At the time of the German invasion in May 1940, Belgium had several political parties that were broadly sympathetic to the authoritarian and anti-democratic ideals represented by Nazi Germany. In Wallonia and Brussels, the largest of these groups was the Rexist Party, led by Léon Degrelle. This had originated as a faction of the mainstream Catholic Block, but split in 1935 to form an independent populist party. Ideologically, Rex supported Belgian nationalism, but its support for corporatism and anti-communism made it sympathetic towards aspects of Nazi ideology. It achieved some early success, peaking at the elections of 1936 in which it received 11.5 percent of the national vote, but experienced a decline in the following years before the German invasion and remained marginal. After the Belgian surrender on 28 May 1940, a German Military Administration was created to govern the occupied territory. Preferring a strategy of indirect rule, the administration preferred to work with established Belgian political and social elites, largely ignoring fringe political groups such as the Rexists. In order to acquire more influence and German support, Rex attempted to bring itself closer to the occupation authorities. On 1 January 1941, Degrelle announced Rex's total support for the occupation authorities and for the policy of collaborationism and its political influence in German circles rose after the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.
Rex and the Belgian Resistance
Over following years, especially after 1943, Rex consolidated its control over local government in German-occupied Wallonia and an increasing number of party members were installed as burgomasters with German support. This was particularly true in the industrial region around Charleroi and La Louvière where the party even developed their own paramilitary units. However, the deterioration of the German military position on the Eastern Front emboldened the Belgian Resistance which were also active among communist and socialist workers in the same region. Assassinations of Rexist officials became common, especially in Charleroi where two Rexist burgomasters would be assassinated during the conflict. These attacks sparked retaliation by Rexist militias against civilians and suspected resistance sympathisers, often with tacit approval of the German authorities, and these escalated after the Normandy Landings in June 1944. It has been argued that by the end of the German occupation, "Rex was essentially caught up in a process of local civil war."
Massacre
Oswald Englebin was a Rexist party member who became the party's second burgomaster in Charleroi after the assassination of Prosper Teughels in November 1942. On 17 August 1944, Englebin was assassinated together with his wife and son as they returned to their house in the suburb of Trazegnies. As his vehicle passed through the Rognac neighbourhood of Courcelles, unknown resistance members opened fire on the vehicle killing all its occupants except a gendarme. The attack happened as the Allied forces in France were nearing the Belgian frontier and sparked reprisals against civilians in the region. News of the attack reached Rexist officials shortly afterwards and sparked violent reprisals. Two civilians were murdered by Rexist militias shortly afterwards and the night of 17–18 August there were numerous arrests and killings in the Courcelles region, where three more civilians were killed. The Courcelles massacre itself occurred at dawn on 18 August when 21 civilians rounded up in Courcelles the previous day were taken to a cellar nearby; 19 of them were killed. The victims were local notables, including lawyers, engineers, doctors, and police officials. The killings were supervised by leading party members, including the party's leader Victor Matthys and his eventual successor Louis Collard, as well as the regional leader Joseph Pévenasse.
Aftermath
Belgium was liberated by Allied forces in September 1944 and the pursuit of Nazi collaborators began. It was estimated that the Courcelles massacre involved 150 perpetrators of whom 97 were identified. 80 were arrested in the following months and tried. 27 of these were sentenced to death and executed on 10 November 1947. The Courcelles massacre remains the most famous example of collaborationist reprisals against the civilian population in Belgium and is commemorated by several memorials in the local area.
