Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"On 14 April 1941, after watching the German propaganda film Der Ewige Jude in Cine Rex, Flemish paramilitaries from the Volksverwering, VNV and Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen began a pogrom in the city of Antwerp. The mob, armed with iron bars, attacked and burned two synagogues in the city and threw the Torah scrolls onto the street. They then attacked the home of Markus Rottenburg, the town's chief rabbi. The police and fire brigade were summoned, but they were forbidden to intervene by the German authorities."--Sholem Stein |
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The General SS Flanders (Algemeene SS Vlaanderen) was originally founded in November 1940 and was one of the first collaborationist formations to become part of the Germanische SS in 1942. It was created as a political militia under the leadership of the radical flamingants René Lagrou and Ward Hermans. From 1943, it became associated with the radical political faction DeVlag which sought to supplant the larger and more conservative Flemish National Union (Vlaams Nationaal Verbond, VNV) as the principal collaborationist group in Flanders. Unofficially, Himmler wanted to use the organization to penetrate occupied Belgium, which was under the control of a military administration run by the German Army rather than the Nazi Party or SS. It was also used to staff the anti-Jewish units of the German security services with auxiliary staff and provided guards for the prison camp at Fort Breendonk. Under the leadership of Stormbanleider Robert Verbelen, DeVlag and the SS-Vlaanderen collaborated in the killings of civilians and public figures in notional reprisals for attacks committed by the Belgian Resistance. According to historian Jan Craeybeckx, "their 1944 raid in the Hageland near Leuven left a trail of death and destruction" and "countless people were deported to concentration camps." Alexandre Galopin, the incumbent governor of the Société Générale, was assassinated on Verbelen's orders in February 1944. As the Allies entered Belgium in September 1944, many of the perpetrators and collaborators fled to Germany.
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