Belgian annexation plans after the Second World War After the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II in 1945 , Belgium planned to annex parts of the territory along the Belgian – German border . In addition to monetary compensations and the lending of labor forces , this was considered a way of reparations . In mid - April 1949 , Belgium surprisingly waived any interest in most of the previously claimed areas . Actual assignments . On 1 April 1949 ( prior to the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany ) , the border areas in the territories of North Rhine - Westphalia and Rhineland - Palatinate were temporarily divested to Belgium . These included the following areas : Originally , several German exclave s enclosed by Belgian territory were planned . These enclaves still exist , as the route of the Vennbahn railway is Belgian territory and thus divides the populated places west of it from the rest of the German territory . These places are : Furthermore , there are several forested areas in the region between the Belgian town of Elsenborn and the German Kalterherberg . It was planned that the inhabitants of these areas should provisionally remain German citizens despite of the shifted border . After the war , Belgium had gradually withdrawn her territorial claims . According to the Allied order of 26 March 1949 , several populated places and the Vennbahn , which was of special interest for Belgium , should be handed over . However , on 15 April 1949 , a sudden change of mind occurred in Belgium . The Belgian government officially declared that it waived the claims to most places and territories that been assigned to Belgium . This waiver was allegedly not the result of the ongoing protest by the state government of North Rhine - Westphalia , but an insight into the inefficiency of the boundary corrections by Belgium . Because establishing the Vennbahn railway would require huge resources over the years , as had been assessed by Belgium , it was decided to refrain from adding adjacent villages to the military administration . Moreover , the Belgian government did not see any support from a majority of the Belgian population for these measures . The return of the annexed territories to Germany took place on 28 August 1958 due to a German - Belgian border treaty from 24 September 1956 . The place Losheimergraben and the western part of the Leykaul municipality , as well as some forests , were excluded from this restoration . These areas remained in Belgium , and so did the previously Belgian municipalities of Eupen and Malmedy that had been incorporated into the German Reich in 1940 . In January 2008 , it was announced by Belgian Deputy District Commissioner Marcel Lejoly that the planned removal of the Vennbahn rails could have " international consequences " , and it was speculated that the neighbouring areas had to be returned to Germany . But both the Belgian Foreign Ministry as well as the Foreign Office in Germany declared , that the boundaries were ultimately covered by contract and therefore no change would take place . The German - Belgian border treaty of 1956 cited by the Foreign Office does , however , not contain any indications as to what should happen if the railway facilities mentioned in the contract cease to exist . Moreover , the option of restoring the railway traffic has not been abandoned and also a bicycle route that has been planned on the former Vennbahn track would not change the borderline .