René Lagrou

René Lagrou
Born (1904-04-15)April 15, 1904
Blankenberge, West Flanders, Belgium
Died April 1, 1969(1969-04-01) (aged 64)
Barcelona, Spain
Nationality Belgian
Other names Reinaldo van Groede
Occupation Lawyer, immigration officer
Employer División de Informaciones
Known for Politician, founder of the Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen
Political party Flemish National Union

René Lagrou (1904–1969) was a Flemish-Belgian politician and collaborator with Nazi Germany.

Originating in West Flanders, Lagrou worked as a lawyer in Antwerp.[1] Lagrou had first came to prominence as a member of the Flemish National Union.[2] He published his own journal Roeland, which became increasingly anti-Semitic following Adolf Hitler's rise to power.[3] Following the German occupation of Belgium in World War II Lagrou, along with Ward Hermans, was the founder of the Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen (from 1942, the Germaansche SS in Vlaanderen), a Flemish political faction supported by the SS.[2]

Lagrou saw action with the Waffen SS on the Eastern Front and some initial reports erroneously suggested that he had died in battle.[2] However Lagrou had survived and he was captured by the Allies in France but managed to escape to Spain.[4]

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 and Pierre Daye.[5] Soon after he was condemned to death in absentia by the war crimes tribunal in Antwerp.[4]

With the possibility of extradition from Spain looming, Lagrou arrived in Argentina in July 1947 and adopted the false name Reinaldo van Groede.[4] Here he became a leading figure in the ratlines sponsored by Juan Perón to rescue Nazis from prosecution in Europe.[6] 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.[6] He was also a member of the Rodolfo Freude-led División de Informaciones and in this capacity initiated the cases for resettlement for a number of Nazis.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Dan Mikhman, Belgium and the Holocaust: Jews, Belgians, Germans, Berghahn Books, 1998, p. 176
  2. 1 2 3 David Littlejohn, The Patriotic Traitors, London: Heinemann, 1972, p. 155
  3. ↑ Mikhman, Belgium and the Holocaust, p. 172
  4. 1 2 3 Uki Goñi, The Real ODESSA, London: Granta Books, 2003, p. 112
  5. ↑ Goñi, The Real ODESSA, p. 89
  6. 1 2 Goñi, The Real ODESSA, p. 113
  7. ↑ Goñi, The Real ODESSA, p. 175

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