Paul Colin (journalist)
Encyclopedia
Paul Colin was a Belgian
journalist
, famous as the leading journalist and editor of the Rexist
collaborationist newspapers "Le Nouveau Journal" and "Cassandre".
and Édouard Manet
.
and nazism
. In September 1939, Colin, along with Robert Poulet
, Pierre Daye
and ten other journalists (most of them fascists, but including some left-wing pacifists) signed a pro-German manifesto calling for Belgian neutrality in the war. This manifesto has often been claimed to be the starting-point of French-speaking journalistic collaboration in Belgium, though another version claims Paul-Henri Spaak
, a socialist minister at the time, was the secret sponsor of the manifesto.
, Colin founded "Le Nouveau Journal". The first edition appeared on October 1st. One of his associates, Robert Poulet, had in the meantime secretly met King Leopold III's private secretary, Count Capelle, and got a tentative royal approval for the project. However, as the war dragged on, German victory became less certain and food rations decreased, more and more Belgians joined the ranks of those who criticized the "New Order
." In 1943, a group of the Belgian resistance
, led by Marcel Demonceau, hatched the plan to kill both Paul Colin and Leon Degrelle
within a short lapse of time. Colin was then shot dead by 19-year old Arnaud Fraiteur.
The attempt on the life of Leon Degrelle failed as Marcel Demonceau was arrested at his hiding-place in Ixelles together with many associates, British airmen and members of the Belgian London-based Intelligence Service. It later transpired that the group had been infiltrated by a Belgian collaborator, posing as "Captain Jackson", a British airman on the run: Prosper Dezitter, who may have helped to kill Colin in order to gain Demonceau's confidence and thus net as many resistants and other people in hiding as possible.
Fraiteur, Demonceau and many fellow members of the Resistance were later executed by the Germans at Breendonk
. After the War, Prosper Dezitter was arrested in Germany, extradited, condemned to death and executed at Ixelles on 17 September 1948.
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...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, famous as the leading journalist and editor of the Rexist
Rexism
Rexism was a fascist political movement in the first half of the 20th century in Belgium.It was the ideology of the Rexist Party , officially called Rex, founded in 1930 by Léon Degrelle, a Walloon...
collaborationist newspapers "Le Nouveau Journal" and "Cassandre".
Biography
His father was an important businessman who died when Colin was two. In 1914, Colin started university studies in History and Art History, but had to interrupt them because of the First World War. After the war, he became a journalist and art critic, and then the manager of the Giroux art gallery, located on the avenue des Arts in Brussels. He wrote a number of books on painting, on Belgian and European painting, RomanticismRomanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
and Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....
.
1930s
In the 1930s, Colin became fascinated by extreme-right movements, both fascismFascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. In September 1939, Colin, along with Robert Poulet
Robert Poulet
Robert Poulet was a Belgian writer, literary critic and journalist. Politically he was a Maurras-inspired integral nationalist who became associated with a collaborationist newspaper during the occupation of Belgium by Nazi Germany.-Literature:Educated at the Faculté des Mines in his hometown,...
, Pierre Daye
Pierre Daye
Pierre Daye was a Belgian Nazi collaborator and follower of Rexism, who exiled himself to Juan Peron's Argentina after World War II....
and ten other journalists (most of them fascists, but including some left-wing pacifists) signed a pro-German manifesto calling for Belgian neutrality in the war. This manifesto has often been claimed to be the starting-point of French-speaking journalistic collaboration in Belgium, though another version claims Paul-Henri Spaak
Paul-Henri Spaak
Paul Henri Charles Spaak was a Belgian Socialist politician and statesman.-Early life:Paul-Henri Spaak was born on 25 January 1899 in Schaerbeek, Belgium, to a distinguished Belgian family. His grandfather, Paul Janson was an important member of the Liberal Party...
, a socialist minister at the time, was the secret sponsor of the manifesto.
1940s
In 1940, after Belgium was occupied by Nazi GermanyNazi 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...
, Colin founded "Le Nouveau Journal". The first edition appeared on October 1st. One of his associates, Robert Poulet, had in the meantime secretly met King Leopold III's private secretary, Count Capelle, and got a tentative royal approval for the project. However, as the war dragged on, German victory became less certain and food rations decreased, more and more Belgians joined the ranks of those who criticized the "New Order
New Order (disambiguation)
- Politics :* New world order * New Order , Nazi Germany's political and territorial goal in the 1940s** Ordre Nouveau , Vichy French term for the above Neuordnung...
." In 1943, a group of the Belgian resistance
Belgian resistance
Belgian resistance during World War II to the occupation of Belgium by Nazi Germany took different forms. "The Belgian Resistance" was the common name for the Netwerk van de weerstand - Réseau de Résistance or Resistance Network , a group of partisans fighting the Nazis...
, led by Marcel Demonceau, hatched the plan to kill both Paul Colin and Leon Degrelle
Léon Degrelle
Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle was a Walloon Belgian politician, who founded Rexism and later joined the Waffen SS which were front-line troops in the fight against the Soviet Union...
within a short lapse of time. Colin was then shot dead by 19-year old Arnaud Fraiteur.
The attempt on the life of Leon Degrelle failed as Marcel Demonceau was arrested at his hiding-place in Ixelles together with many associates, British airmen and members of the Belgian London-based Intelligence Service. It later transpired that the group had been infiltrated by a Belgian collaborator, posing as "Captain Jackson", a British airman on the run: Prosper Dezitter, who may have helped to kill Colin in order to gain Demonceau's confidence and thus net as many resistants and other people in hiding as possible.
Fraiteur, Demonceau and many fellow members of the Resistance were later executed by the Germans at Breendonk
Breendonk
Breendonk is a small town in Belgium, population 3,000, halfway between Brussels and Antwerp.Its name stems from the medieval Bredene Dunc which translates as "wide mound" or "a dry spot in the marshes."...
. After the War, Prosper Dezitter was arrested in Germany, extradited, condemned to death and executed at Ixelles on 17 September 1948.