Proposition 54K2243

Proposition de résolution visant à clarifier et à abroger le régime des pensions octroyées aux anciens collaborateurs militaires belges du régime national-socialiste allemand durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

General information ¶

Authors

DéFI Véronique Caprasse
LE Georges Dallemagne
MR Jean-Jacques Flahaux, Olivier Maingain
PS | SP Stéphane Crusnière, Gwenaëlle Grovonius, Daniel Senesael
Vooruit Alain Top

Submission date

Dec. 22, 2016

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

Germany Second World War tax system resolution of parliament National Socialism war pension scheme

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP DéFI Open Vld MR PVDA | PTB PP

Voted to reject

∉ VB

Abstained from voting

N-VA

Party dissidents ¶

• Peter Luykx (CD&V) abstained from voting.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

March 14, 2019 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mrs Jadin and Mr De Vriendt, rapporteurs, refer to the written report.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to congratulate the presence, at the guest tribune, of the representative of the Memory Group. For today, if we can finally debate this resolution, the merit belongs only to the representatives of this Group, who alerted us, who alerted parliamentarians of all parties.

This is not a party initiative. This is not the initiative of a few parties. It is above all the initiative of those and those who, by their courage during the Second World War, wanted to remind the younger generations – for it is for this purpose that the Memory Group was established by prominent personalities from the resistance spheres, including the Secret Army and other movements – that the testimony of the past is not the search for revenge, but the requirement of a sharp look at realities which, today, may continue to question us.

They took this sharp look because they may not have found sufficient listening from certain authorities in relation to a situation of which the actuality could not be imagined.

We were all impressed that, as a result of this joint parliamentary initiative, the international press, the European press, showed a strong interest. I would say that this is almost the most beautiful tribute of recognition that we can express to the Memory Group: it is to see that today in Europe, several voices in several parliamentary assemblies speak out to question one another, to interpell the authorities, to interpell the German government about what constitutes an immoral practice and, for all to say, quite ignoble. Indeed, those who carried the weapons alongside the Nazi regime by committing themselves by ideology benefit from a retirement, rent regime, which has lasted for decades. It is not a question of "in spite of us" but of those who, by ideology, have chosen to engage voluntarily, sometimes within the Wehrmacht, but more often in the Waffen-SS.

Few political authorities in Europe have paid attention to this regime. This is quite incomprehensible. It is painful to realize that it has taken all this time before, finally, thanks to this work of memory carried out by the Group of the same name, one can now more clearly interpell the German authorities.

I would like to thank my colleagues who took the course of the mission in Berlin to which I could not have joined. I believe that through their work, their inquiries, their relevant questions to a number of German authorities they have met, they have been able to identify not only the administrative process that today allows administrative authorities and, more ⁇ , those of the Land of Rhine-North-Westphalia to assume this anachronism that claims that those who carried arms alongside the Nazi regime benefit from a rental regime.

According to Belgian law, any Belgian who carries weapons against Belgium will be punished with life imprisonment. It constitutes the fact of carrying the weapons against Belgium that of knowingly performing for the enemy combat tasks (transport, work or surveillance) which are normally incumbent on the enemy armies or their services. This is what the Criminal Code says.

It is true that it took time for the German authorities to admit that they were not those who would have been victims, wounded in war. For it has been attempted to make it believed that the German authorities only liquidated retirement regimes to those who would have been war victims and wounded, even if, ⁇ , they had been in the German army and, more ⁇ , those who, due to the annexation of the Belgian territory to the Reich, had been compelled to serve the German army.

The historical truth emerged through the research work of some people. Congratulations to one of the authors of this work.

I allow myself to remind this tribune once and for all that the ideological commitment to the Nazi regime was not a choice of belonging based on a language or culture. There were collaborators in the North, Central and South of the country during the Second World War. It must be recalled with force and lucidity. But ⁇ , in fact, there persists in Flanders, in some circles of nationalist far-right, a survival of what should today be a behavior totally condemned and totally outdated.

The research work carried out by some of the members of the Memory Group has highlighted, in particular, through the documentation collected and a former monthly extreme right-wing Berkenkruis, the fact that it was still possible in the 80s and 90s to make steps with the German authorities to benefit from this pension scheme. There was even a former parliamentary who served as a social office for all former collaborators. Particularly active in these environments, Willy Kuijpers, recognized it in the press. He said, “Come to me, I will make sure that your file ends up with the German authorities.” This work had nothing social and it is shameful to present it like this. Nothing can justify such action!

