Flemish National Union Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Staf De Clercq (until 1942) Hendrik Elias (from 1942) |
| Founded | 8 October 1933 |
| Dissolved | 2 September 1944 |
| Preceded by | Frontpartij |
| Headquarters | Brussels,Belgium |
| Newspaper | Volk en Staat |
| Youth wing | Nationaal-Socialistische Jeugd in Vlaanderen[1] |
| Paramilitary wing | Diets Militia—Black Brigades |
| Membership | 25,000 (1939est.)[2] |
| Ideology | Fascism Flemish nationalism Greater Netherlands[4] Corporate statism[5] Right-wing populism |
| Political position | Far-right[6] |
| French-speaking counterpart | Rexist Party (1936–1937)[7] |
| Slogan | "Authority, discipline, andDietsland" |
| Anthem | De Zwarte Leeuw (lit. 'The Black Lion')full songⓘ |
| Party flag | |
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TheVlaamsch Nationaal Verbond (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈvlaːmsnɑ(t)ɕoːˈnaːlvɛrˈbɔnt], "Flemish National Union" or "Flemish National League"), widely known by its initialismVNV, was aFlemish nationalist political party active inBelgium between 1933 and 1945.[8] It became the leading force ofpolitical collaboration inFlanders during theGerman occupation of Belgium inWorld War II.Authoritarian by inclination, the party advocated the creation of a "Greater Netherlands" (Dietsland) combining Flanders and theNetherlands.
TheVlaamsch Nationaal Verbond (VNV) was founded on 8 October 1933. Its origins were in the long-establishedFrontpartij, a moderateFlemish patriotic party which was taken over byStaf Declercq and moved to the right in 1932.[9] From the start, the VNV was authoritarian and anti-democratic, being influenced byfascist ideas from elsewhere in Europe.[10] However, it initially included both moderate and radical wings. It was not a genuinely fascist organisationper se.[11] Ideologically, the party rejected Belgium and supported the creation of a new polity known as theGreater Netherlands (Dietsland), through the fusion of Belgian Flanders and the Netherlands, which would be linguistically and ethnically homogeneous. The party's slogan was: "Authority, discipline,Dietsland".
It shared many ideological elements withVerdinaso, a rival party founded two years earlier but slightly less radical. Unlike Verdinaso, the VNV took part in elections and included a relatively moderate wing.[12] Initially, it also differed from Verdinaso in not being ananti-Semitic movement. Still, it increasingly embraced anti-Semitic elements after 1935, out of political calculation rather than ideological conviction.[13]
In the1936 Belgian general election, the VNV received 13.6% of the Flemish vote, corresponding to 7.1% nationwide. After the election, in which the far-right nationalist and CatholicRexist Party also performed strongly, the two parties concluded an alliance intended to create acorporatist Belgian state with great autonomy for Flanders. The VNV revoked this agreement after just one year.[7] In the1939 elections, the VNV moderately increased its share of the Flemish vote to 15% (8.4% nationally) while the Rexist vote collapsed.[12]
Despite cooperating with the Flemish section of the mainstream centre-rightCatholic Party on the local level, De Clercq realised that his movement would not be able to take power by democratic means. Instead, he contactedNazi Germany, hoping his project could be realised with German help. He contacted theAbwehr, Germany's military intelligence service, informing them that a part of the Belgian military supported his movement and could be controlled by him if Germany declared war. The Belgian state security gained knowledge of these contacts and arrested some VNV supporters.[12]
When Nazi Germany invaded Belgium in 1940, De Clercq immediately chose to orient the VNV towardscollaborationism, despite his previous declarations that he would not do so.Adolf Hitler did not install a civilian government (as in the Netherlands), but instead installed amilitary administration headed by GeneralAlexander von Falkenhausen of theWehrmacht. This, along with the departure ofWard Hermans andRené Lagrou to form theAlgemeene-SS Vlaanderen,[14] led the VNV out of focus, forcing it to intensify its collaboration to gain influence. Hitler and SS leaderHeinrich Himmler profited from the situation and increased competition between various groups by founding some more extreme collaborationist groups like the6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck andDeVlag ("German-Flemish Working Group"). Nevertheless, VNV politicians were given the mayor's office in several Flemish towns. VNV-led local administrations participated in the organisation of the deportation ofBelgian Jews to Eastern Europe as part ofthe Holocaust in Belgium. They willingly implemented Nazi policies like the obligation of Jews to wear theyellow badge. VNV activists led in theAntwerp pogrom of April 1941.[15]
Declercq died suddenly in October 1942 and was succeeded byHendrik Elias, a member of the more moderate side. Elias continued collaborating with the Nazis but tried to come to terms with the military government to prevent the installation of a civilian government composed of Nazis. Elias failed, as Hitler installed the new body and declared the annexation of Flanders by Germany in 1944; seven weeks later, Belgium was liberated by theAllies. The VNV was outlawed after the liberation of Belgium. Elias fled to Germany but was tried after the war and imprisoned until 1959.
| Election | Votes | Seats | Position | Government | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | ± | |||
| 1936 | 166,737 | 7.06 | 16 / 202 |  16 | 5th | |
| 1939 | 164,253 | 8.40 | 17 / 202 | 1 | 4th | |
... fascist Italy ... developed a state structure known as the corporate state with the ruling party acting as a mediator between 'corporations' making up the body of the nation. Similar designs were quite popular elsewhere in the 1930s. The most prominent examples wereEstado Novo in Portugal (1932–1968) and Brazil (1937–1945), the AustrianStandestaat (1933–1938), and authoritarian experiments in Estonia, Romania, and some other countries of East and East-Central Europe,
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