Throughout the 1930s, the small European country of Belgium struggled to continue its recovery from the German occupation of World War I. The country was not immune to the effects of the 1929 Great Depression, and its unemployment in 1932 stood at nearly twenty-four percent. But by 1937, Belgium finally began to see signs of economic recovery. Could it be wishful thinking for citizens to expect peaceful years going forward?
As Belgium suffered so much damage during World War I, it was no surprise that the country wanted no part in future European conflicts. King Leopold III announced Belgium’s neutrality in October 1936.
In 1937, less than a year later, this guarantee of neutrality was sent from Nazi Germany.
The German Government considers that the inviolability and integrity of Belgium are common interests of the Western Powers. It confirms its determination that in no circumstances will it impair this inviolability and integrity and that it will at all times respect Belgian territory…
__German guarantee of neutrality, October 13, 1937
However, in September 1939, just two short years later, when war was declared between the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, the Belgian government began to increase its national defenses in Liege and Antwerp near the German border as a precaution, having dealt with Germany before.
When Germany invaded Poland in the same month, Belgium became quite suspicious of Germany’s intentions, and began to increase its army up to 650,000 men, nearly twenty percent of the male population of Belgium.
Despite being neutral at the start of World War II, Belgium found itself at war when the country was invaded by German forces on May 10, 1940. So much for Germany’s guarantee of neutrality. After only eighteen days of fighting, in which Belgian forces were pushed into a corner in the northeastern part of the country, the Belgian army surrendered to the Germans. The prime minister of Belgium, Hubert Pierlot, fiercely resented the personal decision to surrender made by King Leopold III, as did the French Prime Minister, Paul Reynaud. Leopold III stayed in Belgium under house arrest for most of the next four years, while Pierlot and the existing Belgian government went into exile and continued its military action for the Allies with many Belgians who managed to escape to the United Kingdom.
Thus began nearly five years of German occupation and oppression throughout Belgium, the second time they had been forcibly occupied by Germany in the twentieth century.