The historian Frank Seberechts, in his work Drang naar het Oosten, demonstrates, archives supporting, that the volunteers of the Eastern Front were well involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity. Therefore, the argument of the German authorities to claim that they filtered and dismissed the demands of those who allegedly carried the weapons by committing war crimes and crimes against humanity does not hold the way.

After a public protest across Europe, the German Federal Ministry of Labor and the German ambassador to Belgium begin to recognize that it might not be excluded that former Belgian members of the Wehrmacht or the Waffen-SS receive pensions. All of this is no longer acceptable.

This scandalous financial grant for the few accomplices of the collaboration that still benefit from it should be abolished. Moreover, it is not subject to a Belgian tax regime, although I must say that the purpose of this text is not to submit these amounts of rent to it, since it is especially important that they are no longer granted. It is therefore ⁇ appropriate to obtain the abrogation of this system, but it is necessary above all that the duty of memory may be truly fulfilled and that the historical truth may be fully restored.

Similarly, it is important that, by accessing the German State Archives, one can identify those who for decades benefited from this regime, which was instituted by a Hitler decree dating from the Second World War and which was subsequently ⁇ ined by a federal law of 1950. There are probably several hundred former employees who have benefited from this. Victims have the right to know who the victims were.

Per ⁇ the Belgian Justice itself had not, after the war, identified all the ideological collaborators and those who had carried the weapons alongside the Nazi regime to serve it. It may be useful that this work of memory may finally be established in all its truth and that the victims may know the names of their bullies, for that is exactly what they were. Nothing in history can justify that the bullies are recognized by gratification of any kind whatsoever.

Yes, I thank the colleagues of the majority and the opposition who associated themselves with this approach, which will finally know its outcome today. It had been paralyzed for a while, ⁇ by a sublime, little-confessed political game, which was simply aimed at trying to hide or not highlight this dark page of history.

I am delighted that, ⁇ thanks to particular political circumstances, the parliamentary work can finally honour the achievement of this long journey and can finally collectively greet the work undertaken by the Memory Group which has preserved, once again by its invaluable commitment, the honor of our country, that of those who served it during the Second World War. In addition to this, they have served the values that must be affirmed today with even more force, because the nostalgists are never far from being accomplices of those who want to revive the bad pages of history.

Mr. Speaker, dear colleagues, it is obviously important to welcome the work carried out within the framework of this proposal for a resolution, work which, as you have pointed out, is not the work of one of our political groups, but the exceptional work carried out by the Memory Group Herinnering or the citizen group "For Memory for the Future", collectives that bring together survivors or descendants of the Nazi concentration camps, but also citizens committed to the duty of memory.

They highlighted reports that pensions and compensation schemes would be granted to former employees of the German national-socialist regime during World War II. The amounts paid would range between 400 and 1,300 euros. Worse, these payments are net tax.

This shame pension scheme was unveiled on a large scale in 2016, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 71th anniversary of the end of World War II. Thank you again, all of you, citizens mobilized in this framework, for alerting the political world about this regime of which, I think, no one could imagine the existence. For me, it was a real shock.

As my colleague Mr. Maingain pointed out, after the Second World War, several tens of thousands of Belgian citizens were found guilty of collaboration with the enemy and of war crimes by Belgian courts. A number of them, however, would have benefited from the provisions of the Nazi regime granting them German citizenship, including members of the Waffen-SS who became Germans by a decree of 1941. As a result, they have touched and still touch, along with their entitled beneficiaries, a pension of the German State.

Who are they? How many are they? How much do they touch? Why do they touch that money? Since when did they touch it? This text addresses so many legitimate but complex questions. To answer these different questions, we held committee hearings and a parliamentary mission in Berlin last June.

We know, as Mr Maingain recalled, that under German legislation on public services, it is the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia that is competent for the beneficiaries of these pensions who reside in Belgium. Since then, at the end of February 2019, the German Ministry of Labour specified that there were eighteen beneficiaries in Belgium of a German war pension, and that there were no former SS members among them. These beneficiaries would be wounded and war victims, Belgian or non-Belgian, residing in Belgium. This is at least what the German ambassador again stated on the RTL plateau a few weeks ago. However, he did not give further details.

At the same time, it will not escape you, in an article in the newspaper Le Soir du week-end last March 9th, that Germany does not rule out having paid pensions to Belgians who joined the Waffen-SS.

