Jacques Grippa (

Grivegnée Grivegnée ( wa, Grimgnêye) is a district of the city of Liège, Wallonia, located in the province of Liège, Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe ...

, 30 March 1913–

Forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, August 30, 1990) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

politician, member of the resistance during World War II and communist.

Biography

Grippa was the son of the Italian immigrant Jean Grippa (1886-1945) and the Belgian woman Stéphanie Becco (1888-1935). In 1930 he studied for engineer at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

and became a member of the

Belgian Communist Party french: Parti Communiste de Belgique , abbreviation = KPB-PCB , colorcode = , leader1_title = Historical leaders , leader1_name = Joseph JacquemotteJulien LahautLouis Van Geyt , founder = Julien Lahaut , founded = , dissolved = , merge ...

. During

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 ...

, Grippa was a member of the resistance. In 1943 he was imprisoned as a political prisoner at

Fort Breendonk Fort Breendonk ( nl, Fort van Breendonk, french: Fort de Breendonk) is a former military installation at Breendonk, near Mechelen, in Belgium which served as a Nazi prison camp (''Auffanglager'') during the German occupation of Belgium during Wo ...

. He was tortured, but refused to betray anybody and was therefore sent to

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

. After the war he became head of cabinet at the ministry of War Victims, where he oversaw the treatment of political prisoners. He was als chief of cabinet for Jean Borremans, who worked for the Communist Minister of Civil Works. In 1962 he was removed from the

because he was more endeared to

Maoism Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...

. Together with fellow former members he founded a new Marxist–Leninist party, but which quickly faded out after only a few years. In 1964, as Secretary of the Central Committee of the

Communist Party of Belgium french: Parti Communiste de Belgique , abbreviation = KPB-PCB , colorcode = , leader1_title = Historical leaders , leader1_name = Joseph JacquemotteJulien LahautLouis Van Geyt , founder = Julien Lahaut , founded = , dissolved = , merge ...

, he visited China, delivering a speech at the Higher Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

References

1913 births 1990 deaths Belgian people of Italian descent Belgian communists Belgian politicians Walloon movement activists Walloon people Belgian resistance members Breendonk prison camp survivors Buchenwald concentration camp survivors {{Belgium-bio-stub