Languages of Belgium
The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. A number of non-official, minority languages and dialects are spoken as well.
Herbesthal railway station
Within Belgium the 1950s saw a growth in friction between Dutch speakers and French speakers over language usage. came into operation in 1962 that divided Belgium into four language areas. The largest two areas, and those with the greatest political muscle, were the Flemish speaking area centred on Ghent, Antwerp and Hasselt, and the French speaking area centred on Charleroi and Liege. The city of Brussels had language issues of its own. and was defined as a third language area, while there was a very small fourth language area in the extreme east of the country, made up essentially of the land confiscated from Germany in 1920, where the dominating language was still German. Herbesthal was in the small German speaking enclave, while 200 meters to the west Welkenraedt was in the French language area. Although passport and customs checks were by now increasingly conducted by officials as the train continued on its way, there remained a need for administrative offices on each side of the frontier. For the Liege/Aachen international line these were increasingly focused on Aachen itself on the German side of the frontier, while on the Belgian side, following the definition of more clearly delineated language zones, customs and passports offices were relocated a couple of hundred meters to the west to francophone Welkenraedt, which left the station at Herbesthal looking ever more unnecessary.