And, for one reason, it would seem to be true that a real social service for these former SS collabos was organized in Belgium. In any case, some elements accrediting this thesis can be found in extracts from the Berkenkruis, a publication edited by an organization with socialist national associations. I will cite some extracts from the edition of the Berkenkruis of July 1970, pages 21 and 22, social service, pension request. It reads the question of a certain A.B., Anversan: “I was born in 1901. My pension number is (...). I have been retired since 1966. In the years 1941/1945, I was engaged in the Waffen-SS and in Belgian prison from 1945 to 1950. The Belgian authorities do not take those years into account when calculating my pension. As a result of this, my pension is reduced to a minimum. What do I need to do to get a full pension?”

In order to obtain a positive review of your pension, it is necessary to re-apply the application to the administration of your municipality where it is necessary to explicitly mention your engagement in the German army, followed by an attestation of the time actually spent in a Belgian prison. In this document, it should also be noted "application to obtain a pension from the Federal Republic of Germany for services rendered to Germany" which, according to German pension legislation, give the right to a pension".

In the face of this information, dear colleagues, our assembly could not do otherwise than grasp this question and try to advance the debate.

First of all, I would like to remind you that with this text, it is absolutely not a community issue or any form of revenge. This is primarily and above all a memory work that is indispensable. This is a scientific and historical work that must be carried out without delay because I think we have already unfortunately waited too much. These are also heavily political and diplomatic issues, it is true, but they must nevertheless be dealt with between our friendly and united countries within the sustainable peace project that is the European Union. This is finally and obviously a work of justice for all the victims of Nazism that we must carry out, there too without waiting, because the victims of Nazism, they, do not receive allowances while the Belgian collaborators receive a pension on which, I have already said, they do not even have to pay taxes.

The work initiated within the framework of our assembly, by this text, has enabled to conduct crucial hearings and conduct this parliamentary mission. As the report of this mission illustrates, our assembly has been able to realize the enormous work of memory which is also carried out by our German neighbors. Therefore, with this text and the follow-up that will be given to it by the Belgian government, our country really has the opportunity to play a pioneering role on this sensitive issue in a Europe that is, today, calmed and pacified. Our initiative has, you said, Mr. Maingain, received many positive echoes through the European and even international press. I myself was interviewed by a Russian television that was interested in this issue. The Belgian initiative has also raised the same issues in several Member States. Several colleagues in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland have thus launched parliamentary initiatives in their respective assemblies.

This text made it possible to formulate clear demands to the government:

First, to request from the authorities of North Rhine-Westphalia all information that can make clear the current and past pensions granted by Germany to former Belgian collaborators of the German national-socialist regime during the Second World War;

Secondly, send to the authorities of North Rhine-North-Westphalia the data concerning Belgian employees and employees of foreign nationality residing in Belgium during the Second World War, convicted in Belgium for acts of collaboration with the Nazi occupier;

Third, to advocate – and it is central – to the German Federal Government the end of the regime of these pensions granted to Belgian employees;

Fourth, to raise awareness in the German Federal Government of this injustice suffered by the victims of Nazism who themselves do not receive benefits while Belgian employees receive this pension on which they do not have to pay taxes;

Fifth, establish a scientific committee to establish the list of beneficiaries of these pensions. This latter point seems to me essential in order to ensure that all light is made on this matter, thanks to the thorough work of specialized scientists with the necessary means.

These concrete demands from the federal state are central to addressing our past, our present, but also to better prepare our future. Because, yes, in the face of such a reality illustrated by this pension system, the political world has the duty to ensure the follow-up and to put an end to the blur, or even to the taboo that has persisted for too long on this issue in our country.

A taboo illustrated by the difficulty we have had, since the deposit of this text, to make it debated and in the end vote, but also to obtain from competent ministers clear answers to the various questions that have been asked to them. A taboo illustrated also by the fact that this system is still today defended by some – like Mr. Willy Kuijpers, member of the N-VA, should we recall it?

I will conclude by reminding that it is the present and future generations that will have to build the world of tomorrow. A world that is increasingly interconnected, mixed and mixed. A world of extreme wealth, but which, through the excesses, caricatures and nationalisms of a few, can unfortunately always fall into the dangerous crossroads of self-reliance, populism and ideologies exacerbated by a deep socio-economic crisis and crying inequalities.

The future of the European ideal of peace and cooperation between our peoples rests in particular on such a voluntary work of memory to ensure that the "Never More That!" is not just a slogan, but truly a motor for bringing our peoples together in a common project, away from the horrors of which our continent was originally.

The dialogue between our States and scientific work are also key to allowing us to move forward together in this direction.

