LETTER FROM A JOURNALIST

The poster, of course, is a fiction. Albert's photo did feature on Belgian lamp posts after the end of the war when the local police were trying to find him. Their last address for him dated from August 1944 but no trace could be found of him.

When they did eventually find him, it was at a new and unexpected address, Saint-Gilles prison in the heart of Brussels. He had been repatriated there having spent over a year working for the Germans and subsequently for the Allies in the heart of Germany.

It is important to note that there was no mention of murder, or of torture, or of any war crimes in the charges against him or in his eventual coviction and sentence to 10 years imprisonment. He was found guilty of treason (though he had not seen combat against the King's ally, Russia), and collaboration with the Germans (though he had used this desk job as a cover for helping the Flemish Resistance and mitigating the effects of the occupation on Flemish anti-German authors).

The extremes in the above poster come from wild accusations made against him in a 1985 interview with a journalist from the Sunday Tribune. Despite Albert eventually giving an absolutely true account of what he did during WWII, the journalist, who appears to have been primed with more serious material, insisted vehemently that Albert confess to the more serious crimes cited in the poster. Albert, however stuck to his guns, so to speak, and the journalist's editor declined to print his minor scoop.

Not a man to give up easily, the journalist decided to take the matter further and see if he could dig up any further dirt on Albert. He wrote to Maurice Piorot, President of the "Union of Jewish Deportees in Belgium", on the basis, no doubt, that the Jews probably had the most developed network in the world for chasing down Nazi war criminals.

The letter, reproduced in full in translation below, makes the outrageous statement that Albert had been

charged with having killed, tortured, and mistreated Belgians in Brussels and in other locations, 1940-44.

He also mentions that Albert's file is private. And so it proved. He was refused access to the file. In one way it is a pity that he was because it is clear from the file that, far from corroborating his wild accusations, the file would have completely undermined them and we might not have had the Folens episode in the 2007 tv programme at all. That would surely have saved a lot of grief and suffering all round.

The letter was written in French and this cannot be left without comment. For an informed journalist to send a letter with false accusations in it is bad enough. But for it to be in bad French, from which it is obvious that it was not proof read by a French speaker, and that the writer didn't even bother to consult a French dictionary, is not really good enough.

What follows is my translation of the letter, ignoring the bad French, and hopefully doing justice to the intentions of the writer.

Glasnevin
August 18, 1987

Dear Maurice

I am an Irish journalist, and I am researching Albert Folens, and the possibility of him being a war criminal.

I have already spoken to Maram Sterne in the Union of Jewish Students in Europe and he has given me your name.

The said Albert Folens, photo attached, is on the list of United Nations war criminals (list 28/54)CR ref 254333. He is charged with having killed, tortured, and mistreated Belgians in Brussels and in other locations, 1940-44. But his file is private.

He was born 15 October 1916 in Bissigem, and he was a student with the De la Salle brothers in Antwerp when war was declared. He joined the Waffen SS Flemish Legion in Berlin, June 1941.

He subsequently became ill with stomach ulcers and transferred in 1942 to the Sicherheitsdienst (SD Gestapo), Avenue Louise, Brussels. He was an interpreter, perhaps interrogator, in Abteilung 3 section Cb. He lived at 103 rue de Livourne, Ixelles, with his wife, Juliette de Vos. They were married in 1943.

When the war was over Folens was arrested by the English in Germany. He was sentenced by the Belgian Military Court on charges of collaboration (not murder) to 10 years in 1947. But he escaped one year later. He is currently living in Ireland where he is very rich and famous. I would like to find evidence, and people who knew what he had done.

Could you make enquiries for me - I would be very grateful. Also, if you could show this letter to Sophie Wechtman or somebody in the Deportees Union to ask members if they have any information.

Thanks very much for your help, Maurice.

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