KING LEOPOLD
WAR ACTIONS DEFENDED
AWAITING PEOPLE’S VERDICT BRUSSELS, Oct. 1. “ I am conscious of having loved my country with all my soul, and of having served it as a man and as King,” said Leopold in a proclamation to the Belgian people from Salzburg. “On the eve of my departure for Switzerland, where I shall await silently the nation’s verdict at the elections, I wish to address you. In all sincerity I have the right to affirm —one day proof will be given you—that the passive resistance which I maintained prevented Belgium from negotiating with a temporarily victorious Germany. I held throughout the occupation to the line of conduct which I decided upon at the time of the capitulation —namely, to refuse to negotiate in any way with the enemy; to do nothing and to allow nothing to be done which could harm the military, political, or economic interests of the noble nations whose armies answered our call.
“ I sent on May, 1940, a letter to the King of England, in which I engaged my honour to this end. I never failed in it.”
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19451003.2.54
Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 25964, 3 October 1945, Page 5
Word Count
185KING LEOPOLD Otago Daily Times, Issue 25964, 3 October 1945, Page 5
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