Florimond Damman
 Florimond Damman  (deep politician) | |
|---|---|
| Died | July 1979 (Age 68) |
| Member of | Le Cercle |
Florimond Damman was a deep state actor who was closely involved with Le Cercle.
Career
Worked as secretary for the Paneuropa Union's Belgian chapter in the early 1960s. Chairman of the International Events Committee on the Central Council of the Paneuropa Union since 1966 (changed name to Mouvement d'Action pourl' Union Européenne (MAUE) in 1969). He was a leading member of Cercle des Nations. In April 1970 Damman and Paul Vankerkhoven would organize a Cercle des Nations reception in honour of the Greek colonels. Involved in the Ligue Internationale de la Liberté (LIL), the Belgian branch of the World Anti-Communist League, founded by Vankerkhoven. Another collaborative venture for Damman and Vankerkhoven was the joint organization of the 1970 Brussels Congress of the Anti-Bolshevik Block of Nations (ABN), an anti-communist group of mainly Ukrainian exiles financed by the CIA and the BND. He participated in the Wilton Park meetings with Jacques Jonet and others. He was a member of Charlemagne dinners. After an initial contact in late 1968, [the fascist] Guérin-Sérac came to Brussels in January 1969 as Damman's guest to develop contacts amongst the elite conservative circles Damman frequented. Damman started by inviting Guérin-Sérac to the AESP's XIIth Grand Charlemagne Dinner on 27th January, 1969. Amongst the illustrious guests were Habsburg and Belgian Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens; one of Guérin-Sérac's dinner companions at table G was the Belgian neo-fascist Emile Lecerf, later to become notorious in connection with rumours of a planned coup in 1973 and a strategy of tension in Belgium in the 1980s. Damman and Guerin-Serac were working to set up a new group, CREC. Secretary for life AESP, which he largely founded for Habsburg and Jean Violet in 1969. Involved with Le Monde Moderne.
In 1977 Damman co-founded the Hongary Committee 1956-76 (Comite Hongrie 1956-76) with Ernest Tottosy, Francis Dessert, Emile Lecerf, Jacques Borst, Bernard Mercier and Victor de Stankovich (located at CEPIC and PIO headquarters, later also MAUE headquarters, while the building was part of Baron de Bonvoisin PDG firm). The Hungary Comittee's official purpose was to commemorate the Hungarian Uprising against the communists in 1956. However, Tottosy and de Stankovich were members of the P-7 Lodge, a smaller, parallel lodge to the P-2.
Connections
Florimond Damman was a friend of Guerin Serac. De Bonvoisin worked with Damman both as a member of one of the study Groups within the AESP and as a Board Member of MAUE; a 1981 report by the Surete de l'Etat, Belgium's internal security agency, makes it clear that de Bonvoisin took over MAUE after Florimond Damman died in July 1979.[1]
Deep political connections
He attended Le Cercle.
