Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"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 Vlaams Nationaal Verbond (VNV; Dutch for "Flemish National Union" or "Flemish National League") was a nationalist Flemish political party in Belgium, active between 1933 and 1944. It was founded by Staf de Clercq who became known as den Leider ("the Leader"). The party strove for an authoritarian rule and included some fascist elements, but was not a genuinely fascist organisation per se. Its aim was to separate Flanders from Belgium and to unite it with the Netherlands to form a Greater Netherlands which they termed Dietsland ("Dutch land"). It collaborated with Nazi German occupation authorities during World War II. VNV activists willingly contributed to the persecution of Jews and the Holocaust in Belgium.
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