Politics

Should a minute's silence be held in a representative democratic assembly to pay tribute to an extreme right-wing figure who downplayed the Holocaust? In flandres, Belgium, the question remains unanswered.  

Do we get the heroes we deserve? Can forgiveness go so far as to erase the worst ignominy? The action taken by the Flemish parliament in Belgium raises questions. It's controversial, to say the least. The parliamentary assembly, in principle a guarantor of democracy and human rights, observed a minute's silence in memory of Roeland Raes, former vice-president of the racist, pro-independence Vlaams Blok party, forerunner of today's nationalist Vlaams Belang party. He was also one of the founders of Voorpost, a still-active radical organization. A fine pedigree. The far-right politician died in November 2024 and had on several occasions made remarks questioning the number of victims in Nazi camps and the genocide of the Holocaust. In 2008, he was even convicted of Holocaust denial following a televised interview in 2001.

During the TV appearance, the character cast doubt on the authenticity of Anne Frank's diary. He questioned the origin of the testimony of this young Jewish woman, who hid in the annex of a company in Amsterdam before being arrested on denunciation in the summer of 1944. She froze to death, weakened by typhus and malnutrition, in Bergen-Belsen in February or March 1945, a few weeks before the camp was liberated by British troops. The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most widely read books in the world, and considered by historians to be an indisputable first-hand account of the life of a Jewish teenager between 1942 and 1944 during the occupation of the Netherlands. The annex can still be visited, thanks to the memory work undertaken by her father, the family's only post-war survivor.

Tarnished memory

In paying tribute to Mr. Raes, have the Flemish MPs (unintentionally?) soiled the image of a popular icon - Anne Frank - victim of barbarism? In any case, they chose to pay their respects to a former (short-lived) member of their assembly who shamelessly proclaimed his nauseating ideas. He was seen many times in the presence of proven collaborators. He was even the contact person for Flemish exiles in Argentina after the war! He was also opposed to euthanasia. A gesture he eventually requested at the age of 90 to relieve himself of the suffering associated with his illness. Do as I say, but not... 

Hope

Fortunately, several Flemish MPs had the decency to leave the hemicycle before the minute's silence. They represented Groen (ecological party), PVDA (communist party) and Vooruit (socialist party). The others, including of course Vlaams Belang, paid little heed to the story of the deceased, following his family's demands and letting silence choke their assembly. On January 27, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army will be commemorated...

(MH with Olivier Duquesne - Source : De Morgen - Picture : © picture alliance / Bildagentur-online | UIG)