Flemish Nationalism and the Great War

The Politics of Memory, Visual Culture and Commemoration

K. Shelby

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781137391735
• Topic: Histoire
• Subtopic: Histoire de l'Europe

Karen Shelby addresses the IJzertoren Memorial, which is dedicated to the Flemish dead of the Great War, and the role the monument has played in the discussions among the various political, social and cultural ideologies of the Flemish community.

1

Introduction

The first glimpse of the IJzertoren memorial in Diksmuide, Flanders is striking. It is the tallest structure in the area – almost in all of Flanders. It is also a giant cross and an unusual one at that. From afar it looks like an Irish High Cross, but executed within a pretty heavy-handed architectural style reminiscent of the modern Brutalist Movement of the 1950s. It looks cold and foreboding. The lines are severe, rigidly leading the visitor’s eye up toward the top-heavy cruciform shape. Placed against large windows of a viewing platform are affixed letters that form a Greek cross: AVV-VVK. For the non-Flemish visitor these letters mean little – although their placement and size, almost 73 meters (or 20 yards), suggest that they must mean something quite significant. For those familiar with the nineteenth century slogan Alles voor Vlaanderen-Vlaanderen voor Kristus (All for Flanders-Flanders for Christ), the iconic AVV-VVK atop a twenty-four story cruciform-shaped tower places the IJzertoren memorial squarely within the politics of Flemish nationalism – a Flemish nationalism underscored by a Catholic fervor for the martyrdom and sacrifice during the Great War of Flanders and the Flemish for recognition within the Kingdom of Belgium. As one moves through the memorial site, which includes a peace arch (the paxpoort), the ruins of an earlier version of the IJzertoren, and a crypt in which ten Flemish soldiers,¹ known in particular nationalist circles as martyrs, are buried, the AVV-VVK is visible two times. It would be virtually impossible to miss the emphasis placed on the motto. But all of this leads to several questions. What is a Celtic cross doing in the middle of Flanders? Why is it so big and, quite frankly, frightening looking?

The IJzertoren and the two pilgrimages that are interconnected with this memorial site, the IJzer Pilgrimage and the IJzerwake, reflect the evolution of the Flemish Movement from the nineteenth century cultural awakening of Flemish culture, to the Flemish nationalists, the flamingants and activists of World War I, through the Collaborators of World War II, and into the present. The signs and symbols of Flemish nationalism have been manipulated in this nearly 100-year period to serve a diversity of nationalisms in Flanders. They include a medieval battle (the Battle of the Golden Spurs), the blauwvoet bird (a sea bird), the AVV-VVK, the unique Flemish hero’s tombstones of the Great War (the heldenhuldezerken), a damaged sink stone from the Flemish town of Merkem, and the ten dead Flemish soldiers. I examine these symbols in relationship to the history of the IJzertoren and the two pilgrimages as well as the Museum aan de IJzer, which is housed in the interior of the IJzertoren memorial, in order to unpack the social, political and nationalist symbols of the contemporary Flemish Movement. The IJzertoren and the pilgrimages continue to play a visual and ritual role, albeit diminished, that links the nineteenth century concerns to those of the twenty-first century.

