In 1921  D'Asprimont Lynden castle (Oud-Rekem) was a psychiatric hospital function. It was known as the "Empire Lunatic Asylum '. At that time psychiatric patients were excluded from society and kept for the rest of their lives in institutions like this. They had no family or  their family had severed all ties with them.

Those who came there and passed away were buried in a cemetery located in the woods a little way from the institution between 1921 and 1981, in total around 1750 patients were buried.