Robert Jan Verbelen (5 April 1911,

Herent Herent () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the villages and former municipalities of Herent proper, Veltem-Beisem and Winksele. On January 1, 2016, ...

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 ...

– 28 October 1990,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) 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 ...

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

collaborator. During the last years of World War II, Verbelen was head of the '' De Vlag Veiligheidscorps'', a Nazi SS security force in Belgium. In that function he ordered the assassination of Alexandre Galopin, director of the

Société Générale de Belgique The ' ( nl, Generale Maatschappij van België; literally "General Company of Belgium") was a large Belgian bank and later holdings company which existed between 1822 and 2003. The ''Société générale'' was originally founded as an investm ...

, and tried to murder

Albert Devèze Albert Joseph Charles Devèze (; 6 June 1881 – 28 November 1959) was a Belgian liberal politician and minister. Devèze was a doctor in law and a lawyer. He was a liberal municipality Council member in Schaerbeek and in Ixelles and a member of ...

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

, Charles Collard-de Sloovere, Attorney General, and

Robert de Foy Robert Herman Alfred de Foy CBE (23 March 1893 in Geraardsbergen – 15 August 1960 in Brussels) was a Belgian magistrate, and head of the Belgian State Security Service, during the occupation of Belgium by the Nazis. This period of his life h ...

, former State Security director. He was sentenced to death by a Belgian court in 1947 that had found him responsible for the deaths of 101 Belgian resistance fighters. After the liberation of

during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, Verbelen fled through

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where he worked for eight years for the

Counter Intelligence Corps The Counter Intelligence Corps (Army CIC) was a World War II and early Cold War intelligence agency within the United States Army consisting of highly trained special agents. Its role was taken over by the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps in 1961 and ...

of the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

although he had been convicted as war criminal in Belgium. He obtained Austrian citizenship in 1959. In 1965, Verbelen was charged with five murders by a court in Austrian. However, he was acquitted on all counts.

Sources

* Gerald Steinacher, ''Nazis auf der Flucht. Wie Kriegsverbrecher über Italien nach Übersee entkamen''. Studienverlag Wien-Innsbruck-München 2008

External links

Robert Jan Verbelen and the United States Government: A Report to the Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division
1911 births 1990 deaths Belgian collaborators with Nazi Germany Belgian people convicted of war crimes Belgian prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by Belgium Nazis sentenced to death in absentia Naturalised citizens of Austria {{Belgium-bio-stub