[Cicero]

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, whose work I respect, takes a petty tough anti-Nazi line here. I suspect that the history of the Flemish region was like much of the rest of Europe: caught between the Nazis on one side and the Bolsheviks on the other. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

The Communists were on the winning side, since Roosevelt and Stalin decided to ally themselves with Stalin; and many Flemish partisans were executed after the war. I'm not sure they were any worse than the Communists.

In any case, that's water over the dam. Why should the Flemish be forced to pay taxes to support the people who have been persecuting them? Why should the children of Nazis continue to be vilified, while children of Communists and even present-day Communists are automatically absolved of their guilt?

[Rodney King]

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, whose work I respect, takes a petty tough anti-Nazi line here. I suspect that the history of the Flemish region was like much of the rest of Europe: caught between the Nazis on one side and the Bolsheviks on the other. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

There were some hard core Nazi's in Belgium who were Flemish. However, there were Nazi Walloons as well. The Waloonian (sp?) Leon Degrelle is one of the most famous non-German Nazis. He was temorarily the head of Nazi occupied Beligum for a the few weeks after the start of the Battle of The Bulge.

Yes, the Flemings were more welcoming to the Nazi's then the Walloons were overall, but there is a good reason for that. The Walloons had always oppressed the Flemish. The Walloos did not allow them to have Flemish schools, etc. During World War I, the Germans allowed the Flemish to have their owns schools, local governments, etc. Of course, when World War I was over, the Walloons went right back to oppressing the Flemish. So, it's no surprise that when the Germans came back in 1940 many Flemings weren't too upset about it.

But that's the extent of it. Otherwise, this is just the usual Nazi slur.

[Eala]

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, whose work I respect

Cicero, your comments/posting speak for you. I don't know this guy, but knowing the Flemish (I work with a couple of colleagues, the wife grew up in Antwerp, and we spend time there when possible) I find the tone here offensive. What is different here?

[Martin Tell]

I lived in Belgium from 1995-1998, during the Dutroux affair. Politics in the "nation" are very complicated, and as in most of Europe, history is quite a burden. I knew Walloons who told me that all the Flemings had collaborated with the Nazis; it was true that there were many more monuments to the US Army in Waloonia (Bastogne and a number of well-tended cemetaries) than in Flanders. On the other hand, a die hard group of SS Nazi Walloons were the last Nazi defenders of the Reichstag. The Flemings have some legitimate grips about Walloon domination, and the (gay) Walloon politician mentioned in the article was named in the Dutroux affair, but still holds power. I did, however, find the Blok campaign literature to be offensive (I was a "guest worker" myself, and some of the gross cartoons they criculated could be taken as threatening against foreigners). Belgium's real problem is just what the article implied, it is an artificial nation that was meant to be a buffer between Germany and France; maybe that's what makes Brussels the perfect "Capital of Europe".