Josephus Alphonsus Marie François (22 May 1901-1996) was a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 Flemish

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 far right

Far right

Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...

 politician and Nazi collaborator.

A native of Ghent

Ghent

Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...

, he first came to politics as a member of the Frontpartij

Frontpartij

The Frontpartij was a Belgian political party that campaigned for increasing recognition for the Flemish people and their language. Originating from the earlier Frontbeweging, the Frontpartij was an early attempt to fully politicise the Flemish Movement...

, along with the likes of Ward Hermans

Ward Hermans

Cornelius Eduardus Hermans was a Belgian Flemish nationalist politician and writer....

 and Joris Van Severen

Joris Van Severen

Joris Van Severen was a Belgian nationalist politician, ideologist and leader of the national-solidarist Verdinaso.-Early years:...

. In 1931 he joined the likes of Van Severen and Wies Moens

Wies Moens

Wies Moens was a literary historian, poet and pamphleteer from Flanders. He was also a founding member of the Verdinaso, but left the movement after its change of course in 1934....

 in launching Verdinaso

Verdinaso

The Verdinaso was an authoritarian and fascist-inspired political party in Belgium and the Netherlands during the 1930s...

 (The Verdinaso (Verbond der Dietse Nationaal-Solidaristen - Union of Diets National Solidarists) was an authoritarian and fascist-inspired political party in Belgium and the Netherlands during the 1930s), and was installed as deputy leader of the group the following year and head of the militia in 1937. François succeeded Van Severen as leader of Verdinaso after Van Severen's execution in 1940, taking the movement in a new, pro-Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 direction and merging them into the Flemish National Union

Flemish National Union

The Flemish National Union was a Nationalist Flemish political party in Belgium, founded by Staf de Clercq on October 8, 1933. De Clercq became known as den Leider .-Creation:...

. He commanded the militia group, Dietsche Militie, of this combined organisation.

François enrolled in the Schutzstaffel

Schutzstaffel

The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

 (SS), in August 1941 and for a time he was the leader of the Flemish SS

Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen

The Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen , later Germaansche SS in Vlaanderen was the Flemish branch of the Germanic SS during the Nazi occupation of Belgium.-History:...

. Seeing action on the Eastern Front

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

, he rose to the rank of Obersturmführer

Obersturmführer

Obersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi party that was used by the SS and also as a rank of the SA. Translated as “Senior Assault Leader”, the rank of Obersturmführer was first created in 1932 as the result of an expansion of the Sturmabteilung and the need for an additional rank in...

 (First Lieutenant) in the 27th SS Volunteer Division Langemarck. After the war he was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he was released in 1952. After the war he organised an SS veterans group and was involved on the fringes of the Vlaamse Militanten Orde

Vlaamse Militanten Orde

The Vlaamse Militanten Orde or VMO – originally Vlaamse Militanten Organisatie – was a Flemish nationalist activist group in Belgium defending far-right interests by propaganda and political action...

(a Flemish nationalist activist group in Belgium defending far-right interests by propaganda and political action).