Jean-Marie Gantois (21 July 1904 – 28 May 1968)Digital Library for Dutch Literature (DBNL) - Jean-Marie Gantois
/ref> was a French Catholic priest (

abbé ''Abbé'' (from Latin ''abbas'', in turn from Greek , ''abbas'', from Aramaic ''abba'', a title of honour, literally meaning "the father, my father", emphatic state of ''abh'', "father") is the French word for an abbot. It is the title for lowe ...

) and a leading figure in Flemish nationalism in

French Flanders French Flanders (french: La Flandre française) is a part of the historical County of Flanders in present-day France where a dialect of Dutch was or still is traditionally spoken. The region lies in the modern-day region of Hauts-de-France and r ...

Early life

Gantois was born in 1904 in

Watten Watten may refer to: Places * Watten, Nord, a commune in the Nord ''département'' of France ** ''Blockhaus d'Éperlecques'' or Watten bunker, intended to be a launching facility for the V-2 ballistic missile * Watten, Highland, a village in Cai ...

, Nord department, to Flemish parents. He was raised in the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

and learned Dutch at the

Catholic seminary This is a list of Catholic seminaries in the world, including those that have been closed. According to the 2012 Annuario Pontificio, Pontifical Yearbook, the total number of candidates for the Priesthood (Catholic Church), priesthood in the wor ...

Annappes Annappes () is a village and former commune of the Nord Department of France, on the river Marque. In 1970, it was merged with the communes of Ascq and Flers-lez-Lille to form the new commune of Villeneuve d'Ascq.pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

purposes. Gantois adopted the Flemish cause as his own and founded the short-lived paper ''De Vlaemsche Stemme van Vrankryk'' ("The Flemish Voice in France") in 1923 and the cultural association ''Vlaamsch Verbond van Frankrijk'' (VVF, "Flemish Association of France") in 1924. In the 1920s and 1930s, Gantois wrote extensively for VVF journals and other publications using a number of

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

s. He also established personal contacts with numerous other regional leaders of France. At first, Gantois supported French Flanders remaining a part of the French state, insofar as France recognized and respected his region. However, the VVF gradually became more separatist in its politics, and over time abandoned French regionalism as its ideology and increasingly associated with the Greater Netherlands movement, which considered the French Flemish as a part of a single Dutch race, the ''Dietse volk''.

German occupation

The French military authorities banned the VVF after the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Gantois, however, revived it during the ensuing

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

(1940-44) during which the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region was separated administratively from other parts of France and governed as part of the

Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France The Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France (german: Militärverwaltung in Belgien und Nordfrankreich) was an interim occupation authority established during the Second World War by Nazi Germany that included present-day Belgiu ...

governed from

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. In 1940, Gantois wrote a letter to Hitler asking for French Flanders to be integrated into the German Reich "as a member of the new Germanic community". This letter, found at the Lille ''préfecture'' after the Liberation, was never read by Hitler. Because of his vocal Flemish nationalism and perceived extremism, Gantois was relieved of his sacramental duties by Cardinal

Achille Liénart Achille Liénart (; 7 February 1884—15 February 1973) was a French cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Lille from 1928 to 1968, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1930. Biography Born in Lille to a bourgeois ...

Post-war

After the end of the German occupation, Gantois and 49 other individuals involved in the French Flemish movement were arrested by the French authorities and charged with collaborationism. The prosecution requested a death penalty, but Gantois was eventually sentenced to five years in prison. He was released after two years of confinement and was forbidden to return to Flanders for many years. Gantois continued promoting Flemish nationalism by writing, mainly for the magazine ''Notre Flandre'' ("Our Flanders"), until his death in

Holque Holque (; from Flemish; ''Holke'' in modern Dutch spelling) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of t ...

, Nord in 1968.

References

Bibliography

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Early life

German occupation

Post-war

References

Bibliography

Further reading