A century after German forces burned down the Leuven University library, Marie Legrand still has visions of the horrid scene. Even the scent of smoke she smelled as a 3-year-old stings in her mind to this day. The First World War had started weeks earlier and Belgium had slowed Germany’s march on France much more than expected. German irritation turned to anger, then to atrocities.

Read more: http://ww1.canada.com/after-the-war/leuvens-legacy-century-after-razing-of-belgian-library-cultural-destruction-a-wartime-norm