Cyriel Verschaeve

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Cyriel Verschaeve
Statue of Verschaeve in Alveringem
Born(1874-04-30)30 April 1874
Ardooie, Belgium
Died8 November 1949(1949-11-08) (aged 75)
Solbad Hall, Tyrol, Allied-occupied Austria
Occupation(s)Priest, writer, SS recruitment

Cyriel Verschaeve (30 April 1874 – 8 November 1949) was a

Flemish nationalism by the ideology's adherents and a Nazi propagandist.[1]

Early years

Born in

Friedrich Schiller University of Jena in Germany.[citation needed
]

Nationalist leader

Verschaeve (by Jos De Swert, 1923)

He returned to Belgium in 1911 to become a parish priest at

Yser Tower memorial, with Verschaeve ceremonially laying the first stone on 7 July 1928.[6]

Second World War

Dismissed as chaplain in 1939,

anti-communist and a convinced supporter of Nazism.[7] In 1944 he held a meeting with SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler about the Flemish question, although it achieved little as the Allied advance into Belgium was not far away, and Flanders would soon be liberated from Nazi control. Verschaeve told Himmler at this meeting that, while he rejected Nazi paganism, he thought Nazism could become complementary to the salvific message of the Church, as long as it remained political and activist.[8] Until the end of the successful Allied offensive against the Nazi Wehrmacht in western Belgium, Verschaeve continued calling upon young Flemish, Catholic, adolescent boys to volunteer in the Waffen-SS foreign legions against Stalin and "Satanic Bolshevism".[8][9]

Death

He fled to Austria in 1945. He was condemned to death in absentia by a Belgian court, but survived in Austria until 1949, when he died of a heart attack at the

Vlaamse Militanten Orde dug up his remains and reburied them in Flanders.[10] He remains a celebrated figure amongst the more extreme ends of Flemish nationalism, and a symbol of disgraceful Flemish nationalism to French-speaking Catholics.[11]

Streets in Kortrijk, Lanaken and Breendonk were named after him; in 2019-2020 the local councils decided to rename it.[12]

Writing

Verschaeve wrote extensively on philosophy, adopting a dramatic, poetic writing style. He was also known as a poet and playwright. As an author he wrote a number of plays dealing with historical and Biblical characters with Judas (1919) and Maria-Magdalena (1930) now widely held to be the best works from a prolific but sketchy output.[13] His major works include:

  • Jacob van Artevelde (1911)
  • Zeesymphonieën (1911)
  • Ferdinand Verbiest (1912)
  • De schoonheid van het evangelie (1913)
  • Passieverhaal (1913)
  • Philips van Artevelde (1913)
  • Nocturnen (1916–1924)
  • Judas (1917)
  • Het mysterie (1920)
  • Uren bewondering voor groote kunstwerken (1920–1922)
  • Maria Magdalena (1928)
  • De Kruisboom (1929)
  • Elijah (1936)
  • Nocturnen (1936)
  • Rubens, Vlaanderens Spectrum (1938)
  • Jezus (1939)
  • Eeuwige gestalten (1944)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cyriel Verschaeve.
  1. ^ Ingo Haar, Michael Fahlbusch, German Scholars and Ethnic Cleansing, 1919–1945, Berghahn Books, 2006, p. 195
  2. ^ Karen Dale Shelby, Conflicted Nationalism and World War I in Belgium: Memory and Museum Design, ProQuest, 2008, pp. 37–38
  3. ^ Shelby, Conflicted Nationalism and World War I in Belgium, p. 54
  4. ^ Herman Van Goethem, Belgium and the Monarchy: From National Independence to National Disintegration, Asp/Vubpress/Upa, 2011, pp. 115–116
  5. ^ Shelby, Conflicted Nationalism and World War I in Belgium, p. 58
  6. ^ Shelby, Conflicted Nationalism and World War I in Belgium, p. 75
  7. ^ a b Shelby, Conflicted Nationalism and World War I in Belgium, p. 103
  8. ^ a b c d e Shelby, Conflicted Nationalism and World War I in Belgium, p. 104
  9. ^ Els Witte, Jan Craeybeckx, Alain Meynen, Political History of Belgium: From 1830 Onwards, Asp/Vubpress/Upa, 2010, p. 206
  10. ^ a b Shelby, Conflicted Nationalism and World War I in Belgium, p. 105
  11. ^ Shelby, Conflicted Nationalism and World War I in Belgium, p. 106
  12. ^ Daniel Boffey (24 November 2019). "Belgium begins to face brutal colonial legacy of Leopold II". The Observer.
  13. ^ John Gassner, The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama, Courier Dover Publications,, 2002, p. 62

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