Cyriel Verschaeve Cyriel Verschaeve ( 30 April 1874 – 8 November 1949 ) was a noted Flemish - nationalist priest and writer who collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War . He was recognised as the spiritual leader of Flemish nationalism by the ideology ' s adherents . Early years . Born in Ardooie in West Flanders , Belgium to a catholic family , he began training to be a priest at the minor seminary in Roeselare in 1886 , before moving on to Bruges in 1892 to complete his studies . He was finally ordained in 1897 and then continued his studies at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena . Nationalist leader . He returned to Belgium in 1911 to become a parish priest at Alveringem . Whilst here he became involved in the pacifist movement after the outbreak of the First World War . He also was involved in the development of the " Frontbeweging " , a Flemish autonomous group that eventually became the " Frontpartij " . Along with August Borms , Verschaeve was the leading representative of the tendency within the Front Movement that felt Flemish aims might be aided by working with Germany , in contrast to the other wing that felt fighting for Belgium would make the Flemish case easier to advance . On 12 August 1917 Verschaeve penned a second so - called " Open Letter " calling for better rights for beleaguered Flemish servicemen . Following a letter from a month earlier , Verschaeve ' s missive was noted for its more militant language which included an attack on the king for his failure to respond to the first letter . It marked the beginning of a widening gulf between the monarchy and the far right of Flemish nationalism . In 1916 he also became president of a committee that sought to build a memorial to Flemish servicemen . After the war this aims was realised with the building of the IJzertoren memorial , with Verschaeve ceremonially laying the first stone on 7 July 1928 . Second World War . Dismissed as chaplain in 1939 , Verschaeve , who had long been sympathetic to Germany , wrote " Het Uur van Vlaanderen " in 1940 in which he articulated feelings of sympathy amongst the Flemish people for Nazi Germany , especially because of his Romantic admiration for German imperial culture as embodied in Richard Wagner . As a result he was appointed to a Nazi set up body to deal with Flemish culture after the occupation of Belgium . He also became involved with recruitment to the Flemish Legion in 1941 . Verschaeve was convinced the Soviet Union was the greatest danger to peace and culture in Europe , although alongside this anti - communism he became a convinced supporter of Nazism . In 1944 he held a meeting with SS - Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler about the Flemish question , although it achieved little as the Allied advance into Belgium was not far away and Flanders would soon be liberated from Nazi control . Verschaeve told Himmler at this meeting , that while he rejected Nazi paganism , he thought Nazism could become complementary to the salvific message of the Church , as long as it remained political and activist . Until the end of the successful Allied offensive against the Wehrmacht in western Belgium , Verschaeve continued calling upon young Flemish , Catholic , adolescent boys to volunteer in the Waffen - SS foreign legions against Stalin and " Satanic Bolshevism " . Death . He fled to Austria in 1945 and , although condemned to death in absence by a Belgian court , survived there until 1949 when he died of a heart attack at the vicarage of Solbad Hall . He was buried in the Tyrolian town , although in 1973 members of the Vlaamse Militanten Orde dug up his remains and reburied them in Flanders ( in Belgium ) . He remains a celebrated figure amongst the more extreme ends of Flemish nationalism and a symbol of disgraceful Flemish nationalism to French - speaking Catholics . Apologist historians found Verschaeve to be a Neo - Romantic poet who remained consciously ignorant of Nazi tyranny , to avoid crushing his own beliefs in the superiority of Imperial German 19th century culture , which he saw reflected and defended even by Nazi Germany . They also say his extreme fear of the " " roaring Red Russian Lion " " ( communist Soviet Union ) , made him give his consent to acts he would have rejected in normal , peaceful circumstances . Writing . Verschaeve wrote extensively on philosophy , adopting a dramatic , poetic writing style . He was also known as a poet and playwright . As an author he wrote a number of plays dealing with historical and Biblical characters with " Judas " ( 1919 ) and " Maria - Magdalena " ( 1930 ) now widely held to be the best works from a prolific but sketchy output . His major works include :