death_date death_place birth_place other_names nationality ethnicity party article_title name birth_date known_for employer birth_name occupation
1969 barcelona , spain blankenberge , west flanders , belgium reinaldo van groede belgian flemish flemish national union rené lagrou
 rené lagrou 1904 politician , founder of the '' algemeene-ss vlaanderen '' división de informaciones rené lagrou lawyer , immigration officer
rené lagrou

rené lagrou -lrb- 1904 -- 1969 -rrb- was a flemish-belgian politician and collaborator with nazi germany .
originating in west flanders , lagrou worked as a lawyer in antwerp .
lagrou had first came to prominence as a member of the flemish national union .
he published his own journal `` roeland '' , which became increasingly anti-semitic following adolf hitler 's rise to power .
following the german occupation of belgium in world war ii lagrou , along with ward hermans , was the founder of the `` algemeene-ss vlaanderen '' -lrb- from 1942 the `` germaansche ss in vlaanderen '' -rrb- , the flemish ss .
lagrou saw action with the waffen ss on the eastern front and some initial reports erroneously suggested that he had died in battle .
however lagrou had survived and he was captured by the allies in france but managed to escape to spain .
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 .
soon after he was condemned to death `` in absentia '' by the war crimes tribunal in antwerp .
with the possibility of extradition from spain looming lagrou arrived in argentina in july 1947 and adopted the false name reinaldo van groede .
here he became a leading figure in the ratlines sponsored by juan perón to rescue nazis from prosecution in europe .
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 .
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 .
