Lot Archive

Lot

№ 767

.

11 December 2002

Hammer Price:
£220

Belgium, Léon Degrelle, a bronze medal, signed V.D., bust right, rev. rex vaincra, artisan attempting to lever a stone, 80mm; together with other miscellaneous world medals (3, one in silver) [4]. Silver medal fine, others extremely fine (£30-50)

Léon Degrelle (1906-94) was one of the leading Belgian Rexists, an idealist who believed in a new Europe. Joining the German army as a volunteer, he was soon made an officer. With an increasing number of Walloons volunteering to serve with the Germans against the Communists, Degrelle was transferred to the Waffen-SS. He received the Close Combat clasp in gold. After the War he was sentenced to death in absentia by the Belgians as a collaborator, fleeting to Malaga, Spain, where he died on 1 April 1994. Further detail is sold with the lot