Information AboutLeon Degrelle |
|
Léon Joseph Marie Degrelle ( June 15 1906 , Bouillon — April 1 1994 , Málaga ) was a Belgian lawyer and politician, who founded Rexism and later joined the Nazi German Waffen SS (becoming a leader of its Walloon Contingent ). After World War II , he was a prominent figure in the Neo-fascist and Holocaust Revisionist movements. BEFORE THE WAR After studying at a ''. His actions inside the Catholic Party saw him come into opposition with the mainstream. The Rexist group separated itself in 1935 , after a reunion in Kortrijk . The newly formed party was was heavily influenced by Fascism and Corporatism (but also included elements interested solely in Nationalism or Ultramontanism ); it had a vision of Social Equality that drew comparisons with Marxism , but was nevertheless strongly Anti-communist . The party also came to denounce Political Corruption in Belgian politics. Drawing its major support from Wallonia , Rexism had a Flemish counterpart in the Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond . In 1936 , Degrelle met with Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler , both of them providing Rexism with funds and ideological support. Elections in that year had given the ''Parti Rexiste'' 21 Senators and 12 Deputies - though it was in decline by 1939 , when it managed to win only 4 seats in each Chamber. The party progressively added Nazi -inspired Antisemitism to its agenda, and soon established contacts with fascist movements around Europe. Degrelle notably met with Falange leader José Antonio Primo De Rivera and the Iron Guard 's Corneliu Zelea Codreanu . During this time, Degrelle became aquainted with the cartoonist Hergé . In a volume published after his death (''Tintin mon copain''), the Rexist leader claimed that his years of journalism had inspired the creation of Tintin - ignoring Hergé's statements that the character was in fact based on his brother, Paul Rémi. COLLABORATION When the war began, Degrelle approved of King Leopold III 's policy of Neutrality . After Belgium was invaded by the Germans on May 10 1940 , the Rexist Party split over the matter of resistance. He was arrested as an active Collaborator , and evacuated to France , being released by the Germans when the Occupation began. Degrelle returned to Belgium and proclaimed reconstructed Rexism to be in close union with Nazism - in marked contrast with the small group of former Rexists (such as Theo Simon and Lucien Mayer ) who had begun fighting against the occupiers. In August, he started contributing to '' Le Pays Réel '' the mouthpiece for Nazi Propaganda . He formed the Walloon section of the Wehrmacht to combat on the Eastern Front , and joined it in combat. Initially, the group was meant to represent a continuation of the Belgian Army , and fought as such during Operation Barbarossa - while integrating many non- Ethnic German s that had volunteered for service. Degrelle steadily climbed in the Schutzstaffel hierarchy after the inclusion of Walloons in the Waffen-SS, being made a Standartenführer in the early months of 1945 . He received the '' Ritterkreuz '', a unique distinction for a foreigner, from Hitler's hands (Hitler would have told him "''if I had a son, I wish he'd resemble you''"). REFUGE AND SCANDALS Helped by ODESSA network, he was sheltered by Francoist Spain - where he arrived on board a Heinkel planed provided by Albert Speer , being gravely wounded when the vehicle crash-landed. The Spanish governement initially motivated refusal to hand him to the Allies (or Extradite him to Belgium) by citing his health condition. After further international pressures, Francisco Franco permitted his escape from hospital, while handing over a Look-alike ; in the meanwhile, José Finat Y Escrivá De Romaní helped Degrelle obtain false papers. In 1954 , in order to ensure his stay, he was given Spanish citizenship under the name José León Ramírez Reina, and the Falange assigned him the leadership of a construction firm that benefitted from state contracts. Belgium convicted him of Treason '' In Absentia ''. He continued publishing and polemicizing, voicing his support for Far Right solutions and systhematically denying the Holocaust . He became active in the Neo-nazi '' Circulo Español De Amigos De Europa '' (CEDADE), and led its printing press in Barcelona - where he published a large portion of his own writings, including an ''Open Letter'' to Pope John Paul II on the topic of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp . His repeated revisionist statements on the topic of Nazi Genocide brought Degrelle to trial with Violeta Friedmann, a Romania n-born Venezuela n survivor of the camps; although the courts were initially favorable to Degrelle, the Supreme Court Of Spain decided that he had brought offence to the memory of the victims, and sentenced him to pay a substantial fine. It was also decided that he should pay a fine for his ''Open Letter''. Degrelle died in hospital from a Cardiac Arrest . He had been fleeing justice for more than half of his life. MILITARY RECORD '''Degrelle, Léon Joseph Marie SS-Standartenführer d. R. der Waffen-SS '''
+ 31.03.1994 in San-Antonio-Park Hospital, Málaga, Spain. NSDAP -Nr.: a member SS-Nr.: – Walloon Waffen-SS volunteer Promotions: 12.02.1942 Gefreiter ( Heer ) 28.02.1942 Oberfeldwebel (Heer) 01.05.1942 Leutnant d. R. (Heer) 01.06.1943 SS- Obersturmführer d. R. der Waffen-SS 01.01.1944 SS- Hauptsturmführer d. R. der Waffen-SS 20.04.1944 SS- Sturmbannführer d. R. der Waffen-SS 01.01.1945 SS- Obersturmbannführer d. R. der Waffen-SS 20.01.1945 SS- Standartenführer d. R. der Waffen-SS Note: Degrelle was promoted directly to SS- Brigadeführer und Generalmajor Der Waffen-SS d. R. by Heinrich Himmler on 02.05.1945; an entry to this effect appears in his Soldbuch , however this promotion cannot be considered official as Himmler had been stripped of all SS and Party posts by Führer order on 28.04.1945. Decorations & Awards: 27.08.1944 Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes as SS-Sturmbannführer d. R. and Kdr. 5.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzer-Brigade “Wallonien” / Kampfgruppe Wagner / Armee-Abteilung Narwa / Heeresgruppe Nord, Northeastern Front 20.02.1944 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes as SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer d. R., and Führer SS-Sturmbrigade “Wallonien” / 8.Armee / Heeresgruppe Süd, Eastern Front 09.10.1944 Deutsches Kreuz in Gold as SS-Sturmbannführer d. R. and Kdr. 5.SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade “Wallonien” / 5.SS-Panzer-Division “Wiking” / III.(germanische) SS-Panzer-Korps / Armee-Abteilung Grasser / Heeresgruppe Nord, Northeastern Front 21.05.1942 1939 Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse 13.03.1942 1939 Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse 14.09.1944 Nahkampfspange III.Stufe (Gold) 19.03.1944 Nahkampfspange II.Stufe (Silber) 30.11.1943 Nahkampfspange I.Stufe (Bronze) (other documents indicate 23.12.1943 and 20 .02. 1944) 25.08.1942 Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen in Silber 19.03.1944 Verwundetenabzeichen, 1939 in Gold 20.02.1944 Verwundetenabzeichen, 1939 in Silber (another document indicates 23.12.1943) 15.08.1942 Medaille “Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42” (Ostmedaille) (Mike Miller, ''Axis Biographical Research'', http://www.geocities.com/~orion47, June 10 2005) WORKS IN ENGLISH
REFERENCES
|
|
|