Vlaams Nationaal Jeugdverbond

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Group of girls from the Vlaams Nationaal Jeugdverbond in uniform

The Vlaams Nationaal Jeugdverbond (VNJ; roughly Flemish National Youth Association ) is a Flemish nationalist youth association that is considered to be the largest youth organization of the extreme right in Flanders . The association, founded in 1961, had around 1100 members in 2010.

history

The founder of the VNJ, Jaak Van Haerenborgh (1919-2004), grew up in a Flemish nationalist family. In 1936 he became a member of the Algemeen Vlaams Nationaal Jeugdverbonds , which in 1941 merged with the Vlaamsche Jeugd , the Dietsche Meisjesscharen , the Vlaamsche Jeugdherbergcentrale and the Vlaams Instituut voor Volksdans en Volksmuziek to form the Nationaal-Socialistische Jeugd Vlaanderen . After the end of World War II , Van Haerenborgh was imprisoned as a collaborator for six months. He then became politically active in the Vlaamse Concentratie and Volksunie parties .

In addition to his party-political engagement, Van Haerenborgh tried to bring together the various Flemish nationalist youth organizations. Since he did not succeed in this, he founded the VNJ in 1961. As early as 1963, the VNJ had around 300 members in 15 local groups in Antwerp and East Flanders . Politically, he was close to the Volksunie and had close ties to the Vlaamse Militanten Orde .

After disputes about the ideological orientation, a militant sub-group around the staunch National Socialist and former regular leader in the Hitlerjeugd Vlaanderen Piet Vereecken left the VNJ in 1971 and founded the Algemeen Vlaams Nationaal Jeugdverbond , which worked together with the German Wiking Youth and the French Europe-Jeunesse . In the years that followed, most members and groups of the AVNJ returned to the VNJ until the last groups of the AVNJ disbanded in 1986.

In 2005, the VNJ changed its statutes because the ideological orientation of the 1960s was no longer reflected in the association's work and led to a significant loss of members: Between 2000 and 2010, the number of members fell from 1953 to 1118 and the number of local groups from 78 to 28 Changes to the statutes, the VNJ sees itself much more as a youth association than as a political organization.

Content orientation

The content of the VNJ is shaped by three positions:

  • the demand for independence for Flanders. Originally the VNJ represented the Dietsche or Greater Dutch direction of Flemish nationalism, which calls for a merger of Flanders with the Netherlands ; meanwhile he is concentrating on an independent Flanders.
  • the view of the Flemish as an ethnically defined nation . The VNJ represents the ethnopluralist position of a “Europe of the peoples”.
  • the self-image as a youth association that wants to convey Flemish nationalism using the methods used by the youth. This includes the emotional influence through singing together, the knowledge of the "Germanic runes" and the "rich Flemish past".

Uniform and badge

The members wear a dark gray uniform shirt with epaulettes and an orange scarf. Boys wear short black trousers and girls wear black skirts. The uniform comes with a black belt with the VNJ's badge, the Blauwvoet , on the belt lock . The orange of the scarf is supposed to be reminiscent of William I of Orange-Nassau , the black color symbolizes the connection to the Flemish fatherland and the gray of the shirts is interpreted as the color of the nobility.

Association badge is a stylized booby in front of a circle. The so-called Blauwvoet became a symbol of the Great Dutch movement at the end of the 19th century; it comes from a Flemish student song composed by Albrecht Rodenbach in 1875, the refrain of which is "Vlies de Blauwvoet, storm op zee" (Flies the blue foot, storm at sea).

structure

The local groups known as “Scharen” consist formally of a girls group (“Meisjesschar”) and a boys group (“Blauwvoetvendel”); In recent years, however, this separation has become less important due to the association's loss of membership. Above the local level, the VNJ is divided into four districts (Antwerp, Brabant, East Flanders, West Flanders).

There are four age groups within the association, which have different names for girls and boys:

Age girl Boys
6–9 years Guys Squire
10-12 years Meeuwen Jongkerels
13-14 years Gudruns Kerels
15-16 years Nobility Stormers

Members of the VNJ who are over 17 years old are usually group leaders.

Relationships in the right-wing extremist milieu

Members of the VNJ at IJzerwake 2009

The VNJ is regarded as an important recruiting base for the Flemish nationalist parties, especially for the Vlaams Belang , as the VNJ maintains a similar mix of Flemish nationalism and right-wing extremist positions as the parties. The path of the young people who have outgrown the youth work of the VNJ often leads via the more radical Nationalist JongStudentenVerbond (NJSV) and the Nationalist StudentenVereniging (NSV) into the parties of the Flemish movement.

The VNJ maintained and maintains contacts to right-wing extremist youth organizations in other countries, such as the German organizations Wiking-Jugend , Heimattreuen Deutschen Jugend and Freibund . The IJzerbedevaart was used for the encounters ; since this event has opened up to a wider social audience, the VNJ has been one of the co-organizers of the IJzerwake .

Known members

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dirk Rochtus: Extremism in Belgium. In: Eckehard Jesse, Tom Thieme (ed.): Extremism in the EU states. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2011. ISBN 978-3-531-17065-7 . P. 45.
  2. ↑ a b Jaak Van Haerenborgh. (No longer available online.) VNJ Belsele, archived from the original on April 7, 2011 ; accessed on June 30, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / scharen.vnj.org
  3. ↑ a b c Koen Verbruggen: VNJ-afdeling Gent (1961-heden). In: ODIS - Database Intermediary Structures Flanders. September 7, 2011, accessed June 30, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Luk Bral, Myriam Vanweddingen: VRIND 2013. Vlaamse Regionale indicatoren . Studiedienst van de Vlaamse Regering, Brussels 2013, ISBN 978-90-403-0342-5 , p. 149 and 156 ( online [PDF]).
  5. ^ Martine Vandemeulebroucke: Le VNJ, Voorpost et le VB. In: Le Soir . August 14, 2008.
  6. ^ Franziska Hundseder: Keyword right-wing extremism. Heyne, Munich 1993. ISBN 3-453-06536-0 . P. 58
  7. ↑ Tom Cochez: Mantelorganisaties VB gaan op bezoek bij Duitse neonazi's. In: De Morgen . August 8, 2013, accessed June 30, 2014 .
  8. ↑ cf. various reports in Sure! , et al. No. 94 (2002)
  9. ↑ Sophie Gyselinck: Steven Bosselaers (1968-). In: ODIS - Database Intermediary Structures Flanders. April 25, 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2014 .
  10. ↑ Comité permanent R (Ed.): Rapport d'Activités 2003 . Retrieved November 19, 2014 (pp. 135–147).
  11. ^ A b Dans les racines politiques de Bart De Wever, les éclairages de son frère Bruno. In: apache.be. May 14, 2013, accessed November 19, 2014 .
  12. ^ Sophie Gyselinck: Stefaan Eilers (1964-). In: ODIS - Database Intermediary Structures Flanders. March 27, 2008, accessed November 19, 2014 .
  13. ^ Sophie Gyselinck: Lidwina Van Onckelen (1952-). In: ODIS - Database Intermediary Structures Flanders. September 2, 2009, accessed November 19, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Rob Verreycken: Over Rob Verreycken. Retrieved November 19, 2014 .
  15. ^ Sophie Gyselinck: Wim Verreycken (1943-). In: ODIS - Database Intermediary Structures Flanders. September 6, 2012, accessed November 19, 2014 .