124 - [WORLD WAR II - COLLABORATION IN BELGIUM] - [REXIST PROPAGANDA]

[WORLD WAR II - COLLABORATION IN BELGIUM] - [REXIST PROPAGANDA] From Cherkasy to Brussels: The Triumphant Return of the SS Sturmbrigade "Wallonie" [Brussels, Rexist Information Center / Éditions Rex], 1944 In-4° format, stapled, with a softcover illustrated with a period photomontage. A rare example of military occupation propaganda, reflecting the media heyday of Rexist collaboration in French-speaking Belgium. This propaganda magazine was published in the spring of 1944 to celebrate the parade and the staged return to Brussels of the brigade’s survivors. Deployed on the Eastern Front as part of the Waffen-SS, the unit (politically led by Léon Degrelle) had been almost entirely decimated in February 1944 during the fierce fighting surrounding the encirclement of the Korsun-Cherkassy pocket in Ukraine. Having managed to break out of the Red Army’s lines at the cost of appalling losses, the brigade—and in particular Degrelle, who had been decorated by Hitler—was exploited by the National Socialist propaganda machine and the German occupiers. The event, staged in April 1944 in Brussels just a few months before the Liberation, was intended to rally public opinion and boost volunteer recruitment. The booklet consists almost exclusively of black-and-white photo essays (propaganda shots, a parade through the streets of the capital, official ceremonies, and portraits of the wounded). A raw historical document, bearing witness to the extreme excesses of political and military collaboration in Wallonia. Included is a small poster in perfect condition listing the “allowances and benefits granted to volunteers and their families.” In very good condition