Hard core? A fanatic? Obsessive? You Bet! Mr. Jean-Paul deVries is all of these. Born in the Netherlands, he began visiting the WWI battlefields with his father when he was only six years old. That was 29 years ago. Since that time he has systematically combed the fields of the Meuse-Argonne, looking for traces of the war--especially German traces--and he has amassed a fabulous collection of original artifacts (aka "rusty bits") from the German-Occupied area around Romagne and in the region.
Almost ten years ago, he opened a private museum in a small house Romagne. Over the years the collection has grown. He currently has about 12,000 pieces in his collection, but he can display only about 50% of it in the existing museum. Visitors won't find a high-brow museum with well-designed exhibits and displays. Nor will they find scores of mannequins outfitted with reproduction uniforms and equipment. But the WILL find thousands of military and personal artifacts that have been found in the woods, in period garbage dumps, and in similar locations. These "rusty bits" have been cleaned up, to the extent possible, and grouped with similar objects. The collection includes scores of combs, toothpaste containers, bottle caps, identity disks, rifle barrels, etc. that the soldiers used daily. While not beautifully preserved, the shear size of the collection tells of the enormity of the war--and the personal artifacts of the solider--in its own way.
As the collection has grown, so has the number of annual visitors. In 2003 the museum received about 3,000 guests, including many U.S. Boy Scouts. In 2004, the visitor count was around 2,200, still a respectable number for a private museum that is not particularly well advertised. He has also attracted the attention of the press. When the author visited him in November 2004, he had just spent time talking to one of France's television channels, and he was expecting to get some "air time" on Armistice Day.
Given this growth Mr. deVries started making plans to re-locate his museum in 2004 to a larger, more centrally located building, in Romagne. This will open on 1 April, 2005. Details are provided below:
Proprietor: Mr. Jean-Paul deVries
Address: 2 rue de l'Andon,
55110 Romagne sous Montfaucon, France
Location: Just behind the town church
Hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 10:00am - 6:00pm.
Holidays: Closed Mondays
Cost: Suggested donation is 3€
Phone: From the U.S., dial 011-33-3-2985 1014
Tours: Guided hikes can be arranged.
Romagne is already a favored stop for American battlefield tourists because of the majestic Meuse-Argonne American cemetery. It also contains a very moving German cemetery. (See the feature article on German cemeteries in the region.) And the new museum adds yet another must-see attraction to the town!
Note: The above pictures were taken by the author in November 2004 at the original museum.
Note 2: The internet link to the website for the new museum is: http://worldwar1.nl/romagne/romagne.html.