 philip michel frans "filip" dewinter (born 11 september 1962) is a flemish politician in belgium. he is one of the leading members of vlaams belang, a right-wing flemish nationalist and secessionist political party. this party is the ideological and juridical successor of the vlaams blok, which, lacking legal personality, was indirectly condemned and fined for racism in 2004 in a trial against three moral persons that constituted the blok's financial hardware. together with hugo coveliers of the vlott party, dewinter formed a list cartel for the city elections of antwerp on 8 october 2006. ==background of his family== his father was studying medicine at the leuven university during the second world war, when he had to hide, as the threat of being deported by the germans increased. he was nevertheless arrested and already after a few months of imprisonment in bruges, had been deported to germany to work in a munitions factory. he returned, after the war, sick and emaciated and unable to take up his studies again. dewinterâs grandfather on mother's side was a resistance fighter who had been very active in the resistance group, the witte brigade (white brigade), in blankenberge.with the view of harming the image of dewinter in the eyes of part of his electorate, the flemish newspaper de morgen (the morning) made known dewinterâs rather politically correct family origins. later on, dewinter confirmed the resistance of his grandfather and the deportation of his father, including to the flemish jewish magazine joods actueel, to the israeli newspaper haaretz and on his own web site.in an interview with etienne vermeersch, he countered this philosopher on this subject and reminded him of his own father, who had been a member of the vnv (flemish national union) and hence bound by the choice of this political party to co
1962_births Critics_of_Islam Flemish_activists Living_people MEPs_for_Belgium_2009a14 Opposition_to_Islam_in_Europe People_from_Bruges Right-wing_populism Vlaams_Belang_politicians