Jean Denis (10 November 1902 – 10 March 1992) 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 and writer. Through his written work he was the chief

ideologue An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

of the Rexist movement. A native of Chastre-Villeroux-Blanmont in

Walloon Brabant Walloon Brabant (french: Brabant wallon ; nl, Waals-Brabant ; wa, Roman Payis) is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region) and ...

, Denis was educated to doctorate level.

Philip Rees Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right. Works *''Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester Pres ...

, ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the r ...

'', 1990, p. 89 He first became involved in politics with the radical

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 ...

movements, serving as secretary to Monsignor Louis Picard.

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 ...

had also been a member of Picard's ''Action Catholique de la Jeunesse Belge'' and it was that movement's publishing house, ''Éditions Rex'', that inspired the name of Rexism.Richard Griffiths, ''Fascism'', p. 119 As such Denis was almost inevitably drawn to Rexism and he served as a deputy for Namur between 1936 and 1939.Rees, ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right'', p. 90 Denis two main books were ''Principes Rexistes'' and ''Bases Doctrinales de Rex'', both published in 1936. Within these books he argued that Rex was more of a popular movement than a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

and endorsed a policy that sought to restore dignity to Belgium through a new hierarchical state. As such he demonstrated an influence of

Integralismo Lusitano ''Integralismo Lusitano'' (English: "Lusitanian Integralism") was a Portuguese integralist political movement founded in Coimbra in 1914 that advocated traditionalism but not conservatism. It was against parliamentarism but favoured decentraliza ...

, which held similar views with regards to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, on Rexist thought. Under the

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

occupation Denis

collaborated Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...

with the occupiers and wrote regularly for '' Le Pays Réel''. He was imprisoned after the war for his activity but his fairly minor involvement saw him released in 1951. He settled in Dion-le-Val,

Chaumont-Gistoux Chaumont-Gistoux (; wa, Tchåmont-Djistou) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On 1 January 2006 Chaumont-Gistoux had a total population of 10,926. The total area is 48.09 km2 which gives a popul ...

following his release and disappeared into obscurity.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denis, Jean 1902 births 1992 deaths People from Chastre Belgian Roman Catholics Christian fascists Rexist Party politicians Members of the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Belgian collaborators with Nazi Germany Belgian political writers Belgian writers in French Walloon people