History
St. Vith was an important marketplace for the region by the 12th century and received town rights in 1350. The town was burnt in 1543, 1602, and 1689. It was part of Luxembourg until the defeat of Napoleon. As a result of the Congress of Vienna it was given to Prussia.
St. Vith was transferred to Belgium on March 6, 1925, by the Treaty of Versailles after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I. An important road and railway junction, St. Vith was fought over in the 1944 Battle of the Bulge during World War II. The United States Army defended the town against German assault for a few days, delaying the German attack plan, before eventually retreating. Once it was captured by German forces, the town was bombed by the US Air Force on 25 and 26 December 1944 and by RAF Bomber Command with 300 aircraft on the 26. St. Vith was largely destroyed during the ground battle and subsequent air attack. American forces retook the town on January 23, 1945. The only remaining pre-war architecture is the Büchel Tower.
St. Vith is the setting for Michael Oren's novel, Reunion, concerning the fictional reunion of an American battalion which participated in the Battle of the Bulge.
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—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“Tell me of the height of the mountains of the moon, or of the diameter of space, and I may believe you, but of the secret history of the Almighty, and I shall pronounce thee mad.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)