Events of the year 1939 in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Incumbents

Monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

: Leopold III *

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Paul-Henri Spaak Paul-Henri Charles Spaak (; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman. Along with Robert Schuman, Alcide De Gasperi and Konrad Adenauer he was a leader in the formation of the i ...

(to 22 February);

Hubert Pierlot Hubert Marie Eugène Pierlot (, 23 December 1883 – 13 December 1963) was a Belgian politician and Prime Minister of Belgium, serving between 1939 and 1945. Pierlot, a lawyer and jurist, served in World War I before entering politics in the 192 ...

(from 22 February)

Events

* 9 February – Paul-Henri Spaak's coalition government falls apart * 22 February – Hubert Pierlot forms

Catholic 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 ...

–

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

coalition * 2 April –

1939 Belgian general election General elections were held in Belgium on 2 April 1939. The result was a victory for the Catholic Party, which won 67 of the 202 seats in the Chamber of Representatives. Voter turnout was 93.3%.Nohlen & Stöver, p290 On 22 February 1939, the ...

* 18 April – Hubert Pierlot forms

–

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

coalition * 25 June –

Hermann Lang Hermann Lang (6 April 1909 – 19 October 1987) was a German racing driver who raced motorcycles, Grand Prix cars, and sports cars. Prewar racing Born in Cannstatt near Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, at age fourteen, Hermann Lang had to ...

wins the

1939 Belgian Grand Prix The 1939 Belgian Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held on 25 June 1939 at Spa-Francorchamps. Richard Seaman crashed into a tree between Clubhouse and La Source hairpin, causing the fuel line to break. Fuel rushed over the car and the car ...

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has he ...

* 30 July –

Exposition internationale de l'eau The Exposition internationale de la technique de l'eau de 1939 was the third specialized exposition recognized by the Bureau International des Expositions. In 1936 Georges Truffaut proposed an exposition to celebrate the completion of the Albert Ca ...

opens in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

* 25 August –

Belgian Armed Forces The Belgian Defense Forces ( nl, Defensie; french: La Défense) is the national military of Belgium. The King of the Belgians is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium became indepen ...

begin mobilisation * 3 September – Hubert Pierlot forms government of national unity

Publications

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...

, '' Le Sceptre d'Ottokar'' (serialised in ''

Le Petit Vingtième ''Le Petit Vingtième'' (, ''The Little Twentieth'') was the weekly youth supplement to the Belgium, Belgian newspaper ''Le Vingtième Siècle'' ("The Twentieth Century") from 1928 to 1940. The comics series ''The Adventures of Tintin'' first app ...

'' from 4 August 1938 to 10 August 1939) published as an album *

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...

, ''

Le Bourgmestre de Furnes ''Le Bourgmestre de Furnes'' is a Belgian novel by Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creat ...

'' *

Gerard Walschap Jacob Lodewijk Gerard, Baron Walschap (Londerzeel-St. Jozef, 9 July 1898 – Antwerp, 25 October 1989), was a Belgian writer. Early life He went to ''highschool'' at the ''Klein seminarie'' in Hoogstraten, and later in Asse. His Flemish awarenes ...

, ''Houtekiet''

Art and architecture

ID25110-CLT-0011-02 Argentueil Chapelle musicale B 348

;Buildings * Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel on the Argenteuil Estate in Waterloo ;Paintings *

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bounda ...

, ''

The Palace of Memories ''The Palace of Memories'' (french: Le palais des souvenirs) is a painting in oil on canvas, 46.2 × 38.2 cm, created in 1939 by Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte. It is held in a private collection. In ''The Palace of Memories'', Ren ...

Births

* 21 February –

May Claerhout May Claerhout (21 February 1939 – 7 November 2016) was a Belgian artist who was born in Pittem. She created sculptures in bronze and terracotta, and she created several statues for public buildings in Belgium. Her studio was located in Malle. ...

, artist (died 2016) * 9 March –

Jos Van Gorp Jos is a city in the north central region of Nigeria. The city has a population of about 900,000 residents based on the 2006 census. Popularly called "J-Town", it is the administrative capital and largest city of Plateau State. During British ...

, actor (died 2021) * 12 April –

Philippe Moureaux Philippe Moureaux (12 April 1939 – 15 December 2018) was a Belgian politician, senator, mayor of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and professor of economic history at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He held the honorary title of Minister of State an ...

, politician (died 2018) * 9 June –

Johan Weyts Johan Weyts (9 June 1939 – 20 May 2021) was a Belgian Christian Democrat politician who sat in the Belgian Senate from 1987 to 1999. Born in Mechelen, Weyts had a doctorate in law from Ghent University. He was a member of Bruges city council fr ...

, politician (died 2021) * 3 July –

Willy Vanden Berghen Willy Vanden Berghen (3 July 1939 – 30 March 2022) was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. In 1960 he won two bronze medals in the road race, one at the amateur world championships and the other at the Olympic Games. Major results ;1 ...

, road bicycle racer

Deaths

* 6 January –

Georges Ista Georges Ista (12 November 1874 – 6 January 1939) was a Belgian writer known for his work in the Walloon language. A native of Liège, he died in Paris. He wrote a number of plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity ...

(born 1874), writer * 15 February –

Henri Jaspar Henri Jaspar (28 July 1870 – 15 February 1939) was a Belgian Catholic Party politician. Jaspar was born in Schaerbeek and trained as a lawyer. He represented Liège as a Catholic in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives from 1919 until 1 ...

(born 1870), politician * 6 March –

Michel Levie Michel Édouard Levie (Binche, 4 October 1851 – Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, 6 March 1939) was a Belgian politician and member of the Catholic Party. He was a doctor of law, and also practiced as a lawyer. Levie was a member of the Chamber of Re ...

(born 1851), politician * 14 March –

Marie Haps Marie Haps (1879–1939) was a Luxembourg-born Belgian educationalist, the founder of what subsequently became the Institut Libre Marie Haps (now part of the Haute École Léonard de Vinci) and the Marie Haps Faculty of Translation and Interpr ...

(born 1879), philanthropist * 25 June –

Richard Seaman Richard John Beattie Seaman (4 February 1913 – 25 June 1939) was a British Grand Prix racing driver. He drove for the Mercedes-Benz team from 1937 to 1939 in the Mercedes-Benz W125 and W154 cars, winning the 1938 German Grand Prix. He died o ...

(born 1913), racing driver, dies after crashing in the 1939 Belgian Grand Prix * 6 November –

Adolphe Max Adolphe Eugène Jean Henri Max (30 December 1869 – 6 November 1939) was a Belgian liberal politician and mayor of the City of Brussels from 1909 until his death. He was also an irregular freemason, an honorary Minister of State and a member ...

(born 1869), politician * 23 November –

Gaston-Antoine Rasneur Gaston-Antoine Rasneur (1874–1939) was bishop of Tournai from 1924 to 1939. Life Rasneur was born in on 26 February 1874. He was ordained to the priesthood for the diocese of Tournai in 1899 and graduated Doctor of Sacred Theology from the Cath ...

(born 1874), bishop

References

{{Year in Europe, 1939 1930s in Belgium

Years of the 20th century in Belgium