This is a quote from an interview with Leon Degrelle: "I was arrested in
1940 by French troops, beaten, and moved around from damp jail cells where
I was tortured until finally freed by German troops. They knew who I was
since I was a leader of the Rexist Party, which was a Socialist anti-Communist
political party. Seeing that I would not receive any help, let alone justice
from the authorities in Belgium I knew that that government was illegitimate,
and I decided that the corruption must be challenged."
The collapse of Communism in Europe has proven that we were right; we just
needed validation, and now we have it. I think that what we may write is
important, but the history as it unfolds will prove who was right, and who
was wrong. I never believed in the purging of Jews and civilians in general,
and that was not my war. My war was to fight for my country, which would
have been an independent partner of Germany in a Communist free Europe. This
is only now a reality, but we fought for it fifty years ago all the same.
Q- Do you feel that Communism
will eventually die in the rest of the world as well?
A- Yes, it will fall. Governments
are the most intangible structures made by man, they change shapes, and
are altered by the forces of time and nature. However, I am an optimist;
I am hopeful that we as a species will learn from our mistakes, and perhaps
there will be hope for us all. But then again, I could be wrong.
Militant Catholicism military socialism
cf NSGWP
Under his guidance the Rexists took control of local governments and newspapers
in Belgium. After Belgium was liberated (September 1944) he was sentenced
in absentia to death as a collaborator. Degrelle flew to Spain in the last
days of the war after fighting the Soviet advance into eastern Germany.
In Spain he was protected by Francisco Franco and in 1954 became a Spanish
citizen under the name Léon José de Ramírez Reina.
the Rexist Party (Parti Rexiste), officially called Christus Rex, founded
in 1930 by Léon Degrelle, a Walloon.
The Rexist movement attracted support
mostly among the Walloons; it had a counterpart on the Flemish side in the
Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond, or VNV.
This movement shares many National Socialist tenets, particularly in regard
to anti-Boshevism anti-Stalinism?
Even Stalin became anti-communist when paired with German socialists.
Leon Degrelle
NATION-
Belgium
DATE (S) OF INTERVIEW (S)
March 1984, April 1993 (Telephonic)
PLACE OF INTERVIEW (S)
Barcelona, Spain
LANGUAGE (S) CONDUCTED
English, German, French
SIGNIFICANCE OF SUBJECT-
Leader of the Belgian Socialist Rexist
Movement; German volunteer, Waffen SS General and 28th Waffen SS
Division Commander.
OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE-
Michele Ulovey
In a Rexist newspaper dated 1943, there are photographs of Hitler Youth
boys and girls in service of the people, and one of Rexiste Leader Leon
Degrelle in uniform addressing a crowd at the Reichssportfeld in Berlin.
