The role played by non-Europeans in the Great War

http://www.flandersnews.be/cm/de.redactie.english/flanders_today/080430_Flandersfields

Wed 30/04/08 - Man Culture War, an exhibition examining the
multicultural aspects of the First World War, opens in the
InFlandersFields Museum in Ieper (West Flanders) on Thursday.

The exhibition charts the role played by non-Europeans in the Great
War.

People from over fifty different cultures fought in Flanders' fields.

The dead of fifty present-day countries are buried here.

At the time the British Empire encompassed a third of the world.

The British brought people from the four corners of their Empire to
work and fight in Flanders.

Not everybody was allowed to fight though. In the British army only
Indian soldiers took part in the conflict.

Other nationalities like Maoris from New Zealand were taken to the
battlefields in order to work.

France adopted a different stand. In urgent need of soldiers the
French employed West and North African troops in their army.

At the time Germany was cut off from its colonies in Africa and the
Germans frowned on the use of non-Europeans by their enemies.

The Germans did take scientific interest in the phenomenon though.
(Photo Belga)

Many sound recordings were made.

There are 1,650 audio recordings of the songs and languages of non-
Europeans fighting in the conflict.

Much of the material has been used in the exhibition.

There is also a wealth of film material that survived the conflict and
that can be seen in Ieper.

The exhibition can be visited in the In Flanders Fields Museum in
Ieper from 1 May until 7 September.