Rexist Party
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Rexist Party
Parti Rexiste |
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|---|---|
| Leader | Léon Degrelle |
| Founder | Jean Denis |
| Founded | November 2, 1935 |
| Dissolved | March 30, 1945 |
| Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
| Newspaper | Le Pays Réel |
| Paramilitary wing | Walloon Legion |
| Ideology |
Belgian nationalism Political Catholicism Corporatism Authoritarianism Clerical fascism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| International affiliation | None |
| Flemish counterpart | Flemish National Union |
| Colors | Red, Black |
| Party flag | |
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The Rexist Party (French: Parti Rexiste), or simply Rex, was a far-right Catholic, nationalist, authoritarian and corporatist political party active in Belgium from 1935 until 1945. The party was founded by a journalist, Léon Degrelle, and, unlike other fascist parties in the Belgium of the time, advocated Belgian unitarism and royalism. Initially the party ran in both Flanders and Wallonia but never achieved much success outside Wallonia and Brussels. Its name was derived from the Roman Catholic journal and publishing company Christus Rex (Latin for Christ the King).
The high point of Rex saw it win 21 of 202 deputies (with 11.4% of the vote) and twelve senators in the 1936 election. Never a mass movement, it was on the decline by 1938. During the German occupation of Belgium in World War II, Rex was the largest collaborationist group in French-speaking Belgium, paralleled by the Vlaams Nationaal Verbond (VNV) in Flanders. By the end of the war Rex was widely discredited, and was banned following the liberation.
Initially modelled on Italian Fascism and Spanish Falangism, it later drew closer to German Nazism. The Party espoused a "right-wing revolution" and the dominance of the Catholic Church in Belgium, but its ideology came to be vigorously opposed by the leader of the Belgian Church Cardinal van Roey, who called Rexism a "danger to the church and to the country".
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