The European Jewish Association strongly condemned the actions of Filip Dewinter, a senior member of Belgium’s extreme-right Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) party, who was recently photographed posing with a fascist flag and using a Nazi slogan.
The flag belongs to the fascist Verdinaso (Union of Dutch National Solidarists) movement, a collaborationist group active before and during World War II. Dewinter used the phrase Onze eer is trouw, a near-literal translation of the official SS motto Meine Ehre heißt Treue (“My Honor is Loyalty”).
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the European Jewish Association, said in a statement: “There is no place in European politics for those who flirt with fascist symbols, historical revisionism, or Nazi-era slogans. It is simply grotesque and unacceptable that a politician in this day and age would openly pose with the flag of a movement whose members helped deport Jews and collaborated with the Nazi regime.
“We call on Vlaams Belang to take immediate action and expel Mr. Dewinter from the party. Far-right organizations that pretend to fight antisemitism while simultaneously engaging in nostalgic tributes to fascism are totally devoid of credibility,” he added.
Michael Freilich, a Belgian member of Parliament and the European Jewish Association’s special envoy for intercultural dialogue and Holocaust remembrance, raised this issue during a session of the Antwerp City Council last week, citing the unacceptable double standard of condemning antisemitism while glorifying collaborationist movements of the past.
Regina Sluszny, president of the Antwerp-based Forum of Jewish Organizations, said: “The true nature of Vlaams Belang is once again exposed. Behind the polished image and strategic outreach to the Jewish community lies the same ideological soil—one that flirts with fascism, glorifies authoritarian history and denies the lessons of the past.”
In its statement, the European Jewish Association enjoined all political actors that respect for Holocaust memory and Jewish communities “is not a marketing strategy but a moral obligation.
“Anything less, especially when combined with such blatant provocation, is a stain on European democracy,” the EJA said.
Originally published by the European Jewish Press.
