25 Euros Hugo Claus

Hugo Claus, the Flemish novelist, poet, and playwright behind Het verdriet van België, died by euthanasia in Bruges in 2008 after an Alzheimer's diagnosis — a death that reignited Belgian public debate on the law the country had passed just six years earlier. The Royal Belgian Mint's decision to commemorate him a decade after his death reflects his complicated standing: celebrated across linguistic communities in a country that frequently struggles to find cultural common ground.