World War I Memorial or Symbol of Autonomy?: Collaboration and the IJzertoren

Abstract

Flemish and German interactions were, as noted, a part of World War I that influenced the trajectory of Flemish nationalism. Many of the infamous collaborators of World War II had already been engaged with the Germans during The Great War in the hopes of furthering their political agenda. Some of the young Flemish was also more susceptible to the promises of the occupiers in the Second World War in the formation of an autonomous Flanders.¹ This agenda was named, as in World War I, flamenpolitik (Flemish Policy), and aimed specifically to show partiality towards the Flemish in Belgium. For example, the Nazis decided to free the Belgian POWs after the country’s surrender. But in practice, the policy demonstrated preferential treatment to the Flemish in the camps — far more Flemish than Walloons were released. The policy allowed Germany to effectively couch its invasion of Belgium within the rhetoric of the liberation of a nation (Flanders) from the clutches of a state (Belgium).² It also exacerbated the already internal conflicts between the two language groups. In 1944 both Flanders and Wallonia were annexed becoming provinces of the Third Reich, the Reischsgaue Flandern and Reischsgaue Wallonien, and a Distrikt Brüssel. VNV and DeVlag had different agendas during this period. VNV wanted an independent Flanders while DeVlag supported the annexation of Flanders into the Greater German Reich.