It is not by covering our faces over this past that we will move forward, but on the contrary. Therefore, the demands made in this proposal aim to restore this memorial justice in accordance with the historical and moral commitments of the founders of Europe, of which Belgium and Germany have been resolutely part since the beginning.

A topic like this ⁇ deserves to be addressed. Six or seven months ago, we had a discussion in the Foreign Relations Committee on highlighting this extremely disturbing situation in the head of the German state and even more disturbing to see unbearable in the head of the political leaders and those who have endured these sufferings.

Our reflection was animated by what the Memory Group ⁇ to us. I welcome the initiative of my colleague Olivier Maingain. We recognized the need to distinguish between people who were forcibly recruited by German troops – they were very numerous in my area – and people who voluntarily chose to betray our country. This distinction is essential to us.

It would still remain in 2019, according to the information we have, between twenty and thirty beneficiaries of this system. It is therefore crucial to obtain their name from the authorities of the Land of North Rhine-North-Wesphalia. This is a request that a parliamentary delegation has submitted to the competent authorities in Berlin. We want this obligation to be fulfilled. They assured us of their collaboration, while naturally requesting that certain provisions in terms of privacy protection be respected. Nevertheless, all information must be ⁇ to the authorities of our country responsible for these issues.

During this mission, in order to cross the data, we communicated the list of convicted Belgian employees. We also expressed the desire to ⁇ the full abolition of this pension system by the German federal government. Furthermore, I would like to clarify that these pensions are outside of a tax regime and that they are paid to individuals who have become guilty of war crimes or even crimes against humanity. This is obviously something we will never accept.

In conclusion, the MR group would like to emphasize the absolutely immoral nature of this pension.

We strongly call on the Federal Republic of Germany to implement the system we advocate in our resolution. We would like to work in full transparency with the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia to ensure this proper exchange of information. We also consider implementing all leverages to ⁇ this.

It is important. This goes beyond symbolism. This is a question that every Democrat in this country must agree on. It is a duty of memory that we all have in this hall, dear colleagues. It is a moral obligation that we owe ourselves and that we owe to all those who fought for us, for this democracy that we all live and cherish here in this homicide.

Mr. Speaker, colleagues, when I heard a little three years ago the relay of the Reminder Group, some members of which are present here, about the payment of pensions by Germany to compatriots who were convicted of collaboration during World War II, I couldn’t believe my ears.

Could this still happen 70 years after the end of World War II? Was this injustice to the many victims of World War II still possible? Was this still not corrected? Were all the peace negotiations and treaties concluded after this terrible war not sufficient to correct this?

Two years later, this story was confirmed, after many conversations with people from the Remembrance Group and with specialists, and after a visit of a delegation and a parliamentary committee to Berlin.

What is revealed? By a Hitler decree of 1941, compatriots who were members of the Waffen-SS were granted German nationality. This resulted in the recognition of the subsequent pensions. Later, the many Hitler decrees underwent a denazification and the decree was repealed by the Potsdam Accords. Only those Potsdam Agreements were never recognized by the Government of the Federal Republic.

Who exactly is on the list of beneficiaries could and can still not be outdated. The drafting of this resolution is a good initiative to finally, after so many years, come to a correct representation of who receives compensation from Germany and for what reason they receive it. There is still a wave of secrecy around these files, which, according to the Reminder Group, ⁇ ins a system of insulting the memory of those who have served the Belgian homeland.

The arrangement also affects the understanding between the European peoples.

For these reasons, it seems to us, the presenters of the resolution, that this form of injustice should at least be given a political signal in honour of the many compatriots who have suffered under the occupation and of all who have given their lives for our homeland. For this reason, together with the members who submit the resolution, we ask the authorities of North Rhine-Westphalia who manage the files of pensions paid to Belgian citizens to clarify whether they are provided to people who were convicted for acts of collaboration with the regime of the Nazi occupier during the Second World War.

If such pensions are still being paid out, it does not seem more than logical to us that the German government will put an end to them. I cannot imagine – I suspect this is true for most of us – that we can continue to tolerate that citizens receive compensation – in this case, continue to receive compensation – for acts they deliberately carried out for an occupier and for which they were convicted, while victims of Nazism were not compensated.

I end with a word of thanks to all colleagues for their efforts and for the cooperation around the present resolution to address this injustice.

Mr. Speaker, I will be brief, because the colleagues who spoke for me have already fully explained history. For the sake of my group, I would like to congratulate Mr Maingain.

We also find it impossible for people who reside in Belgium and have contributed to the deportation of people to concentration camps to receive compensation for this. Germany thinks so too. Mr Maingain, with your initiative we will be able to help Germany a little. That is the essence.

