People and State

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Volk en Staat was a Belgian daily newspaper with an editorial office in Antwerp , which existed from 1936 to 1944. From the end of the 1930s it developed into the mouthpiece of the Flemish National Association ( Vlaams Nationaal Verbond , VNV for short), a party that collaborated with the military administration during the German occupation of Belgium in World War II . Since the VNV placed itself under the National Socialist order, this also applied to the people and the state .

history

Before the German occupation of Belgium

Volk en Staat emerged from the newspaper De Schelde , which was in financial difficulties at the end of 1933. Herman Van Puymbrouck, former chairman of the Vlaamsche Front , then offered the Dutch shareholders, who held the majority in the paper, to save De Schelde from being closed by buying it. After he had paid half of the requested amount, according to his statement from his own funds, he was unable to obtain the remaining amount in full, so that he only received a minority of the shares.

In 1934 Van Puymbrouck began to approach the Flemish National Association, which may have been due to the continued poor situation of the newspaper and the rise of the VNV. After he had committed himself to the VNV in an article on September 30, 1936, the title of the newspaper was finally changed to Volk en Staat on November 15 of that year . Van Puymbrouck now officially declared the newspaper to be VNV-affiliated, but on the other hand made it clear that the VNV does not necessarily have to agree with the way in which the newspaper defends its policies. In fact, the newspaper was at times too radical for many members of the VNV; Van Puymbrouck openly showed his affinity for National Socialism , and the anti-Semitism found in the paper repelled some readers. VNV co-founder Hendrik Borginon protested to VNV boss Staf De Clercq about Van Puymbrouck and the orientation of the newspaper and then tried in vain to persuade the Dutch shareholders to get the paper out of Van Puymbrouck's hands. In the end this succeeded, after an initial measure, the appointment of Antoon Merman as editor-in-chief, Staf De Clercq got the majority of the shares after foreign holdings in Belgian newspapers had been banned by a government decree. Van Puymbrouck later accused De Clercq of receiving money from the German side. He stayed with Volk en Staat until 1938 , but no longer had any influence on the editorial team.

Mermans was initially both editor-in-chief and managing director until the former managing director of the Schelde returned to the newspaper in 1939 and took over management again. Under Mermans, the people and the state took a more moderate stance. Before the war, however, much progress was not made, the circulation never exceeded 10,000 copies and the newspaper could not even afford a subscription to the Belga news agency . Financial support from the press department of the German embassy did nothing to change that. Firmin Parasie, a friend of Van Puymbrouck and an opponent of Mermans, accused Volk en Staat in the competition paper Dietsche Voorpost of receiving considerable sums of money from German sources . It did not stop there, through a conspiracy in which, in addition to Parasie, Van Puymbrouck and the agent Paul Vrijdaghs, who were in German service, were involved, the Volk en Staat was banned from appearing from January 17 to February 27, 1940. During the German attack on Belgium , the newspaper had to stop publishing again, as both managing director Peeters and editor-in-chief Mermans were deported to France as "suspicious elements" .

During the German occupation of Belgium

Staf De Clercq tried to get a new publication after the fighting ended; because Mermans was still in France, Jan Brans, a former editor of the newspaper, was appointed editor-in-chief. Since the former printing company was not prepared to make its capacities available to the people and the state before it had paid its debts, the Volksgazet printing company was seized for this purpose , which had also had to suspend its publication. Although Brans was informed by a group of VNV members that they would prefer to await the return of Merman and Peeter and that this was also De Clercq's request, Brans saw no turning back and had the newspaper appear again from June 13, 1940. Subsequent claims by senior VNV cadres after the war that the newspaper had reappeared against the will of the VNV are refuted, at least with regard to De Clercq, by his written declaration to Peeters.

Volk en Staat now appeared in the format and font of the Volksgazet . For the time being, Brans combined the function of editor-in-chief, managing director and publisher in his person, but Peeters and Mermans soon came back and resumed their old positions on August 16, 1940, Brans was now deputy editor-in-chief. The publishing house De Schelde produced not only the newspaper but also books and writing paper during the occupation years. In addition, the publishing house built up a bookstore chain run by Peeter's wife with branches in Brussels , Leuven , Gent and Lier . Most of the VNV publications were published by De Schelde , and since February 1944 also the weekly illustrated De Illustratie .

