Far-right political party Vlaams Belang has kicked out its member Carrera Neefs after she laid flowers at an SS soldier’s grave on 11 November, which is Armistice Day.
Neefs had shared a photo of her visit to the grave of the Dutch soldier, in Yesselsteyn (the Netherlands) in which she wears a dirndl, a traditional Bavarian and Austrian garment. The soldier, Willem Heubel, joined the SS in 1940 and became a high-ranking officer.
“We are annoyed with the issue,” a Vlaams Belang spokesperson said at the time, while saying that “Neefs was asked by a next of kin who cannot go on her own to lay flowers” and adding that “according to us, everyone has the right to mourn.”
Nevertheless, two and a half weeks later, party leader Tom Van Grieken announced Neefs’ ousting in De Zondag. “Neefs has, unconsciously admittedly, done a great deal of damage to the party,” he said.
Related News
- Outrage after car brandishing Nazi symbols joins Vlaams Belang protest
- Member of extreme-right group performs Hitler salute in Breendonk Nazi prison camp
“Initially, she did not even want to delete her Facebook message,” Van Grieken said. “We then asked her to sign the party charter. She did not want that either.“ As a result, the party's board decided “that her membership will be terminated.”
Neefs previously had to leave right-wing party N-VA after she “voted dissident when it came to the distribution of seats for the police council” by giving her vote to a Vlaams Belang candidate instead of an N-VA candidate, which is “completely against the agreements of the N-VA fraction,” N-VA said.
“As early as the next morning, Carrera Neefs herself publicly announced that she was joining the Vlaams Belang party,” N-VA announced at the time.
Jason Spinks
The Brussels Times
