page_title: Neutral Moresnet
section_title: Uncertain future
hierarchical_section_title: Neutral Moresnet / History / Uncertain future
caption_attribution_description: English: The Drielandenpunt (Three country point, Dreiländereck), the point where the boundaries of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium converge, near the city of Aachen (Germany) and Vaals (Netherlands). Photo taken in 2000 (?) by User:Ahoerstemeier
context_page_description: Neutral Moresnet was a small Belgian–Prussian condominium in western Europe that existed from 1816 to 1920 and was administered jointly by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Prussia. It was a mile [1.6 km] wide and 3 miles [4.8 km] long, with an area of 900 acres. After 1830, the territory's northernmost border point at Vaalserberg connected it to a quadripoint shared additionally with the Dutch Province of Limburg, the Prussian Rhine Province, and the Belgian Province of Liège. Its former location is represented presently by the Three-Country Point, the meeting place of the borders of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.
  During the First World War, Neutral Moresnet was annexed by Germany, although the allies did not recognise the annexation. The armistice between France and Germany in November 1918 forced Germany to withdraw from Belgium and Neutral Moresnet. A year later, the Treaty of Versailles awarded Neutral Moresnet to Belgium, effective 10 January 1920, when the territory was annexed by Belgium to become the municipality of Kelmis.
context_section_description: When the mine was exhausted in 1885, the continued survival of Neutral Moresnet was in doubt. Perhaps in response, the next year Dr. Wilhelm Molly (1838–1919), the mine's chief medical doctor and an avid philatelist, tried to organise a local postal service with its own stamps. This enterprise was quickly thwarted by Belgian intervention.
  A casino was established in August 1903 after the Belgians closed all such resorts in Belgium. The Moresnet casino operated with strict limitations, permitting no local resident to gamble, and no more than 20 persons to gather at a time. The venture was abandoned, however, when Kaiser Wilhelm II threatened to partition the territory or cede it to Belgium in order to end the gambling. Around this same time, Moresnet boasted three distilleries for the manufacture of gin.
  
  During 1908, Dr. Molly proposed making Neutral Moresnet the world's first Esperanto‑speaking state, named Amikejo ("friendship-place"). The proposed national anthem was an Esperanto march of the same name, set to the tune of "O Tannenbaum". A number of residents learned Esperanto and a rally was held in Kelmis to endorse the idea of Amikejo on 13 August 1908, and a coat of arms was publicized. The World Congress of Esperanto, meeting in Dresden, even declared Neutral Moresnet the world capital of the Esperanto community.
  About 1900, Germany began a more aggressive policy concerning the territory and was accused of sabotage and obstructing the administrative process in order to force the issue.
caption: The Three-Country Point on the Vaalserberg presently. Until 1915 this was also the location of Neutral Moresnet's apex.
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