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★ Young men who went to war with a love of life are being traumatised by their experiences of a brutal conflict that will soon be known as the primal catastrophe of the 20th century - the First World War.

★ “I see that people are forced against each other and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay, I see that the smartest brains of the world invent weapons and words to make it all even more sophisticated and longer lasting.” Paul Säumer, German soldier in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front Belgium 1914-18, Despite its neutrality, this small country has been, for over four years, the battlefield for foreign powers vying for supremacy in a horrifying conflict seemingly without end. On the Western Front, German, Flemish, French and British lie facing each other in the trenches.

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Main programme

★ TT THALIA GOETHE # I Al,swär,i3 “ Amt INSTITUT s