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Rexist
The Rexist Party (french: Parti Rexiste), or simply Rex, was a far-right Catholic, nationalist, authoritarian and corporatist political party active in Belgium from 1935 until 1945. The party was founded by a journalist, Léon Degrelle,The rexist movement in Belgium PhD thesis Martin Conway, 1989, University of Oxford and, unlike other fascist parties in the Belgium of the time, advocated Belgian unitarism and . Initially the party ran in both |
Léon Degrelle
Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle (; 15 June 1906 – 31 March 1994) was a Belgian Walloon politician and Nazi collaborator. He rose to prominence in Belgium in the 1930s as the leader of the Rexist Party (Rex). During the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, he enlisted in the German army and fought in the Walloon Legion on the Eastern Front. After the collapse of the Nazi regime, Degrelle escaped and went into exile in Francoist Spain, where he remained a prominent figure in neo-Nazi politics. Degrelle was raised Catholic and during his years at university became involved in politics through journalism. In the early 1930s, he took control of a Catholic publishing house that morphed under his leadership into the Rexist Party. Rex contested the 1936 Belgian general election and won 11 percent of the vote, but slipped into irrelevance by the start of World War II. Degrelle began to collaborate with Nazi Germany as the war began and was detained by Belgian and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walloon Legion
The Walloon Legion (french: Légion Wallonie, "Wallonia Legion") was a unit of the German Army (''Wehrmacht'') and later of the Waffen-SS recruited among French-speaking collaborationists in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. It was formed in the aftermath of the German invasion of the Soviet Union and fought on the Eastern Front alongside similar formations from other parts of German-occupied Western Europe. Established in July 1941, the Walloon Legion was envisaged by Léon Degrelle's Rexist Party as a means of demonstrating its loyalty and political indispensability in German-occupied Belgium where it had been largely ignored since the German invasion of May 1940. A similar formation had already been created by Flemish collaborators as the Flemish Legion, preventing Degrelle from being able to establish the "Belgian Legion" he had originally intended. The formation, initially part of the German Army, was officially designated Infantry Battalion 373 (''Infanter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Matthys
Victor Matthys (20 March 1914 – 10 November 1947) was a Belgian politician who served as both deputy and acting leader of the Rexist Party. He was later executed for collaboration with Nazi Germany. An early member of the Rexist movement, Matthys took over the editorship of the party newspaper, '' Le Pays Réel'', in 1936 and in May 1941 was promoted to director of propaganda.Philip Rees, ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'', 1990, p. 330. He became official leader of Rex that same July after Léon Degrelle left to serve in the Waffen SS. He was nominated for the position as he was a weak character who posed no real threat to Degrelle's position as leader. Matthys was also popular with the Germans as he had a long standing admiration for Adolf Hitler. As Rexist leader Matthys proved as weak and ineffective as Degrelle had hoped, although he also demonstrated a propensity towards violence to mask his failings. His position eventually came under scrutiny ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1936 Belgian General Election
General elections were held in Belgium on 24 May 1936. The result was a victory for the Belgian Labour Party, which won 70 of the 202 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 39 of the 101 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 94.7%. Despite the rise of far-right and far-left parties, Paul van Zeeland continued as Prime Minister leading a government of national unity, composed of the three major parties (Catholics, Socialists and Liberals). Results Chamber of Representatives Senate Constituencies The distribution of seats among the electoral districts of the Chamber of Representatives was as follows. Several arrondissements got one or more additional seats. Roeselare-Tielt lost one seat, which was a rare occurrence since population generally increased throughout the Belgian territory with each census. References {{Belgian elections Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Euro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vlaams Nationaal Verbond
The (Dutch for "Flemish National Union" or "Flemish National League"), widely known by its acronym VNV, was a Flemish nationalist political party active in Belgium between 1933 and 1945.Kinderen van de collaboratie. Ervaringen en getuigenissen van nakomelingen van collaborateurs in de Tweede Wereldoorlog University of Ghent, 2010, Master thesis history It became the leading force of political collaboration in during the [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Le Pays Réel
''Le Pays Réel'' ( French; literally "The Real Country") was a Catholic-Fascist newspaper published by the Rexist Party in Belgium. Its first issue appeared on 3 May 1936 and it continued to be published during the Second World War. It was briefly edited by Victor Matthys. While the ''Pays Réel'' remained the main paper of Rex, it remained just one of several published by the group, or subsumed under Rexist control, during the war. The newspaper's title derives from the writings of Charles Maurras, a French nationalist, who distinguished between a ''pays réel'', rooted in the realities of life such as locality, work, trades, the parish and the family, and a ''pays légal'' ("legal country") of law, constitutionalism, and liberal political ideals which he cast as artificially imposed on the "real". See also *Belgium in World War II *German occupation of Belgium during World War II *''Je suis partout ''Je suis partout'' (, lit. ''I am everywhere'') was a French newspaper fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belgian Nationalism