Flanders and the Great War

Flemish memory and history of the war, which might seem to coincide with that of Belgium, is distinct and separate. Belgium was severely affected by the war; the country was entirely occupied but for a tiny corner in the north-west region. The population, both Flemish and Walloon, was marked by poverty and starvation. Over 42,000 soldiers and 20,000 civilians died. Flemish commemoration was not necessarily in opposition to the Belgian practice, but the memorials and rituals enacted in Flanders after the war pointedly invoked a Flemish perspective on the war experience. World War I was a turning point for a Flemish nationalist discourse that had been simmering under the surface of Belgian politics since the late nineteenth century. Belgium reluctantly entered the war in August of 1914 and due to early and decisive victories by the German army, was ill equipped with enough soldier power to halt German advance. King Albert, in a strategic move to raise the numbers of enlisted men in the ranks, appealed to the patriotic feelings of both the Flemish-speaking population in Flanders in the north, and to the French-speaking inhabitants of Wallonia in the south. Speaking to inspire a defense of Belgium, a country that was formed in 1830 by uniting these two disparate language and cultural regions, the king referred to two medieval legendary battles, each specific to a Flemish and a Walloon audience. For the Flemish, the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302 already served as a foundation myth for the Flemish in the nineteenth century. Strategically recalling this medieval moment, King Albert exploited an already well-established nationalist feeling. Consequently, the Battle of the Golden Spurs served as one of the many platforms onto which a (small) number of Flemish soldiers placed themselves while entrenched along the Belgian Front creating an overt political message of a Flemish nationalism that continues to have implications for not only the Flemish, but also the country of Belgium in the twenty-first century. The growing nationalist feelings inspired the enlisted men to action. In the Great War, the 1302 battle served, and continues to serve, as the burning ember of nationalist resentment. The men joined cultural discussion groups on Flemish history, launched politically inspired journals, and drafted letters to the king underscoring their discontent as Flemish soldiers and a status of what they perceived to be second-class citizens in the Belgian army and within Belgium as a whole. An organization, the Front Movement, was formally established bringing these smaller cultural and political groups together. The Belgian army was displeased with the activities of the Front Movement since some served to undermine the army, and, at the very least, shift attention away from the primary focus – the war. The Flemish soldiers who ignored a cease and desist directive from their commanding officers and persisted in their activism were disciplined and some were incarcerated in work camps in northern France. These perceived sacrifices to the cause propelled the Front Movement into a second Foundation Myth that has served a particular sector of Flemish nationalists in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The Flemish-minded soldiers, turning a blind eye to the military implications of their insubordination, saw this disciplinary action as a suppression of their Flemish voice. One of the ways in which they visually expressed their feelings was through the implementation of a unique tombstone, a heldenhuldezerk (hero’s tombstone) under which to bury their Flemish brethren in order to be distinguished from their French-speaking comrades in arms.² The Flemish soldiers who espoused a nationalist agenda, with a special focus on ten of these soldiers, were perceived of as martyrs to the Flemish cause and venerated in much the same way as Catholic saints. One of the most important of the group of ten was Joe English, who, despite what his name may imply, was a Flemish soldier who played an important role for both the Belgian army and the Front Movement. English served as a professional artist before the war; soon after he volunteered for service he was enlisted to create propaganda for the Belgian army. Eventually English was affected by the activities of the Front Movement and was recruited by the self-appointed leaders of the organization to illustrate some of the trench journals printed to address the Flemish cause. One of the more infamous of these drawings was an unusual cruciform design made in remembrance of a friend and fellow Flemish soldier, Firmin Deprez. This design was the inspiration for the heldenhuldezerken. English was born and raised in Bruges, but his father was from Ireland. It is not entirely clear how much, if any, of an Irish nationalist rhetoric was a part of the English household while Joe was growing up. But based on the final design of the heldenhuldezerken, there is a strong indication that English, in his adult years, was cognizant of Irish symbols and memorial practices when making the deliberate decision to evoke his Irish background as the referent for soldiers with Flemish nationalist feeling. The heldenhuldezerken are strikingly similar to the Irish High cross, which originated in the eighth century marking the graves of Christian martyrs. English, after choosing an already established symbol of Catholicism and martyrdom, mined the nineteenth century Flemish Movement for signs and symbols that would resonate for the grieving Flemish population. He chose the AVV-VVK to be placed within the arms of the cross and added a Blauwvoet bird (Bluefoot bird), the symbol and name of a late nineteenth century Flemish student movement. These sentiments of sacrifice served to strengthen the Flemish nationalist cause giving it life after 1918.

Figure 1.1 The IJzertoren, 1930: VFFY 31/126 courtesy ADVN, IJzerbedevaartcomite

Figure 1.2 The IJzertoren, 2007: photograph by Jay Pingree

The heldenhuldezerken, in turn, inspired the IJzertoren Memorial. The first iteration of the memorial was essentially an enlarged heldenhuldezerk. It rose seven stories, standing high above the flat IJzer (Yser) plain (Figure 1.1). A crypt beneath the tower contained the bodies of the ten most prominent Flemish soldier martyrs. One of these men was English who died of appendicitis at the end of the war. Due to partisan Flemish politics of World War II, this tower was destroyed in 1943. A second tower was erected on the site, which is the imposing 24-story Brutalist structure one encounters today (Figure 1.2). A permanent museum exhibition addressing the war (with a message of peace) and Flemish history was installed in the tower in 1999.

The original museum program began on the twenty-fourth floor directing the visitor to gaze at the former sites of the Belgian Front, the wounds of which are still visible on the landscape. A winding staircase guided the visitor down through the museum program past the smells of war, the sounds of bombs and the dank, cramped space of a trench and dug-out, which served to underscore that this museum is, first and foremost, located within a memorial to the dead of the Great War. Exhibits served to convey the physical hardships as well as the language slights, real and perceived, endured by the Flemish soldiers. Front Movement propaganda underscored the emotive content the curators believe the material still held. The sounds of rousing nationalist songs and the inclusion of Flemish propaganda reminded the visitor that this was a charged memorial – one dedicated to not just the dead of the Great War, but specifically to the Flemish dead who posthumously served as political martyrs for a Flemish nationalism that has shaped Flanders and Belgium since 1915. The IJzertoren is itself an object with its own predetermined set of symbols. It is first and foremost a memorial cross. Its height and prominence recalls the medieval church spires, cloth halls and defense towers that used to dot the Flemish landscape in the prosperous fourteenth and fifteenth century. For some, it currently stands as a sign of Flemish vitality in the face of the shifting economics from the decline of a thriving industrial Wallonia to a prosperous agricultural Flanders in the twentieth century. As an evolving symbol of Flemish nationalism, the top-heavy and imposing cruciform tower can induce an almost physical response in visitors as it looms over Diksmuide casting its long shadow across both the geographical and political terrain of Flanders.

