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Paul MG Lévy

Paul Michel Gabriel Baron Lévy (November 27, 1910 – August 16, 2002) was a Belgian journalist and professor. He was born in Brussels and was a Holocaust survivor . He worked for many years as Director of Information at the Council of Europe , helping to create the Flag of Europe in the 1950s in collaboration with Arsène Heitz .

Early career

Before the war, Levy directed the information services of the Belgian national broadcaster, the National Institute of Broadcasting (INR). Under the occupation, he refused to collaborate with the German-backed radio and was sacked and arrested. He was sentenced to Fort Breendonk , a German prison camp near Mechelen . Released in 1941, he was placed under surveillance by the German authorities in Brussels, but succeeded in escaping to Britain via the Zero Network in July 1942 where he joined Antoine Delfosse, Minister and Commander of the Liberation Army (AL) the main resistance group. He served alongside Delfosse in the Ministry of Justice of the Belgian Government in London. He also spoke on Radio Belgium , the French and Dutch language radio station of the BBC broadcast to occupied Belgium. His main work, HOWEVER, Was in the Belgian Commission for the Study of post-war problems ( „Belgian Commission of study of post-war problems“), in qui he founded Mission Samoyed qui planned to set up radio broadcasting in Belgium soon after the liberation. Following the invasion of Europe by the Allies , he returned to the continent working as an interpreter and press officer alongside General Henning Linden . His coverage included the release of Dachau concentration camp . [1]

After the Liberation, and despite having Socialist leanings, he worked for the new Belgian Democratic Union (UDB-BDU) party. In 1946, he was elected deputy for the Nivelles region as the only successful candidate of the UDB-BDU. He resigned to return to radio work.

He is said to have invented the neologism Irénologie which is the French term for the study of Peace .

Later life

Council of Europe

Levy HAD converted to Catholicism in July 1940. In 1950, he joined the staff of Winston Churchill ’s newly Established Council of Europe and est devenu the first Chief of Department of Culture icts. [2]

Flag

Lévy had to sort through the propositions of the author Arsène Heitz ‚proposal for a circle of stars . [3]

According to an anecdote published in 1998 in Die Welt , Lévy passed a statue of the Virgin Mary with a halo of stars and stars, reflecting the sun, glowing against the blue of the sky. Lévy later visited Leon Marchal , the then Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and suggested that he should propose twelve golden stars on a blue ground as the motive for the flag of Europe. [4]

The article is published in The Economist Awarded a statement to Heitz, in which he claims to be inspired by Revelations 12: 1. [5] Levy has stated that he was only informed of the connection to the Book of Revelation after it was chosen. [3]

Honors

  • Created Baron by RD of King Albert II; 2000.
  • Grand Officer in the Order of Leopold .
  • Grand Officer in the Order of the Crown .
  • Grand Officer in the Order of Leopold II .
  • Order in the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Sylvester Pope and Martyr

References

  1. Jump up^ „Dachau April 29, 1945: The Rainbow liberation memoirs“, Sam Dann. Texas Tech University Press, 1998.ISBN 0-89672-391-7,ISBN 978-0-89672-391-7. p. 56
  2. Jump up^ The Flag and State Encyclopaedia
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b „Account by Paul MG Lévy on the establishment of the European flag“ . European NAvigator . Retrieved 2008-07-15 .
  4. Jump up^ According to anDer Sternenkranz ist die Folge eines Gelübdes, Die Welt , 26 August 1998.
  5. Jump up^ „European Commission and religious values“ . The Economist . 2004-10-28 . Retrieved 2007-08-04 .