René Lagrou (15 April 1904 – 1 April 1969) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

politician and collaborator with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Pre-occupation

Lagrou was born in Blankenberge in

West Flanders ) , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van West-Vlaanderen.svg , shield_size = , image_map ...

, Belgium, and worked as a lawyer in Antwerp. Lagrou first came to prominence as a member of the

Flemish National Union The ( Dutch for "Flemish National Union" or "Flemish National League"), widely known by its acronym VNV, was a Flemish nationalist political party active in Belgium between 1933 and 1945.

.David Littlejohn, ''

The Patriotic Traitors ''The Patriotic Traitors: A History of Collaboration in German-Occupied Europe, 1940–45'' is a 1972 book by David Littlejohn. It is a history of the Europeans who took part in collaborationism with Nazi Germany. Individual chapters are dev ...

'', London: Heinemann, 1972, p. 155 He published his own journal ''Roeland'', which became increasingly anti-Semitic following

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's rise to power.

German occupation, and capture

Following the German occupation of Belgium in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Lagrou, along with Ward Hermans, founded the extremist '' Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen'' (from 1942, the ''Germaansche SS in Vlaanderen''), a Flemish political faction supported by the SS. Lagrou saw action with the

Waffen SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands. The grew from th ...

on the Eastern Front and some initial reports erroneously suggested that he had died in battle. However Lagrou survived and was captured by the Allies in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

but managed to escape to

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

. Uki Goñi, ''The Real ODESSA'', London: Granta Books, 2003, p. 112

In exile, ratlines, and death

In May 1946 his was one of three names on a 'black list' sent by the government of Belgium to Spain where he was in hiding, along with

Léon Degrelle Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle (; 15 June 1906 – 31 March 1994) was a Belgian Walloon politician and Nazi collaborator. He rose to prominence in Belgium in the 1930s as the leader of the Rexist Party (Rex). During the German occupatio ...

and Pierre Daye. Soon after he was condemned to death ''in absentia'' by the war crimes tribunal in Antwerp. With the possibility of

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

from Spain looming, Lagrou arrived in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in July 1947 and adopted the false name Reinaldo van Groede. Here he became a leading figure in the

ratlines Ratlines () are lengths of thin line tied between the shrouds of a sailing ship to form a ladder. Found on all square-rigged ships, whose crews must go aloft to stow the square sails, they also appear on larger fore-and-aft rigged vessels t ...

sponsored by Juan Perón to rescue Nazis from prosecution in Europe.Goñi, ''The Real ODESSA'', p. 113 Given wide powers within the immigration service in Argentina, Lagrou drew up ambitious plans to move as many as 2 million people from Belgium, all either Nazi collaborators or their families. He was also a member of the

Rodolfo Freude Rodolfo Freude (1922–2003) was a close advisor of President Juan Perón of Argentina and served as his director of the Information Division (''División de Informaciones''). Freude, an Argentine citizen of German descent, is suspected of havi ...

-led

División de Informaciones División de Informaciones is a defunct Argentine intelligence agency created by Juan Perón to work within the National Presidential Office. Its director was Rodolfo Freude. It collaborated in the smuggling of Nazi war criminals to Argentina i ...

and in this capacity initiated the cases for resettlement for a number of Nazis.Goñi, ''The Real ODESSA'', p. 175 Lagrou died from cancer in Barcelona, Spain on 1 April 1969.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lagrou, Rene 1904 births 1969 deaths 20th-century Belgian criminals Belgian emigrants to Argentina Flemish lawyers Flemish politicians Nazi propagandists Belgian expatriates in Argentina Belgian expatriates in Spain Belgian propagandists Nazis who fled to Spain People from West Flanders Belgian prisoners sentenced to death Belgian Waffen-SS personnel Deaths from cancer in Spain Nazis sentenced to death in absentia by Belgium