The White Brigade ( Dutch : Witte Brigade , French : Brigade blanche ) was a Belgian resistance group founded on 23 July 1940 in Antwerp by Marcel Louette , who was nicknamed "Fidelio". The group was originally known as " De Geuzengroep " and changed its name again after the Liberation of Belgium to Witte Brigade-Fidelio as the term "white brigade" had emerged as a generic term to describe the resistance.
22-563: The name was chosen in opposition to the "Black Brigade", a collaborator group led by SS-Untersturmführer Reimond Tollenaere , who was responsible for the propaganda of pro-German Flemish National League . The Witte Brigade was based in Antwerp but had smaller branches in Gent , Lier , Aalst , Brussels , Waasland , Wallonia and in the coastal region. During the Second World War Belgium
44-627: A civilian government (as in the Netherlands), but instead installed a military administration headed by General Alexander von Falkenhausen of the Wehrmacht . This, along with the departure of Ward Hermans and René Lagrou to form the Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen , led the VNV out of focus, forcing it to intensify its collaboration to gain influence. Hitler and SS leader Heinrich Himmler profited from
66-449: The 1936 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 Catholic Rexist Party also performed strongly, the two parties concluded an alliance intended to create a corporatist Belgian state with great autonomy for Flanders. The VNV revoked this agreement after just one year. In
88-499: The 1939 elections , the VNV moderately increased its share of the Flemish vote to 15% (8.4% nationally) while the Rexist vote collapsed. Despite cooperating with the Flemish section of the mainstream centre-right Catholic Party on the local level, De Clercq realised that his movement would not be able to take power by democratic means. Instead, he contacted Nazi Germany , hoping his project could be realised with German help. He contacted
110-588: The Abwehr , 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. When Nazi Germany invaded Belgium in 1940, De Clercq immediately chose to orient the VNV towards collaborationism , despite his previous declarations that he would not do so. Adolf Hitler did not install
132-587: The Comet line , helping shot-down Allied pilots to return to Britain, helping the Allies replace valuable flight crews. They protested an anti-Jewish pogrom while stressing, they are not "pro-Jewish." The Brigade protected Jewish families, using their network of informants and saboteurs to evade the German occupiers. The Witte Brigade had connections with various intelligence networks, code-named Luc , Bravery and Group Zero . It
154-773: The Flemish Legion attached to the Waffen-SS following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 and later enlisted himself. He was killed by friendly fire from the Spanish Blue Division in January 1942 at Kopsy near Leningrad in the region of Veliky Novgorod . After his death, he was "cannonized" by the VNV as a political martyr. This biographical article related to
176-529: 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 . The Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond (VNV) was founded on 8 October 1933. Its origins were in the long-established Frontpartij , a moderate Flemish patriotic party which was taken over by Staf Declercq and moved to
198-685: The University of Ghent . He was appointed as propaganda leader of the VNV and, in 1936, became a VNV member of parliament. During the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940 he was arrested by the Belgian authorities as a potential subversive and spent some time in prison in France . After being freed following the French defeat, he resumed his political activities in Flanders. Tollenaere was active in encouraging recruitment for
220-641: The Witte Brigade acted as a scouting and intelligence network for the Canadian 4th, 5th and 6th brigades in September 1944. The Witte Brigade provided reports on the Germans' strength, defences, and numbers. Additionally, resistance members pinpointed the location of German minefields. The influence of the Witte Brigade was considerable. The organization had been known popularly as the "White Brigade" so, after liberation,
242-673: The Witte Brigade suffered 400 losses of the 3,750 recognized members. Additionally, around 300 men from Luxembourg (which was annexed to Germany), many of whom had refused to serve in, or who had deserted from the German Wehrmacht, left their country to fight in the Ardennes section of the Witte Brigade, where they formed the so-called Red Lion Brigade . Jews were also active in the organization. Many of them were arrested because they were already known as Jews. Despite their heavy losses,
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#1732847885732264-642: The Witte Brigade , along with the Armée secrète , the Front de l'Indépendance , the Mouvement National Royaliste and Groupe G , helped allied forces capture the port of Antwerp intact in 1944. The Witte Brigade prevented the Germans, who had attached explosives to docks and cranes, from scuttling the facilities’ infrastructure, allowing the port to be opened once the Scheldt was cleared of sea mines. Additionally,
286-570: The German surrender in the First World War ). The resistance group published its own propaganda newspaper called Steeds Verenigd-Unis Toujours ( lit. ' Always United ' ) which published some 80 editions and became one of the largest underground publications in Flanders. In addition, the group was concerned with obtaining military information about the Port of Antwerp and the possible German invasion of Britain . The Witte Brigade also aided
308-608: The Holocaust in Belgium . They willingly implemented Nazi policies like the obligation of Jews to wear the yellow badge . VNV activists led in the Antwerp pogrom of April 1941. Declercq died suddenly in October 1942 and was succeeded by Hendrik 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
330-660: 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 with Verdinaso , 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. Initially, it also differed from Verdinaso in not being an anti-Semitic movement. Still, it increasingly embraced anti-Semitic elements after 1935, out of political calculation rather than ideological conviction. In
352-608: The group changed its name, adding the word "Fidelio", the pseudonym of Louette. Reimond Tollenaere Reimond Tollenaere (June 29, 1909 – January 22, 1942) was a member of the Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond (VNV), a right-wing Flemish nationalist party in Belgium . He was an active collaborator with Nazi Germany during World War II . Tollenaere became active in the Flemish nationalist movement during his law studies at
374-541: The group's strength to where it played a minor role in the later liberation of Belgium. When a prominent member was captured in possession of a list of other members, 58 members were arrested and sent to German camps. In Deurne in a raid in January 1944, 62 members were arrested and, on May 9 of that same year, the founder Marcel Louette was arrested and deported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp . Louette would eventually return from Germany and died in Antwerp in 1978. In total,
396-473: The military of Belgium is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond The Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond ( Dutch for "Flemish National Union" or "Flemish National League"), 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
418-517: The right in 1932. From the start, the VNV was authoritarian and anti-democratic, being influenced by fascist ideas from elsewhere in Europe. However, it initially included both moderate and radical wings. It was not a genuinely fascist organisation per se . Ideologically, the party rejected Belgium and supported the creation of a new polity known as the Greater Netherlands ( Dietsland ), through
440-430: The situation and increased competition between various groups by founding some more extreme collaborationist groups like the 6th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Langemarck and DeVlag ("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 of Belgian Jews to Eastern Europe as part of
462-605: Was also the only resistance group early in the War with contact with the Belgian government in exile , along with the British. Many members of the Witte Brigade were military veterans and policemen. Members of the Deurne police were particularly represented. During Nazi Germany's repression of Belgium in 1943-1944, 700 members of the resistance were arrested. This, in addition to other losses, reduced
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#1732847885732484-477: Was occupied by Germany. While the fascist group known as the Black Brigade were collaborators with the Germans, they were opposed by the underground Witte Brigade . Important activities of the Witte Brigade were distributing anti-German propaganda, the creation of lists of collaborators and organizing patriotic demonstrations on key Belgian holidays, such as 21 July ( National Day ) and 11 November (Anniversary of
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