The Rex Popular Front, Rexist Party, or simply Rex, was a far-right Catholic authoritarian and corporatist political party active in Belgium from 1935 until 1945. The party was founded by a journalist, Léon Degrelle, It advocated Belgian unitarism and royalism. Initially, the party ran in both Flanders and Wallonia, but it never achieved much success outside Wallonia and Brussels. Its name was derived from the Roman Catholic journal and publishing company Christus Rex.
The Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond, widely known by its acronym VNV, was a Flemish nationalist political party active in Belgium between 1933 and 1945. It became the leading force of political collaboration in Flanders during the German occupation of Belgium in World War II. Authoritarian by inclination, the party advocated the creation of a "Greater Netherlands" (Dietsland) combining Flanders and the Netherlands.
Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle 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 occupation of Belgium during World War II, he enlisted in the German army and fought in the Walloon Legion on the Eastern Front. After the collapse of the Nazi regime, Degrelle escaped and went into exile in Francoist Spain, where he remained a prominent figure in neo-Nazi politics.
Verdinaso, sometimes rendered as Dinaso, was a small fascist political movement active in Belgium and, to a lesser extent, the Netherlands between 1931 and 1941.
The Walloon Legion was a unit of the German Army (Wehrmacht) and later of the Waffen-SS recruited among French-speaking collaborationists in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. It was formed in the aftermath of the German invasion of the Soviet Union and fought on the Eastern Front alongside similar formations from other parts of German-occupied Western Europe.
Lucien Alphonse Joseph "José" Streel was a Belgian journalist and supporter of Rexism. Streel was an important figure in the early years of the movement, when he was the main political philosopher of Rexism as an ideology. He subsequently became less of a central figure following the German occupation of Belgium during World War II due to his lukewarm attitude towards working with Nazi Germany. Nevertheless, he was executed by Belgium after the war as a collaborator.
Joris Van Severen was a Belgian politician and ideologue of the Flemish Movement as well as a Pan-Netherlander. A leading figure of pre-World War II Flemish nationalism, he co-founded the extreme-right group Verdinaso.
Paul Colin was a Belgian journalist, famous as the leading journalist and editor of the Rexist collaborationist newspapers "Le Nouveau Journal" and "Cassandre".
Robert Herman Alfred de Foy CBE was a Belgian magistrate who served as head of the State Security Service during the Nazi occupation of Belgium. His conduct in that role is the subject of considerable historical debate, though after the Second World War, he returned to his pre-war positions, was decorated as a Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold II, and was honoured by the State of Israel as a Righteous Among the Nations.
Rachel Baes was a Belgian surrealist painter. The growth of the women's movement in the late 20th century led to renewed interest in female artists and brought greater appreciation of their work. In 2002 the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp dedicated an exhibition to Baes and the female French-Belgian surrealist painter Jane Graverol.
Georges Delfanne, called Christian Masuy was a Belgian collaborator and spy during the German occupation of Belgium in World War II.
Paul Hoornaert was a Belgian far right political activist. Although a pioneer of fascism in the country he was an opponent of German Nazism and, after joining the Belgian Resistance during the German occupation, died in Nazi custody.
Cornelius Eduardus Hermans was a Belgian Flemish nationalist politician and writer.
Josephus Alphonsus Marie François was a Belgian Flemish far right politician and Nazi collaborator.
The Frontpartij was a Belgian political party that campaigned for increasing recognition for the Flemish people and their language. Originating from the earlier Frontbeweging, the Frontpartij was an early attempt to fully politicise the Flemish Movement. In contrast to some of its successor movements the party supported democracy and autonomy rather than authoritarianism and independence.
Despite being neutral at the start of World War II, Belgium and its colonial possessions found themselves at war after the country was invaded by German forces on 10 May 1940. After 18 days of fighting in which Belgian forces were pushed back into a small pocket in the north-west of the country, the Belgian military surrendered to the Germans, beginning an occupation that would endure until 1944. The surrender of 28 May was ordered by King Leopold III without the consultation of his government and sparked a political crisis after the war. Despite the capitulation, many Belgians managed to escape to the United Kingdom where they formed a government and army-in-exile on the Allied side.
The Courcelles massacre, sometimes known as the Rognac massacre, involved the killing of 27 civilians in a number of separate instances by a collaborationist militia associated with the Rexist Party in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. The killings occurred on 17–18 August 1944 near Courcelles, a suburb of the industrial city of Charleroi in Hainaut Province, shortly before the Liberation of Belgium in revenge for the killing of a Rexist official by the Belgian Resistance.
The National Royalist Movement was a group within the Belgian Resistance in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. It was active chiefly in Brussels and Flanders and was the most politically right-wing of the major Belgian resistance groups.
The German occupation of Belgium during World War II began on 28 May 1940, when the Belgian army surrendered to German forces, and lasted until Belgium's liberation by the Western Allies between September 1944 and February 1945. It was the second time in less than thirty years that Germany had occupied Belgium.
Events in the year 1941 in Belgium
