José Streel

Lucien Alphonse Joseph "José" Streel (14 December 1911 – 21 February 1946) was a Belgian journalist and supporter of Rexism. Streel was an important figure in the early years of the movement, when he was the main political philosopher of Rexism as an ideology. He subsequently became less of a central figure following the German occupation of Belgium during World War II due to his lukewarm attitude towards working with Nazi Germany. Nevertheless, he was executed by Belgium after the war as a collaborator.

Background and early political activities From a Catholic background, Streel took a doctorate in Romance philology at the University of Liège, where he also acted as president of the university's Fellowship of Christian Students. While working as a teacher and academic, Streel joined l'Action Catholique de la Jeunesse Belge in 1930 and whilst in this organisation he became close to Léon Degrelle and Jean Denis.

Throughout his writing Streel argued in favour of fascism, which he described as "something spiritual and mystical".

In keeping with other fascist theorists he was highly critical of rationalism and instead argued that "you must act. The rest will take care of itself". He was fiercely critical of individualism as opposed to group identity, arguing "the individual does not exist in the pure state".

Rexism Streel was appointed editor-in-chief of all the Rexist publications in 1936.

He had reservations about Nazism due to his strong Catholic faith, and was generally not pro-German in outlook.

Having left Rexism, he continued his personal policy of limited collaboration, contributing to journals and radio broadcasts. Condemned by Degrelle as "a little man with too many scruples", he privately felt that co-operating with the Germans was no longer worthwhile, although he would never publicly state these ideas.

Exile and death He eventually fled to Germany in 1944, although he took no political role there and instead worked in a factory. Belgian authorities condemned him to death in absentia but nonetheless he voluntarily re-entered the country after the war and gave himself up. Brought before the Brussels War Tribunal, he was defended by Paul-Henri Spaak and other leading figures and initially his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment with hard labour. A review by the Auditeur Militaire however uncovered an article he had written condemning the Belgian government in exile and reimposed the original sentence.

Streel declared "I regret nothing" and insisted that fascism had been essential for Europe in order to avert disaster. Held at the Ixelles army barracks, he was executed by firing squad on 21 February 1946.

Books of José Streel Streel José, La révolution du XXème siècle (new edition of the book which was published in 1942 by the la NSE in Bruxelles), preface of Lionel Baland, Déterna, Paris, 2010.