Belgium: Flanders and Wallonia

For many, language is at the core of the schism that divides the Dutch-speaking Flemish in the north and the French-speaking Walloons in the south.³ It has taken on the importance that issues such as race and religion have in other national conflicts. The entire country is split along the language division of education, public institutions such as libraries, national television, newspapers, local and regional governments, and the national political system. There is little in the way of a national narrative that unites the two regions. Belgium does have a national anthem and a national flag that both reflect the region that is now the heart of contemporary Belgium – Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant, Antwerp, and the Brussels –Capital Region, which is officially a bi-lingual city with a majority of Francophones. The Brabançonne, which was written in 1830 during the Belgian Revolution, has since been officially modified with lyrics in both French and in Dutch.⁴ A Belgian flag was introduced on August 26, the day after the start of the Belgian Revolution in 1830. The black, yellow and red reflect Brabant’s coat of arms: a golden lion with red tongue and nails against a black field.

But Flanders and Wallonia each have their own foundation myth, national anthem and flag utilized to the full extent when addressing language rights in both regions. Aside from the Brussels Capital Region and the surrounding towns, where one sees the disputes on a daily basis rather than only during election years, there is little interaction between the two. The current federal structure enables the two language and geographical regions to function independent of one another, but because of the political complexity and in light of the 2007 and 2010 post-election negotiations, it remains to be seen whether Belgium is sustainable in the long term. Flanders and Wallonia, each have specific reasons for either keeping or abandoning the current federal system. And, of course, within the regions, differences among the residents vary in whether or not to support dissolution. These differences are currently at the forefront of Flemish political action and reflect divisions almost as old as Belgium itself. Flemish Nationalism and the Great War examines the schisms within the Flemish nationalists, and emphasizes the ways in which the IJzertoren and other examples of Flemish nationalist visual culture have been manipulated in the past two centuries by the differing voices in the Flemish Movement.

Nationalist implications of the Great War

The horror of the Western Front in World War I has been the focus of many studies from a variety of perspectives: military, social and cultural histories; economic and political ramifications; considerations of the home and war fronts; and the impact of the war on nations and nation building. The majority of these studies frame the war within a British, French or German experience. Less attention has been dedicated to Belgium, the country that remained the sole occupied territory for the duration of the war and whose citizens experienced the most severe material and personal devastation and higher civilian casualty rates of those countries engaged in the conflict. What has been published on the subject reflects little overlap of a Belgian, that is French-speaking, experience with that of the Flemish. This book also provides little overlap since the focus examines a summary of the evolution of the Flemish Movement with the framework of the Great War (an exhaustive examination of this evolution would be beyond the scope of this book). Essentially there are two narratives of the Great War in Belgium: the master narrative that is briefly touched upon in World War I histories, and a second narrative that is rarely addressed – a complex story of the Flemish experience in the war as articulated in the IJzertoren, which has, in the past eighty years, been the focus of several attempts of memorial and historical redirection.

A perception by the Flemish is that they experienced a different history at the Front than their counterparts, the Walloons, that has been propagated through the pilgrimages and visual culture produced during and after the war. The memory of a distinctive Flemish war experience, which has little similarity for the Wallonia community, continues to resonate in contemporary nationalist circles in Flanders. The war served to invigorate a Flemish nationalism influenced by the cultural and political agitations of a nineteenth century Flemish Movement (Vlaamse Beweging), initially a linguistic and literary movement that evolved into an organization serving a variety of political objectives.⁵ The Flemish Movement does not refer to a structured organization, but to a wide range of cultural, linguistic, economic and political activities that can be applied to an ever-changing range of societies or groups, united only by the common commitment to some aspect of Dutch (Flemish) language, culture and/or politics.⁶ Since mid-century the idea of nationalism has been associated with those who have common sympathies and goals.⁷ The examination of the Flemish Movement as the foundation for a revival of a Flemish consciousness during the Great War is important within the politics of recognition. This need for cultural acknowledgement was paramount for a specific group of Flemish intellectuals soon after the creation of Belgium in 1830, which placed French first as the administrative language reducing Flemish and Flanders to second-class status. For Elie Kedourie, “a group speaking the same language is known as a nation, and a nation ought to constitute a state.”⁸ For Flemish moderates, although sharing many cultural concerns, language has remained at the fore of the push for more autonomy for Flanders within Belgium and for the more extreme nationalists, a separate Flemish state.

The symbols of the nineteenth century Flemish Movement were appropriated during the war an...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• 1  Introduction
• 2  IJzerbedevaart: The Last Summer Pilgrimage to the IJzer
• 3  A Flemish Nation: Catholicism, Language and the Medieval Past
• 4  The Battle of the Golden Spurs: Enlistment Propaganda and the Front Movement
• 5  A Politicized Movement and the Memorialization of the Flemish Soldier
• 6  The IJzertoren: A Heldenhuldezerk for all of Flanders
• 7  World War I Memorial or Symbol of Autonomy?: Collaboration and the IJzertoren
• 8  IJzerbedevaart: The Pilgrimage to the IJzer
• 9  The IJzerwake: A Different Memory of the Great War
• 10  Transformation: The IJzertoren Memorial Museum to the Museum aan de IJzer
• 11  Conclusion
• Appendices
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index