Everything about The Verdinaso totally explained
The
Verdinaso (
Verbond der
Dietse
Nationaal-
Solidaristen -
Union of Diets National Solidarists) was an
authoritarian and
fascist-inspired
political party in
Belgium and the
Netherlands during the
1930s. It was founded by
Joris Van Severen,
Jef François,
Wies Moens, and
Emiel Thiers on
October 6 1931 (at the Hôtel Richelieu in
Ghent), and, in
1937, developed a
paramilitary wing that wore green shirts (
DINASO Militanten Orde).
Character and history
The party was against the
parliamentary democracy and eventually advocated a
corporative society ruled by the
Belgian King. As such it never participated on elections, and never became a strong political pressure group.
The Verdinaso originally advocated
Flemish and
Dutch nationalism. It proposed the union of
Flanders with the Netherlands and
Luxembourg to form a
Dietsland or
Diets Rijk ("Dutch Empire" -
see Greater Netherlands), justifying this on the basis of a common history of the three lands under the
Burgundians, and the emblematic rule of
Charles I. In
1932, two of its leaders, François and Van Severen, were elected to the
Chamber of Deputies; the same year, the party was joined by
Victor Leemans, who wrote the work
Het nationaal-socialisme, an apology of
Nazism.
After
1934, Verdinaso shifted its focus towards a
Belgian identity circa
1939, becoming a bilingual (
French-
Dutch) party, believing that the Belgian state should be founded on
Roman Catholic corporatism - an economic model interpreted by Verdinaso from the
Catholic social teaching, and akin to
Integralism and the
Action Française (an influence on Van Severen). The party virulently opposed
Communism on the
left and
liberal capitalism on the
right; it was also somewhat
antisemitic, occasionally venting the opinion that
Jews, as well as
Freemasons constituted a hidden power working against the interests of Dietsland.
In the elections of
May 24,
1936, Verdinaso ran on a common list with other Flemish nationalists under the common denominator
Vlaams Nationaal Block, gaining 13% of the vote and 16 deputy seats; in
1939, it peaked at 15% of the vote and 17 seats. The
DINASO Militanten Orde had around 3,000 members, grouped under the leadership of François, and edited the newspapers
Recht en Trouw and
De Vlag (placed under the leadership of Moens).
When
World War II broke out Van Severen was killed in
Abbéville,
France, suspected of being an agent of
Nazi Germany, and as part of a mass execution of
Rexists and Belgian
communists (both groups were suspected of pro-German activism, justified by the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in the case of the latter). As a consequence, the Verdinaso lost a clear direction (despite Van Severen's replacement with François), and was eventually forced to join the
Flemish National Union on
May 5,
1941. Some of Verdinaso's members, who were advocating a strong Belgian
authoritarian regime around King
Leopold III, however joined the resistance against the German occupation.
Notable members
Further Information
Get more info on 'Verdinaso'.
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