Fun History Facts

The OPCW marks the 89th anniversary of the end of World War I in a special manner.

On 11 November 2007, the city of Ieper [Ypres], Belgium commemorated the eighty-ninth anniversary of the Armistice that ended the First World War, in a solemn commemoration ceremony attended by representatives of all those countries which lost victims during the war.

Representing the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at the event, Mr John Freeman, OPCW Deputy Director-General, laid a wreath in memory of the fallen of the First World War, at the Menin Gate Memorial in Ieper.

Ieper has a special significance for the OPCW since chemical weapons were first used on a mass scale on the battlefields of Ieper on 22 April 1915. During the course of the First World War, ninety thousand lost their lives due to exposure to chemical weapons. In honour of those victims, the meeting venue of the OPCW Executive Council is called the Ieper Room.

In abiding memory of all victims of chemical warfare, the OPCW has also established 29 April as an annual Day of Remembrance, which occurs simultaneously with the anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention’s entry into force.

Yperite is one of the first names used to label mustard agent, for those of you who enjoy chemical warfare trivia. This was because the German army introduced the chemical warfare agent in July 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres. And now you know!