	1984
Capital	Eupen
Government
• Executive	Government of the German-speaking Community
• Governing parties (2019–2024)	ProDG, SP, PFF
• Minister-President	Oliver Paasch (ProDG)
• Legislature	Parliament of the German-speaking Community
• Speaker	Karl-Heinz Lambertz (PS)
Area
• Total	854 km2 (330 sq mi)
Population  (1 January 2020)[1]
• Total	77,949
• Density	91/km2 (240/sq mi)
Day of the German-speaking Community	15 November
Language	German (with language facilities for French-speakers)
Website	www.dglive.be

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Bordering the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg, the area has its own parliament and government at Eupen. The German-speaking Community of Belgium was annexed in 1920 from Germany. There are also some other areas where German is spoken that belonged to Belgium before 1920, but are not part of the German-speaking Community: Bleiberg-Welkenraedt-Baelen in northeastern province of Liège and Arelerland (the city of Arlon and some of its nearby villages in southeastern province of Belgian Luxembourg), although German is declining in them due to the expansion of French.^[4]

The area known today as the East Cantons consists of the German-speaking Community and the municipalities of Malmedy and Waimes (German: Weismes), which belong to the French Community of Belgium. The East Cantons were part of the Rhine Province of Prussia in the German Empire 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.^[5] Thus they also became known as the cantons rédimés, "redeemed cantons". The peace treaty of Versailles demanded the "questioning" of the local population. People who were unwilling to become Belgians and wanted the region to remain a part of Germany were required to register themselves along with their full name and address with the Belgian military administration, headed by Herman Baltia, and many feared reprisals or even expulsion for doing so.^{[citation needed]}

In the mid-1920s, there were secret negotiations between Germany and the kingdom of Belgium that seemed to be inclined to sell the region back to Germany as a way to improve Belgium's finances. A price of 200 million gold marks has been mentioned.^[5] At this point, the French government, fearing for the stability of the broader postwar order, intervened with Brussels and the Belgian-German talks were called off.

The new cantons had been part of Belgium for just 20 years when, in 1940, they were retaken by Germany in World War II. The majority of people of the east cantons welcomed this as they considered themselves German. Following the defeat of Germany in 1945, the cantons were once again annexed by Belgium, and as a result of alleged collaboration with Nazi Germany an attempt was made to de-Germanize the local population by the Belgian and Walloon authorities.^[6]

• Eupen-Malmedy area and other German territories lost in both World Wars are shown in black, present-day Germany is marked dark grey on this 1914 map.
• 1943 postcard; Nazi propaganda postmark reads Heimkehr ins Großdeutsche Vaterland ("Return to the Great German Fatherland")

In the early 1960s, Belgium was divided into four linguistic areas, the Dutch-speaking Flemish area, the French-speaking area, the bilingual capital of Brussels, and the German-speaking area of the east cantons. In 1973, three communities and three regions were established and granted internal autonomy. The legislative Parliament of the German-speaking Community, Rat der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft, was set up. Today the German-speaking Community has a fair degree of autonomy, especially in language and cultural matters, but it still remains part of the region of predominantly French-speaking Wallonia. There has been much argument in the past few years^[which?] that the German-speaking Community should also become its own region, which is an ongoing process with the permanent transfer with the previous accord of some competences concerning social policy, conservation of sites and monuments, environment protection policy, transport, the financing of municipalities, among other things from the Walloon Region. One of the proponents of full regional autonomy for the German-speaking Community is Karl-Heinz Lambertz, the minister-president from 1999 to 2014.^[7] Especially regional autonomy for spatial planning, city building and housing should be considered, according to the government of the German-speaking Community.^[7][8]

The German-speaking Community has its own government, which is appointed for five years by its own parliament.^[9] The Government is headed by a Minister-President, who acts as the "prime minister" of the Community, and is assisted by the Ministry of the German-speaking Community. The 2014–2019 government is formed by four Ministers:

• Oliver Paasch (ProDG), Minister-President and Minister for Local Government
• Isabelle Weykmans (PFF), Minister for Culture, Media and Tourism
• Lydia Klinkenberg (ProDG), Minister for Education
• Antonios Antoniadis (SP), Vice-Minister-President and Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Regional Planning and Housing ^[10]

Municipalities

The German-speaking Community consists of nine municipalities, listed in the table below.^[11] Numbers on the map to the right correspond to the "Map #" column in the table below.

More information Map #, Municipality ...

Map #	Municipality	Canton	Population (2020)[12]	Area (km2)	Area (sq mi)
5	Amel	Sankt Vith	5,486	125.15	48.32
6	Büllingen	Sankt Vith	5,456	150.49	58.10
7	Burg-Reuland	Sankt Vith	3,974	108.96	42.07
8	Bütgenbach	Sankt Vith	5,629	97.31	37.57
1	Eupen	Eupen	19,762	103.74	40.05
2	Kelmis	Eupen	11,212	18.12	7.00
3	Lontzen	Eupen	5,833	28.73	11.09
4	Raeren	Eupen	10,818	74.21	28.65
9	St. Vith	Sankt Vith	9,779	146.93	56.73
Total			77,949	853.64	329.59

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( = comparable to previous year).

The population figures are those on 1 January 2020 (compare to a total of 73,675 on 1 January 2007). The municipalities are grouped into two cantons, namely the Canton of Eupen in the north and the Canton of Sankt Vith in the south. The wider region is included in the Arrondissement of Verviers.

This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: uses 2007 data, while overall population, in infobox at top of article, is January 2020. (February 2021)

In 2007, 73,675 inhabitants (86.3 inhabitants / km²) lived in the area of the German-speaking community. However, the population density in the canton of Eupen (north) and the canton of St. Vith (south) is very different:

• District of Eupen: 44 159 inhabitants – 196,4 inhabitants / km².
• District of St. Vith: 29 516 inhabitants – 46,9 inhabitants / km²

The North-South demographic gap is particularly evident when comparing the North and South of the community:

• The most densely populated municipality is Kelmis (577.9 inhabitants / km²);
• The least densely populated municipality is Büllingen (36.2 inhabitants / km²).

By comparison, the population density is 346,7 in Belgium, 204,0 in Wallonia and 452,4 in Flanders. Men represent 49.72% with a slightly lower proportion of the total population of the German-speaking community, women are in the majority with 50.28%.

As of 2020 over 21% of the community is foreign-born, with Germans representing the overwhelming majority of that group.

• Parliament of the German-speaking Community and Government of the German-speaking Community
• Minister-President of the German-speaking Community
• German-speaking electoral college (European Parliament constituency)
• German-speaking Europe
• German diaspora
• Belgischer Rundfunk
• Lists of protected heritage sites in the German-speaking Community of Belgium
• Belgian annexation plans after the Second World War