Paul Michel Gabriel, Baron Lévy (27 November 1910 – 16 August 2002) was a Belgian journalist and professor. He was born in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and was a

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

. He worked for many years as Director of Information at the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

, helping to create the

Flag of Europe The flag of Europe or European flag consists of twelve Or (heraldry), golden stars forming a Circle of stars, circle on a Azure (heraldry), blue field. It was designed and adopted in 1955 by the Council of Europe (CoE) as a symbol for the who ...

in the 1950s in collaboration with Arsène Heitz.

Early career

Before the war, Lévy directed the information services of the Belgian national broadcaster, the ''

Institut National de Radiodiffusion The National Institute of Radio Broadcasting (, INR; , NIR) was the national public broadcasting, public service broadcasting company in Belgium between 1930 and 1960. History Inspired by the precedent of the British Broadcasting Corporation ...

'' (INR). Under the occupation, he refused to collaborate with the German-backed radio and was sacked and arrested. He was sent to

Fort Breendonk Fort Breendonk (, ) is a former military installation at Breendonk, near Mechelen, Belgium, which served as a Nazi prison camp (''Auffanglager'') during the German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Originally constructed between 1906 ...

, a German prison camp near

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

. Released in 1941, he was placed under surveillance by the German authorities in Brussels, but succeeded in escaping to Britain via the ''Zéro'' network in July 1942 where he joined Antoine Delfosse, minister and commander of the '' Armée de la Libération'' (AL) the principal resistance group. He served alongside Delfosse in the Ministry of Justice of the Belgian government in London. He also spoke on '' Radio Belgique'', the French and Dutch language radio station of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

broadcast to occupied Belgium. His principal work, however, was in the ''Commission belge pour l'étude des problèmes d'après-guerre'' ("Belgian Commission of study of post-war problems"), in which he founded ''Mission Samoyède'' which planned to set up radio broadcasting in Belgium soon after the liberation. Following the invasion of Europe by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

, he returned to the continent working as an interpreter and press officer alongside General Henning Linden. His coverage included the liberation of

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

. After the Liberation, and despite having Socialist leanings, he worked for the new Belgian Democratic Union (UDB-BDU) party. In 1946, he was elected deputy for the

Nivelles Nivelles (; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The Nivelles municipality includes the former municipalities of Baulers, Bornival, Thines, and Monstreux. The Nivelles arrondissement ...

region as the only successful candidate of the UDB-BDU. He resigned to return to radio work. He is said to have invented the neologism ''Irénologie'' which is the French term for the study of Peace.

Later life

Council of Europe

Lévy had converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in July 1940. In 1950, he joined the staff of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

's newly established

and became the first Chief of its Department of Culture.The Flag and State Encyclopaedia
/ref>

Flag

Lévy had to sort through the proposals flooding into his department and drew up the exact design of the finalist Arsène Heitz's proposal for a

circle of stars A circle of stars often represents wiktionary:unity, unity, wikt:solidarity, solidarity and harmony in flags, Seal (emblem), seals and Signage, signs, and is also seen in iconography, iconographic Motif (visual arts), motifs related to the Woman ...

. According to an anecdote published in 1998 in ''

Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...

'', Lévy passed a statue of the Virgin Mary with a halo of stars and was struck by the way the stars, reflecting the sun, glowed against the blue of the sky. Lévy later visited

Léon Marchal Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

, the then Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and suggested that he should propose twelve golden stars on a blue ground as the motif for the flag of Europe.According to a
Der Sternenkranz ist die Folge eines Gelübdes
''

'', 26 August 1998. On the other hand, a 2004 article in ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' attributed a statement to Heitz, in which he claims to have been inspired by Revelations 12:1. Lévy has stated that he was only informed of the connection to the Book of Revelation after it was chosen.

Honours

* Created Baron by RD of king Albert II; 2000. * Grand Officer in the Order of Leopold. * Grand Officer in the Order of the Crown. * Grand Officer in the

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgiu ...

. * Commander in the Pontifical Equestrian Order of Saint Sylvester Pope and Martyr

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Paul Michel Gabriel 1910 births 2002 deaths Breendonk prison camp survivors Belgian Jews Belgian radio journalists Belgian Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism Council of Europe people History of the European Union Belgian people in the United Kingdom during World War II Belgian resistance members Jewish resistance members during the Holocaust Belgian barons Flag designers Belgian Holocaust survivors