Piet Vermeylen

Piet Vermeylen

Piet Vermeylen (8 April 190430 December 1991, also called Pierre Vermeylen by some Belgian French sources), was a Belgian lawyer, and Belgian Socialist politician and minister. He was the son of the Flemish politician August Vermeylen.

Early life

In 1924, Piet was one of the founders of a Flemish study group at the Université libre de Bruxelles. In 1933, Vermeylen was one of the judges at the London Counter-trial of the Reichstag fire. In 1938, together with Henri Storck and André Thirifays, he founded the Cinematheque Royale de Belgique.

Political career

After his father's death, Piet succeeded him in the Flemish socialist politics of Brussels. Notwithstanding what German occupiers had done to his father, he vehemently protested the execution of Flemish collaborationist August Borms. From 1947 to 1949, he was Minister for Internal Affairs. He again became a minister for Internal affairs in 1954 and for four years had to defend the secularist school policies of the Liberal-Socialist coalition under Prime Minister Achille Van Acker in the face of Roman Catholic opposition, at one time controversially forbidding Belgian Radio to report on a large-scale demonstration against the new school laws proposed by Education minister Leo Collard.

From 1961 to 1965 he was Belgian Justice minister under Théo Lefèvre. In 1961 he proposed the first law on amnesty for those who had collaborated with Nazi Germany during the second world war. In April 1964, after unsuccessfully trying to soften the wrath of many Belgian doctors over a speech by the Prime Minister and so preventing the ensuing notorious "doctors' strike", he lent his support to the civil mobilization of all hospital doctors and of doctors who were members of the Belgian reserve army.

When in 1968, French-speaking socialist politicians in Brussels (led by Henri Simonet) arranged the Brussels party list to ensure Piet Vermeylen, Hendrik Fayat and other Flemish socialist politicians from Brussels, Halle and Vilvoorde were virtually unelectable, Vermeylen took the unprecedented step of splitting the party and forming a rival Brussels Flemish Socialist Party, called "Red Lions". After his surprise re-election, he became the first Belgian Minister of Dutch Language Education in the new government, led by Christian Social Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens. When armies of the Warsaw pact invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968, Vermeylen, who was secretly visiting Brno as a simple tourist, barely managed to escape to Austria. He stayed on as a minister until 1972, and soon after quit active politics. In 1984, he wrote an autobiography.

Bibliography

* "Een Gulzig Leven", Kritak, January 1984. ISBN 9789063031329

ource

* [http://www.briobrussel.be/assets/andere%20publicaties/august%20vermeylen.pdf Vermeylenfonds history]

External links

* [http://www.cegesoma.be/media%5Cchtp_beg%5Cchtp16%5C003_schrijvers_chtp16.pdf The doctors' strike in 1964]
* [http://www.vub.ac.be/phd/verdedigingen2006/200603101a.pdf The Red Lions as the start of the split in the Belgian Socialist party]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Piet Vermeylen — Piet (Pierre) Vermeylen (* 8. April 1904; † 30. Dezember 1991) war ein belgischer sozialistischer Politiker. Biografie Der Sohn des flämischen Schriftstellers und Politikers August Vermeylen studierte nach dem Schulbesuch Rechtswissenschaft an… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Vermeylen — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: August Vermeylen (1872–1945), flämischer Schriftsteller, Literaturkritiker, Kunsthistoriker und Politiker Piet Vermeylen (1904–1991), belgischer sozialistischer Politiker Diese Seite ist eine …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • August Vermeylen — August Vermeylen, né à Bruxelles le 12 mai 1872 et mort à Uccle le 10 janvier 1945, est un homme politique, historien de l art et écrivain belge d expression néerlandaise. Il est aussi le père du ministre d État Piet Vermeylen …   Wikipédia en Français

  • August Vermeylen — (1872–1945) was a Belgian writer and literature critic. In 1893 he founded the journal Van Nu en Straks (E: today and tomorrow). He studied history a the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), and became a professor of literature and of art history …   Wikipedia

  • Тириар, Жан — Жан Франсуа Тириар (фр. Jean François Thiriart, 22 марта 1922 23 ноября 1992) бельгийский политик националист, геополитик, представитель идеологии «Третьего пути» или «Третьей позиции». Содержание 1 Биография 2 …   Википедия

  • Rode Leeuwen — Les Rode Leeuwen (« Lions rouges ») ont constitué entre 1968 et 1978 une première scission entre socialistes flamands et francophones dans l arrondissement de Bruxelles Hal Vilvorde avant celle, définitive, du Parti socialiste belge… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Minister of Justice (Belgium) — This is the list of Belgian ministers of Justice. Contents 1 List of ministers 1.1 1831 1899 1.2 1900 1999 1.3 2000– List …   Wikipedia

  • Minister of State (Belgium) — The Minister of State (Dutch: Minister van Staat) is an honorary title in Belgium. It is formally granted by the Belgian monarch, but on the initiative of the Belgian federal government. It is given on a personal basis, for life rather than for a …   Wikipedia

  • Nekrolog 1991 — Nekrolog ◄ | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | ► | ►► Weitere Ereignisse | Nekrolog (Tiere) | Filmjahr 1991 Dies ist eine Liste im Jahr 1991 verstorbener… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Staatsminister (Belgien) — Der Titel Staatsminister (niederländisch: Minister van Staat, französisch: Ministre d Etat) ist in Belgien ein reiner Ehrentitel ohne jegliche finanzielle Vergütung, der Politikern auf Lebenszeit verliehen wird, die dem Staat besondere Dienste… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”