Henri Story

Henri Albert Oscar Lucien Marie Ghislain Story (27 November 1897 – 5 December 1944) was a Belgian businessman and liberal politician in Ghent. He was born on 27 November 1897 in a prominent liberal family of textile business people. The Story family was connected with other families such as, Mechelynck and Rosseel. Henri himself married with Cecile Boddaert, a cousin of the President of the Ghent Liberal Association Henri Boddaert.

Early life

His mother died when Henri Story was one year old and five years later his father also dies. Together with his three sisters he is raised by his grandmother, Marie Voortman. He attends the Institut de Gand but early during World War I, from 1915 until 1918 he serves in the war, and in 1918 he serves in the occupational force in Germany. After his return to Belgium, he starts working in the family business in and serves in several mandates in companies such as the Financière Industrielle Belge, de NV Louisiane, de Union Cotonnière, Brufina en de Banque de Bruxelles. He becomes director-general of the Filature Renson and treasurer of the Ghent Chamber of Commerce.

Political career

In the twenties his political career starts and he follows in the footsteps of its father and grandfather. Both served in important functions within the liberal association and were prominent people within progressive wing of the party. His grandfather Henri Abraham conducted opposition within the Liberal Party against the doctrinary Charles de Kerchove de Denterghem. His father Albert, a close collaborator of burgomaster Lippens, had been involved actively the Société libérale pour l’Etude des Sciences et des Oeuvres Sociales and of the Gentsche Volkskeuken (E: Ghent People Kitchen). Both were also members of the Council of management and of the redaction of the Ghent journal Flandre Libérale (where Henri would succeed them).

Henri will clearly emphasize the same political ideas as his father and grandfather. He becomes a convinced Social Liberal, who endorses the emancipatory roots of traditional liberalism and dreams of a broad People's Party which includes all layers of the population. He himself is a follower of Albert Mechelynck who in the 1920s as national President of the Liberal party brought the heart of the party to the streets and districts, away from the private salons and elitist clubs. In 1926, Henri became a member of the party office of the Liberal Association of Ghent, and immediately became a delegate for the arrondissement to the national Council of the Liberal Party.

In 1928 he becomes a member of the provincial Council of East Flanders, and is re-elected in 1932, but in 1936, he declares himself no longer eligible. In the same year he becomes President of the Liberal Association of Ghent where he succeeds Jean Van Impe. The Ghent association at that moment was severely divided and many saw in Henri Story, who was a relative newcomer, a new force which could renew and restructure the party and ensure its unity. The members of his first governing board made things more clearly: all sections of the liberals of Ghent were given a voice. Armand Colle joined the governing committee as a representative of the trade union, Carlos Flamant for the Volksbond Vrijheidsliefde, others from the Liberale Voorwacht and Help U Zelf (E: Help Yourself). Several representatives of the different district departments also got a seat. He also introduces Dutch as the language of the party governing board. The Story family belongs, just as the major part of the Ghent party leaders], to the French-speaking bourgeoisie. Story's ideas for democratisation and his striving towards a people party require the acceptance Flemish as an equivalent language to French. Liberalism is for Henri the key to more prosperity and freedom for the entire population, and therefore it is obvious that the language of the majority of the people must prevail. The new party booklet which was published in 1937, Op Nieuwe Wegen (E: On New Roads), would be written in Dutch. In this he follows the vision of his own father, who between 1880-1890 had been an active member of the Vlaamsche Liberale Kiesbond (E: Flemish Liberal Voters League).

Henri Story redefines the working of the Ghent department of the Liberal Party. Between 1936 and 1940 the political, social and economic positions of the liberal party are being redefined. He emphasizes the strict independence of magistrates, the protection of minorities by means of a representation in the parliament, the rights and the equivalence of women or the combination of a tempered free market economy with social security for everyone. He pleads for the establishment of a State Council which must protect the citizen against abuses by the state, the abolition of the provincial senators, a simplification of the tax system and a new financing scheme for the municipalities.