Belgian nationalism, sometimes pejoratively referred to as Belgicism (; ), is a nationalist ideology. In its modern form it favours the reversal of federalism and the creation of a unitary state in Belgium. The ideology advocates reduced or no autonomy for the Flemish Community who constitute Flanders, the French Community of Belgium and the German-speaking Community of Belgium who constitute Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region which is inhabited by both Walloons and Flemings, and the dissolution of the regional counterparts of each ethnic group within Belgium. It insists on restoring total sovereignty to the level of the Belgian state by reverting Belgium to a unitary state, after decades of state structure reforms that made Belgium a federal state since the 1970s - contrary to Flemish nationalists who advocate the independence of their region, and Walloon, Brussels and German-speaking regionalists who advocate more autonomy to their respective regions. Belgian nationali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clerical Fascism
Clerical fascism (also clero-fascism or clerico-fascism) is an ideology that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with clericalism. The term has been used to describe organizations and movements that combine religious elements with fascism, receive support from religious organizations which espouse sympathy for fascism, or fascist regimes in which clergy play a leading role. History The term ''clerical fascism'' (clero-fascism or clerico-fascism) emerged in the early 1920s in the Kingdom of Italy, referring to the faction of the Roman Catholic Partito Popolare Italiano (PPI) which supported Benito Mussolini and his régime. It was supposedly coined by Don Luigi Sturzo, a priest and Christian democrat leader who opposed Mussolini and went into exile in 1924, although the term had also been used before Mussolini's March on Rome in 1922 to refer to Catholics in Northern Italy who advocated a synthesis of Roman Catholicism and fascism. Sturzo made a distinction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vers L'avenir
''Vers l'avenir'' (, "Towards the future"), less commonly known by its Dutch title ''Naar wijd en zijd'', is a Belgian nationalist song which was also the national anthem of the Congo Free State. Upon the annexation of the Congo Free State as a colony of Belgium, this anthem was replaced with ''La Brabançonne'', the national anthem of Belgium. ''Vers l'avenirs lyrics were written by Gentil Theodoor Antheunis (1840–1907). It was also adopted as the anthem of the Rexist Party, a Fascist political movement founded in 1930 by Léon Degrelle Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle (; 15 June 1906 – 31 March 1994) was a Belgian Walloon politician and Nazi collaborator. He rose to prominence in Belgium in the 1930s as the leader of the Rexist Party (Rex). During the German occupatio .... Lyrics :''Le siècle marche et pose ses jalons,'' :''Nous marquant une étape nouvelle.'' :''Nous le suivons et nous nous rappelons'' :''Nos aïeux et leur gloire immortelle.'' :''Si ton so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walloon Guard
The Walloon Guard (french: Garde Wallonne) was a collaborationist paramilitary formation which served as an auxiliary police in German-occupied Belgium and parts of Northern France during World War II. It was established in November 1941 with the support of the Rexist Party and was officially incorporated into the German Army (''Wehrmacht'') alongside the Feldgendarmerie. In contrast to the Walloon Legion, established in June 1941, which participated in fighting on the Eastern Front the Walloon Guard was used within Belgium and initially found it easier to attract volunteers because of the comparatively high salaries offered. The first battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ... was raised on 17 November 1941. It was used primarily for guarding railways and mil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Political Catholicism
The Catholic Church and politics concerns the interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics. Historically, the Church opposed liberal ideas such as democracy, freedom of speech, and the separation of church and state under the grounds that "error has no rights". It eventually accommodated these ideas and began to view religious liberty as a positive value during and after the Second Vatican Council. Background According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "the separation of church and state does not require division between belief and public action, between moral principles and political choices, but protects the right of believers and religious groups to practice their faith and act on their values in public life." 19th century As a program and a movement, political Catholicism – a political and cultural conception which promotes the ideas and social teaching of the Catholic Church in public life through government action – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.O'Collins, p. v (preface). The church consists of 24 ''sui iuris'' churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies located around the world. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The bishopric of Rome, known as the Holy See, is the central governing authority of the church. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia, has its principal offices in Vatican City, a small enclave of the Italian city of Rome, of which the pope is head of state. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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