“The years spent in Belgian prisons for acts of collaboration counted for years of work. The longer the prison stay, the greater the pension affected”, storms the RTBF.
The Foreign Relations Committee of the Belgian House of Representatives voted unanimously on Tuesday, February 20 (but in the absence of the Flemish nationalists) for a proposal aimed at pleading with the German government for the end of a pension scheme in force since 1941 and taken over by the RFA in 1949.
“Seventy-five years after the Second World War, 27 Belgians still receive a supplementary pension from Berlin for ‘fidelity, loyalty and obedience’ (to the Third Reich). This is what Adolf Hitler himself guaranteed them in 1941”. abstract The morning.
If the objective is to put an end through diplomatic channels to the granting of these pensions, indicates The eveningthe resolution will enable the Belgian government “to request the list of beneficiaries”, so far known only to the German authorities and in particular to the German Embassy in Brussels. The names of the beneficiaries “are still not transmitted to the Belgian State. Therefore, they were never taxed” by the Belgian tax authorities, continues the RTBF referring to pensions ranging from 425 to 1,275 euros. Amounts much higher than those of the compensation paid by Germany to deportees and compulsory workers, around fifty euros per month, according to Free.
“In the event of persistent refusal from Germany, the new Chamber resulting from the (federal) elections of May 26 should reclaim the file”, precise Sightings.
“After the war, approximately 80,000 Belgian citizens were found guilty of collaboration with the enemy and war crimes by the Belgian courts”,
remember The evening. “Around 38,000 people have received this supplementary pension”, add Free. “The situation is the same in the UK, where former SS also receive pensions directly from the German Länder without these amounts being taxed or communicated to the British authorities”, also wrote the Belgian deputies behind the resolution.