Curate's House Alveringem

Cyriel Verschaeve was a priest and writer, who was already known before the war for his 'blood-and-earth' patriotism. He was curate in the small rural parish of Alveringem, “as far away as possible from the hustle and bustle of modern life”. From being a fiercely nationalist Belgian at the start of the war, by 1918 he had become an advocate of Flemish 'activism' in occupied Belgium. This meant collaborating with the Germans to achieve Flemish objectives.

He set up 'study groups' behind the front to provide the troops with an alternative to drink and women when they were out of the line. He later went on to provide the pro-Flemish Front Movement with an ideology, and the Curate's House became the nerve centre of Flemish intellectual life in the unoccupied zone. It was also the place where the members of the Front Movement met to discuss their grievances and make newsletters for the trenches. It was also here that the famous 'open letter' to King Albert was written in 1917, complaining about language discrimination against the Flemish troops in the Belgian Army. The heavy-handed reaction of the military censors and the influence of German propaganda from the occupied zone led to the radicalization of the movement, resulting in more open conflict with the Belgian authorities. Verschaeve – who was on good terms with several government ministers - was left in relative peace. Even so, Doctor Rubbrecht - the famous surgeon at the L’Océan Hospital - once had to intervene personally with the king to secure Verschaeve's continued protection.

After the war, Verschaeve remained a radical militarist. He had little sympathy with the pacifism of the later IJzer Movement. He fulminated against the 'weakness' of democracy and during the Second World War actually collaborated with the occupying Nazi authorities, helping to recruit volunteers to serve with the SS on the Russian Front. After the war he fled to Austria, where he died in 1949. In 1973, the members of an extreme right-wing militia, the VMO, exhumed his remains and reburied them under a concrete block next to the church in Alveringem.

He set up 'study groups' behind the front to provide the troops with an alternative to drink and women when they were out of the line. He later went on to provide the pro-Flemish Front Movement with an ideology, and the Curate's House became the nerve centre of Flemish intellectual life in the unoccupied zone. It was also the place where the members of the Front Movement met to discuss their grievances and make newsletters for the trenches. It was also here that the famous 'open letter' to King Albert was written in 1917, complaining about language discrimination against the Flemish troops in the Belgian Army. The heavy-handed reaction of the military censors and the influence of German propaganda from the occupied zone led to the radicalization of the movement, resulting in more open conflict with the Belgian authorities. Verschaeve – who was on good terms with several government ministers - was left in relative peace. Even so, Doctor Rubbrecht - the famous surgeon at the L’Océan Hospital - once had to intervene personally with the king to secure Verschaeve's continued protection.

After the war, Verschaeve remained a radical militarist. He had little sympathy with the pacifism of the later IJzer Movement. He fulminated against the 'weakness' of democracy and during the Second World War actually collaborated with the occupying Nazi authorities, helping to recruit volunteers to serve with the SS on the Russian Front. After the war he fled to Austria, where he died in 1949. In 1973, the members of an extreme right-wing militia, the VMO, exhumed his remains and reburied them under a concrete block next to the church in Alveringem.

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