Paul Colin (1895 – 8 April 1943) 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 language ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, famous as the leading journalist and editor of the Rexist

collaborationist Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime. As historian Gerhard Hirschfeld says, it "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to the 19th ...

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 World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. 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,

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

and

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

. Colin founded a literary magazine entitled '' L’Art libre'' in Brussels in 1919 and edited it until 1922.

1930s

In the 1930s, Colin became fascinated by extreme-right movements, both

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

and

nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

. In September 1939, Colin, along with

Robert Poulet Robert Poulet (4 September 1893 – 6 October 1989) 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 o ...

Pierre Daye Pierre Daye (24 June 1892, Schaerbeek, Belgium – 24 February 1960, Buenos Aires, Argentina) was a Belgian journalist and Nazi collaborator. As supporter of the Rexist Party, Daye exiled himself to Juan Peron's Argentina after World War I ...

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 Charles Spaak (; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman who thrice served as the prime minister of Belgium and later as the second secretary general of NATO. Nicknam ...

, a socialist minister at the time, was the secret sponsor of the manifesto.

1940s

In 1940, after Belgium was

occupied ' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, Colin founded the Nazi propaganda newspaper ''Le Nouveau Journal.'' The first edition appeared on 1 October of that year. One of Colin's associates,

, had in the meantime secretly met

King Leopold III Leopold III (3 November 1901 – 25 September 1983) was King of the Belgians from 23 February 1934 until his abdication on 16 July 1951. At the outbreak of World War II, Leopold tried to maintain Belgian neutrality, but after the German invasio ...

's private secretary, Count Capelle, and obtained 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 may refer to: Politics * ''L'Ordine Nuovo'' (''The New Order''), a socialist newspaper edited by Antonio Gramsci in the early 1920s * ''New Order in East Asia'', propaganda term for Japanese-dominated East Asia announced by Japanese ...

". In 1943, various members of the

Belgian Resistance The Belgian Resistance (, ) collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Within Belgium, resistance was fragmented between many ...

, led by Marcel Demonceau, hatched the plan to kill both Colin and the Rexist leader

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 ...

. In 1943, Colin was shot dead by a member of this Resistance group, 19-year-old

Arnaud Fraiteur Arnaud Fraiteur was a Belgian resistance fighter. He was born in Ixelles on 23 May 1924 and died on 10 May 1943 in Fort Breendonk. He was hanged by the Germans for assassinating the Belgian collaborator Paul Colin. Before the war Born into an ...

. The attempt on the life of Degrelle failed because Demonceau was arrested at his hiding-place in

Ixelles (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Pentagon (Brussels), Brusse ...

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", who claimed to be a Canadian airman; the infiltrator's real name was

Prosper Dezitter Prosper Dezitter, also known as Prosper de Zitter, alias "the man with the missing finger" (19 September 1893 – 17 September 1948) was a Belgian collaborator with Nazi Germany during World War II. Dezitter was born in Passendale on 19 Septembe ...

. He might have helped plan the slaying of Colin in order to gain Demonceau's confidence and thus net as many Resistance 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 is a village in the municipality of Puurs-Sint-Amands in the province of Antwerp, Belgium, with a population of 3,000, halfway between Brussels and Antwerp. History Its name stems from the medieval ''Bredene Dunc,'' which translates as ...

. After the war, Dezitter was arrested in Germany, extradited, condemned to death, and shot by a firing squad at Ixelles on 17 September 1948.

References

Bibliography

*''"La peinture belge depuis 1830.''" Brussels, Editions des cahiers de Belgique,1930 *''"Édouard Manet"'', Paris, Floury, 1932 *''"La Peinture européenne au XIXieme siècle: le Romantisme''", id., 1935.

External links

How le Nouveau Journal was started. (in French)

A book on Paul Colin. (in French)

Prosper Dezitter, our own people in the Gestapo (in Dutch)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colin, Paul 20th-century Belgian journalists 1895 births 1943 deaths Belgian male journalists People from Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Assassinated Nazis Assassinated journalists Belgian fascists Belgian Nazi propagandists Deaths by firearm in Belgium Assassinated Belgian people People murdered in Belgium Belgian civilians killed in World War II Belgian magazine founders Belgian magazine editors Executed Belgian collaborators with Nazi Germany People assassinated in the 20th century