Hof der Gefusilleerden (Courtyard of the Executed)

1914-1918. World War I was raging across the continent. Bruges was not spared either. In a garden near the Courthouse, thirteen pillars along a wall commemorate the men who were shot here. They were executed by the German occupiers between 1914 and 1916. Their crime? Alleged assistance to the opponent. After the war, city architect Salmon was commissioned to design a memorial site. This was inaugurated on 7 May 1922 and the city still honours its war dead today. The original wall with the gruesome bullet holes has disappeared, though. Did you know that two witnesses from the city council were forced to watch the executions?