In 1938, he is elected as municipality Council member and becomes Alderman for the large urban public enterprises, which he manages as a professional manager. Due to the threat of war, he did not get much time to roll out his plans. The increasing threat of war in Europe leads to a range activities which have to do with protection of the people of Ghent, such as supplies and support to the families of the mobilised, etc.. Story, who as an Alderman is also responsible for the so-called passive maintaining of the city, is closely involved in the prewar preparations. During the first months of 1940, representatives of the political parties, the industry, the social organisations and the university meet on a regular base under his chairmanship to prepare Ghent for a possible war. At the outbreak of World War II, burgomaster Vander Stegen flees to France but Story stays in Ghent as head of civil protection, he is drafted 16 May and has to join his regiment. He reaches his regiment just after the capitulation of the Belgian army and returns to Ghent. He is reinstated as Alderman, but does not succeed to resume his office. In 1941, the war burgomaster Elias dismisses him from office.

World War II

He returns to his business and becomes more active than ever. He continues to serve his mandates in several enterprises, and becomes a director of the Bank van Brussel on the Kouter in Ghent and becomes chairman of the Intifil cooperative and attempts to navigate the textile industry of Ghent through the war. At the surface he behaves as a strictly neutral citizen, but form the start of the Nazi occupation he commits himselve to help the prisoners of war, the deportees and the people forced to work in Germany. He refuses to pass on the lists of his employees to the Nazis, what brings him in 1942, for the Court martial. His commitment to resisting the occupation goes even further. Already in 1940, he joins the local resistance. He founded the Ghent department of the information service Zero and is provincial agent for the Socrates group which supports people hiding from the Nazis and organised flight routes. He helps his future son-in-law, Charles Waegemans, to escape to London. Through Albert Maertens he gets involved in the distribution of underground newspapers such as The Belfort and at the activities of the Onafhankelijkheidsfront (E: Independence Front). His contacts in the financial and industrial world and his leading position within freemasonry (as chairing master of Le Septentrion) also mean an important support for the resistance movement.

Also in the policy domain he continues his work in the underground. Against the German prohibition on political activities, the liberal party shortly after the outbreak of World War II starts to the make plans for a blueprint for a new post war liberal party. As from 1941 Henri plays an increasingly important role in the preparations. Under supervision of wartime Presidents Jane Brigode and Fernand Demets and with a whole range of post-war Liberal leaders such as Van Glabbeke, Mundeleer and Buisseret they reflect on a modernised liberal party and in the texts which were prepared, one can clearly see the ideas which Henri stood for and had implemented in Ghent. The new party programme for the Liberal Party which was presented by Roger Motz in 1945-1946, was clearly inspired by Henri Story.

His work for the underground resistance during the war would lead to his capture and death. On 22 October 1943 he is arrested in his office at the Kouter in Ghent. He becomes a member of the Masonic Lodge Liberté chérie (French: "Cherished Liberty") inside Hut 6 of Emslandlager VII (Esterwegen). Attempts to get him released fail and in March 1944 he is transported to Germany. Henri Story dies in the Nazi concentration camp of Grosz Rosen near Breslau on 5 December 1944.

Remembrance

He is remembered in Ghent by the playground Henri Story, the foundation Henri Story, the Henri Story Circle and the Textile school Henri Story.

Sources

• Lehoucq, Nicole en Valcke, Tony, in : De fonteinen van de Oranjeberg, Politiek-institutionele geschiedenis van de provincie Oost-Vlaanderen van 1830 tot nu. Deel 2 : Biografisch repertorium, Gent, Stichting Mens en Cultuur, 1997, p. 337-338.
• Henry Story (1897–1944). Inventaris van het archief (1937–1944), Gent, Liberaal Archief, 2005, 21 p. (Inventaris nr. 6)
• Henri Story (Dutch)

External links

• Playground Henri Story