From TheBestLinks.com
The German Speaking Community of Belgium or 'Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft Belgien' in German is one of several federal communities in Belgium. It is also often referred to as the East Cantons or 'Ost-Kantone'. It is 854 sq. Kilometers and has a population of over 71,000 of which almost 100% are German speaking.
The area known today as the East Cantons or DGB was historically part of Germany but was annexed by Belgium following Germany's defeat in World War I. The new cantons had been part of Belgium for just 20 years when in 1940 they were once again retaken by the Germans in World War II. Many people of the east cantons welcomed this as they felt they were German. Following the defeat of Germany in 1945 the cantons were once again annexed by Belgium and as a result of alleged collaboration an attempt was made to 'un-Germanize' the local population by the Belgian and Wallonian authorities. Starting in the early 1960s Belgium was divided into four communities, the Dutch speaking Flemish community, the French speaking Wallonian community, the bilingual capital of Brussels, and the German speaking community of the east cantons. In 1973 all the community regions were granted greater autonomy and the legislative Council of the German Speaking Community, 'Rat der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft' was set up. Today the DGB has a relative high degree of autonomy especially in language and cultural matters. The DGB however still remains part of the region of French speaking Wallonia. There has been much argument in the past few years that the DGB should also be given its own region just as the Flemish and Wallonians.
The current Minister-Präsident of the DG is Karl-Heinz Lambertz.
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