In the committee we proposed an amendment to not attempt to modify the German law, which was the proposal of Mr. Maingain, but to unconditionally forward the lists that the Belgian authorities have of collaborators who reside in our country, who are still alive and receive a pension, to the German authorities, so that we can work faster.

Colleagues, speed is important here because two years ago there were still 27 people alive and today there are still 22. Mr Maingain, we have proposed that, so that your resolution could still get implemented and could have an effect. I am pleased that the committee unanimously accepted that amendment and that we will be able to proceed to the vote on this resolution soon. Hopefully the government, including a government in ongoing affairs, can quickly take action to forward those lists to the German authorities.

I will also be brief. I think my colleagues have already broadly explained the reasons why this resolution is important. I would also like to greet here the representatives of the Memory Group who have allowed us to look again at this old question. For 70 years, tens or maybe hundreds of Belgians who collaborated with the Nazi regime probably received pensions while they were part of, in particular, the Waffen-SS. This is actually totally rebellious. It took all this time before we could look at this issue, begin to clarify it and try to abolish these pensions. This is also extremely rebellious.

I welcome the work done and the dialogue work that began with the German authorities. I am also pleased that this mission in Berlin was able to take place. I would like to thank my colleague Michel de Lamotte who was part of this mission for our group.

I think we are only at the beginning of the truth on this issue. We know that of the 900,000 Waffen-SS still alive after the war, 200,000 resided abroad. In 1998, 20,000 Waffen-SS residents abroad still received pensions from Germany as former fighters. This problem was largely underestimated by the Länder authorities or by the German federal authorities. We hope that a serious work will finally be done by Germany, in collaboration with the various governments concerned, to shed full light on those who would still receive pensions today, but also on the whole phenomenon. It is important to document precisely what has happened for so many years in our country.

This work and this resolution are ⁇ important when we know the resurgence of certain nostalgic currents in Europe: not only in Belgium, but also in other countries. We must remember all the horror that this regime has been, the threat it has made to weigh on the whole world. This resolution has already produced its effects, as Mr. Maingain said, since European media have taken advantage of it. The German government acknowledged that the problem was probably underestimated and much more important than it had said.

I proposed to the committee to extend the scope of the resolution so that it does not only apply to Belgians but also to persons who would have been convicted in Belgium. This proposal was adopted by the Commission. I have again submitted here in plenary amendments that I would call technical, because it turned out that we worked a little faster.

We changed the arrangement, the request no. 2, but other elements in the text should have also been amended or supplemented by indicating after the word "Belgium" the words "or condemned in Belgium". These amendments were co-signed by various groups that participated in the work on this resolution.

Again, I am delighted that we can adopt this text, I hope with a very large majority. Indeed, it is important to check the state of the situation, but also to carry out a work of memory and documentation on what seems ⁇ scandalous when it comes to allowances given to bullies while, at the same time, people who had been victims here in Belgium received absolutely no recognition or compensation.

I am surprised by what is happening here. The fact that one votes on a resolution in a government of ongoing affairs is in itself a peculiarity. Therefore, since the fall of the government, my group has always refrained from resolutions.

No one here denies that the Nazi regime was an inhuman and murderous regime. However, if I hear that a respectable and very social man like Willy Kuijpers is even taken by the shortage for a moment, then I have a problem with that.

For decades, the Flemish Movement has had the opportunity – I think the Flemish Movement has even been a long-seeking party for this – to settle the whole problem that has to do with the Second World War, with repression, with purification, in globo. It has always been denied primarily from a French-speaking angle, from a socialist angle.

We are one of the countries that have failed to process that past. Therefore, even someone like Luc Huyse, from a socialist angle, speaks of an unworked past. On the last page of his book he clearly points out the responsibility of the socialist family on both sides of the language boundary and mainly south of the language boundary.

One has never wanted to provide a pacification for all those horrible things that happened after World War II.

Now, after eighty years, one comes to an end with one file, a symbolic file, and that is about twenty people who are now at least crude nineties, but I find that at some point the fabric of history has fallen.

The fact that there is a reminder of what happened at that moment is good. The cloth of history has then fallen. At that point, history is the work of historians and no longer of politicians.

We do not cooperate with such a symbolic policy and symbolic resolutions for matters that could have been arranged globally for decades in order to reach a pacification of what happened after World War II, which was then refused to do. Normally, my group abstains from voting on resolutions in front of a government in ongoing affairs, but we will vote against the present resolution because it really does symbolic politics.