Kniffka Philatelie

Eupen-Malmedy, or the East Cantons (in German, die Ostkantone; in French, les Cantons de l'Est; in Dutch, de Oostkantons; in Walloon, les Redîmés Payis, is a group of cantons in Belgium, composed of the former Prussian districts (Kreise in German) of Malmedy and Eupen, together with the Neutral Moresnet. French-speaking Belgians also once called them the Redeemed Cantons. These territories were annexed to Belgium in 1925 by the Versailles Treaty, after a plebiscite. Secret negotiations between the Belgian and German governments for their return to Germany failed because France did not want any clause of the Versailles Treaty to be reviewed, but wanted more pre-War German lands to be alienated.