ABSTRACT
A phenomenon like fascism in Belgium can be measured, and its boundaries marked, in various ways, each leading to quite different conclusions. Under the ideological cover of the great nationalisms predicted by Van Severen, the role of Belgium was revamped step by step, which was to prove fatal. The crisis began late in Belgium and in a less acute form than elsewhere, but was prolonged. Production fell by over a third; unemployment reached its peak at the beginning of 1935. The nazis did not allow the creation of a collaborationist government in Belgium, but insisted on the appointment to major administrative posts of members of VNV and, to a lesser extent, of Rex. Fascism in Belgium, as in other countries, had developed in close association with nationalism in its early phase, but was to be identified with the betrayal of the nation by the end.
