'Ce n'est pas la loi qu'il faut changer, c'est la mentalité' : Ypres Tribunal for War Damages (1918-1935) : intermediary for a city in reconstruction

Ypres is considered a universal symbol of the destruction wrought by the First World War. By the time the Armistice was signed, little but rubble was left of this once wealthy Flemish trading city. Hundreds of thousands allied soldiers lost their lives in the battles of the Ypres Salient alone, provoking the allied leaders to claim the city as a monument for remembrance. Former residents, backed by the local government, rejected such claims and intended to rebuild the city. One of the leading institutions in the reconstruction programme were the tribunals and courts for war damages.