Vlaamse Militanten Orde
| Order of Flemish Militants | |
|---|---|
| Vlaamse Militanten Orde | |
 |
|
| Also known as | "Flemish Militants Organisation" |
| Country | Flanders, Belgium |
| Leader(s) |
Bob Maes (1949–70) Bert Eriksson (1971–83) |
| Foundation | 1949 |
| Dissolved | 1983 |
| Succeeded by |
Odal Group Voorpost |
| Ideology | Flemish nationalism |
| Major actions | |
| Status | Banned/Inactive |
The Order of Flemish Militants (Dutch: Vlaamse Militanten Orde or VMO) – originally the Flemish Militants Organisation (Vlaamse Militanten Organisatie) – was a Flemish nationalist activist group in Belgium defending far-right interests by propaganda and political action. Established in 1949, they helped found the People's Union (Dutch: Volksunie or VU) in 1954, a Belgian political party. The links between the extremist VMO and the VU lessened as the party moved towards the centre. In later decades the VMO would become linked to neo-Nazism and a series of paramilitary attacks on immigrants and leftists before disappearing by the late 1980s.
In the years following the end of World War II, Flemish nationalists often fell victim in anti-Nazi rallies, manifestations and riots because of their anti-Belgicism and because the entire Flemish movement was discredited by military, political and economic collaboration with the Germans during World War II. The only outlets for organised Flemish nationalism were charitable groups dedicated to war veteran care or the Christian People's Party which, whilst not avowedly nationalist, did have a significant separatist wing.
However the VMO was founded in 1949 by Bob Maes, as part of a wave of Flemish nationalist groups that emerged that year, including Vlaamse Concentratie (Flemish Concentration, VC). VMO was in fact initially established as a steward group for the VC. The group sought the creation of an independent Flanders. Soon, the VMO started expanding and turned into a full-size paramilitary organization, a state within the state. Between 1950 and 1970, the VMO was heavily criticized but nevertheless tolerated by the Belgian Department of Justice. On 14 December 1953 however, 16 individual VMO members were convicted for the possession of forbidden weapons earlier that year. The VMO itself was not convicted (since it was impossible back then to prosecute a group on penal grounds, only individuals).
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