Flemish National Association

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article or section needs to be revised. Details should be given on the talk page. Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

Association badge

The Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond ( Dutch for Flemish National Association ), VNV for short , was a Flemish nationalist party in Belgium . It was founded in 1933 and united different ideological currents of Flemish nationalism. In terms of appearance and demeanor, the party oriented itself towards fascism . During the German occupation of Belgium from 1940 , the party collaborated with the occupying power.

Foundation and program

After the Flemish nationalist parties had lost a lot of votes in the Belgian elections, the VNV was founded in 1933 under the leadership of Staf De Clercq with the intention of forming a unitary party of Flemish nationalism. The party program published on October 8, 1933 attempted to formulate a compromise between the various currents, which ranged from right-wing conservative to the clerical-fascist Verdinaso movement to open support for German National Socialism . Ultimately, the radical groups in particular prevailed. The VNV wanted an authoritarian corporatist Greater Dutch state that would unite Flanders, the Netherlands and the Dutch-speaking parts of northern France . However, the party initially expressly distanced itself from racial theories and the anti-Semitism of Verdinaso, which also emerged from Flemish nationalism.

Participation in elections

In the Belgian elections on May 24, 1936, the party achieved a remarkable result of 7.06%. In the last pre-war elections on April 2, 1939, the VNV achieved its best election result with 8.4% of the nationwide vote. The VNV only competed in the Flemish provinces of Belgium. There the results were consistently in double digits with a peak value in Limburg where more than 24% were achieved in each case.

Relations with Germany

Although there were early contacts between Flemish nationalists in National Socialist Germany, some of which were linked to the Flemish policy of the First World War , the VNV was not officially supported by Germany. This was primarily due to foreign policy reasons, as interference in Belgian domestic policy would have jeopardized the country's return to neutrality policy . In addition, the Catholic and parliamentary orientation of the party initially made competitors such as the Verdinaso appear more suitable allies. From 1935 both the Reich Propaganda Ministry and the Defense were interested in contacts with the VNV, while the Foreign Office spoke out against them. From 1937 at the latest, the party newspaper "Volk en Staat" received financial support from the Propaganda Ministry. In addition, in coordination with the Abwehr, an organization was set up in the Belgian military to carry out sabotage and prevent Belgian soldiers from fighting in the event of a war with Germany . However, this organization was not part of the VNV, but was coordinated personally by the party leader Staf De Clercq.

Under German occupation

Hendrik Elias, December 20, 1942

After the German invasion of Belgium in 1940, the VNV became the mainstay of the German military administration. The party mainly used this to fill posts. At the instigation of the German military administration, VNV members Victor Leemans and Gérard Romsée were given control of the Ministry of Economics and the Ministry of the Interior . At the level, the provincial administration, as well as in cities and municipalities, there was a far-reaching takeover of power by VNV members or people close to the party. This also applied to organizations and authorities that only emerged under German occupation. Military collaboration was also significant. Around 10,000 Flemings served in the Waffen-SS , around 8,000 in the NSKK , around 10,000 in the Todt Organization , the vast majority of whom were recruited through the VNV or related organizations. In addition, there were paramilitary groups, some of which were integrated into the Wehrmacht and were responsible for protecting railway facilities or airfields. Despite the importance of the VNV for the occupying power, the VNV never succeeded in being recognized as the sole collaboration movement in Flanders.
The main reason for this was the incompatibility of the Greater Dutch orientation of the VNV with the Greater Germanic plans of Germany. With the Allgemeine SS Flandern and the DeVlag , organizations directly in competition with the VNV were set up by the occupying power. The conflicts with SS / DeVlag, but also the growing isolation among the Belgian population, led to growing frustration. After party founder Staf de Clercq suddenly died in October 1942, the more moderate Hendrik Elias took over the chairmanship. On August 14, 1943, under his leadership, any cooperation with the SS was forbidden, including advertising for the Waffen SS. In a meeting with Heinrich Himmler on February 29, 1944, Elias demanded the dissolution of the General SS Flanders and the DeVlag, which Himmler refused. After the liberation of Belgium by the Allies in September 1944, Elias and most of the party's leadership cadre fled to Germany. After Elias refused to participate in a Flemish government in exile under the leadership of DeVlag leader Jef Van de Wiele , he was interned on January 9, 1945.

literature

  • Bruno De Wever: Greep naar de power. Vlaams-nationalisme en Nieuwe Orde. Het VNV 1933-1945 , Tielt 1994. Full text on dbnl.org
  • Bruno De Wever: Belgium , in: RJB Bosworth (Red.): The Oxford Handbook of Fascism, Oxford 2010.
  • Bruno De Wever: Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond , in: Reginald De Schryver (Red.): Nieuwe Encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Bewegungsing, Tielt 1997, pp. 3380–3387.
  • Stanley Payne: History of Fascism. The rise and fall of a European movement. London 1995.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bruno De Wever: Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond , in: Reginald De Schryver (Red.): Nieuwe Encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Bewegungsing, Tielt 1997, pp. 3380–3387, here p. 3380.
  2. ↑ Bruno De Wever: Greep naar de makes. Vlaams-nationalisme en Nieuwe Orde. Het VNV 1933-1945 , Tielt 1994, p. 102.
  3. ↑ Bruno De Wever: Greep naar de makes. Vlaams-nationalisme en Nieuwe Orde. Het VNV 1933-1945 , Tielt 1994, p. 187.
  4. ↑ http://www.ibzdgip.fgov.be/result/nl/result_ko.php?date=1939-04-02&vt=CK&ko_type=KO_RK&ko=263&party_id=3443
  5. ↑ http://www.ibzdgip.fgov.be/result/nl/result_ko.php?date=1939-04-02&vt=CK&ko_type=KO_PR&ko=76&party_id=3443
  6. ↑ Peter Klefisch: The Third Reich and Belgium 1933-1939, Frankfurt am Main 1988, p. 431.
  7. ↑ Jakob Müller: Fascist groups in Belgium in the interwar period in the mirror of German reports 1923 to 1936, in: Axel Weipert u. a. (Red.): Festschrift for Wolfgang Wippermann on his 70th birthday, Berlin 2015, pp. 219–222.
  8. ↑ Etienne Verhoeyen: Spies aan de achterdeur. De Duitse Abwehr in België 1936-1945, Antwerpen 2011, pp. 237–242.
  9. ↑ Bruno De Wever, Collaboratie, in: Nieuwe encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Bewegungsing, Tielt 1998, p. 772.
  10. ↑ Bruno De Wever: Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond , in: Reginald De Schryver (Red.): Nieuwe Encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Bewegungsing, Tielt 1997, pp. 3380–3387, here pp. 3384–3387.