The complementary pension promised by Nazi Germany compensated the “fidelity, loyalty, and obedience” of collaborators to Hitler. A staggering 38,000 Belgians have continued to receive the pension from the German state since the end of WWII. According to the Belgian press, 27 Belgians continue to receive between €425 and €1,275 per month from the German state.
In 1941, Adolf Hitler guaranteed this so-called loyalty subsidy as a means to compensate those who collaborated with the regime during the occupation. 75 years on from the end of the Second World War, Germany continues to uphold this promise.
On Tuesday, Belgium’s parliament will finally discuss the thorny subject. A cross-party resolution signed by six parliamentarians calls for clarity alongside social and fiscal equity.
The resolution goes on to state that the German Embassy knows the names of the 27 Belgians, but the Belgian state does not. Consequently, the 27 individuals have never been taxed on this additional income.
As a result, the Belgian parliament’s commission on foreign relations will examine the resolution on Tuesday.
In addition to the actual fact that the 27 receive this pension, the Belgian broadcaster RTBF highlighted that the years they spent in Belgian prisons for their collaboration counted as working years. As a result, the longer the sentence, the more significant the pension.
Alvin De Coninck, a researcher for the Remembrance organisation, which groups together survivors and those who escaped concentration camps, told La Libre how he found the evidence that these former collaborators receive between €425 and €1,275 per month.
He went on to explain that those who benefited from the pension were people living in the border region with Germany (Cantons de l’Est) and in Alsace, who acquired German citizenship after the invasion. However, Belgians who joined the Waffen SS during the war also qualified for the pension.
De Coninck highlighted a sadder ironic twist, as Belgians forced to work in Germany during the war only received €50 per month in compensation after the war.