The number of employees at the publishing house grew rapidly and by the end of 1943 was over 230. In addition to the 14 journalists in the editorial team, around 10 freelancers worked for the newspaper, as well as correspondents in Berlin , Paris and The Hague . Since the return of Bran, the newspaper has appeared in two editions, Mermans and his deputy Brans were each responsible for one issue. Brans was now editor-in-chief with equal rights, after Merman's entry into the provincial authority he finally took over the editor-in-chief of both editions. Brans remained editor-in-chief until March 1944 and then went to Spain , he was replaced by Jeanne De Bruin.

During the occupation years, the circulation was between 40,000 and 55,000 copies. Authors who give lower values ​​do not cite a source, while Léon Degrelle and managing director Peeters gave figures that are well above the stated range. The newspaper's success during the occupation years can be seen in connection with the rise of the VNV during this period, as the mouthpiece of which it served. This was also stipulated in the guidelines of the editorial office, which also stated that Volk en Staat saw itself as a publication committed to National Socialism. Although during the period when Mermans and Brans were each responsible for an edition there was little difference between them, there was sometimes the derisive remark that Mermans' edition was for the illiterate and Brans for the gifted. A folkloristic sentimentality penetrated Mermans' edition, while Brans aimed more at a modern newspaper. The idea for both editions came from Peeters, who wanted to let the various personalities of the two editors-in-chief develop. Both editions sold about the same amount.

In terms of content, Volk en Staat returned to Van Puymbrouck's course, including anti-Semitism, which had met with rejection before the war. It is therefore not surprising that the newspaper generally had a good relationship with the propaganda department of the occupation authorities. It was then also privileged, while all newspapers (with the exception of the German occupation organ Brussels newspaper ) were forcibly reduced to two pages in 1944, Volk en Staat was allowed to appear with four pages, the year before it had the paper stocks of Le Matin and De Nieuwe Gazet received. Nonetheless, conflicts arose, and Mermans and Brans were fined for failing to pre-censor an article. One editor even received a month's imprisonment for making a plea for peace in an article and calling for the independence of the small states. This article had previously passed the previous censorship. Most likely the censor had not read or understood the article correctly. But according to the editor concerned, De Bruyne, behind the punishment was an action by an enemy of the VNV (the rival organization Deutsch-Flämische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DeVlag) or the SS ) who brought the article to Berlin from where this punitive measure was dictated. De Bruyne only had to serve half the sentence, the reason being that the article had been submitted to the censorship and that he had always behaved loyally beforehand. The fact that the newspaper brought up the dietse issue ( irredentism in the form of the unification of all Dutch- speaking areas) also caused difficulties . However, there was no critical situation in relation to the propaganda department, as the newspaper was the mouthpiece of the most important collaborative organization in Belgium Flanders .

In July 1941 the newspaper published the first call for volunteers to take part in the German Eastern Front, but Volk en State was forbidden there, only the competing DeVlag and SS publications were allowed. The imperial edition of the DeVlag newspaper Vlaamsche Land , which was intended for Flemish workers in the German Reich, was much more successful there than Volk en State , whose expansion was counteracted.

The last edition of the newspaper appeared on September 4, 1944, when Antwerp was liberated by Allied troops.

literature

Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerp / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 ( online , PDF ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerp / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 , pp. 194-195.
  2. ↑ Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerp / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 , pp. 194-197.
  3. ↑ Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerp / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 , pp. 197-200. Paul Vrijdaghs as an agent after Bruno De Wever: Greep naar de macht. Vlaams-nationalisme en Nieuwe Orde. Het VNV 1933-1945 . Lannoo, Tielt 1994, ISBN 90-209-2267-X , p. 329. Revised dissertation, Gent 1992.
  4. ↑ Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerp / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 , pp. 200-202.
  5. ↑ Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerp / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 , pp. 202-203.
  6. ↑ Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerp / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 , p. 204.
  7. ↑ Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerp / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 , pp. 205-207.
  8. ↑ Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerp / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 , p. 108 u. 207-211. Scope of the Brussels newspaper according to Rolf Falter: De Brussels newspaper (1940–1944) in: Historica Lovaniensia 137, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Departement geschiedenis), Leuven 1982, p. 57.
  9. ↑ Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerpen / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 , p. 179 ( access ) and 191 (prohibition).
  10. ↑ Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerpen / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 , p. 233.
  11. ↑ Els de Bens: De Belgische dagbladpers onder Duitse censuur (1940-1944) . De Nederlandsche Boekhandel, Antwerpen / Utrecht 1973, ISBN 90-289-9883-7 , p. 143.