Florimond Damman
 Florimond Damman  (deep state operative) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1910 Ghent |
| Died | July 1979 (Age 68) |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Member of | Le Cercle |
A Belgian deep state operative who was closely involved with Le Cercle. | |
Florimond Damman was a deep state operative who was closely involved with Le Cercle. He was proponent of a right-wing, anti-communist European cooperation.
Early life
Damman was born in Ghent in 1910 as the son of a French-speaking Ghent industrialist. He studied commercial sciences at university and worked in real estate. Belonging to the French-speaking Flemish nouveau riche, he circulated in elite circles from an early age.[1]
Damman first became openly politically engaged when he joined in 1927 at the age of 17. when he joined the Jeunesses Nationales de Belgique This was a youth section (meaning street fighters) against communist, socialist and Flemish rights supporters).[1]
One of his most important associates on the route was Baron Pierre Nothomb. Nothomb's influence on Damman cannot be underestimated. Damman can be described as Nothomb's right-hand man until his death in 1966. Everything in Damman's post-World War II era political activities was directly or indirectly instigated by the spirit of Nothomb.[1]
Career
Damman worked as secretary for the Paneuropa Union's Belgian chapter in the early 1960s. He was 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 who ruled after a coup d'etat in 1967.
He was 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.
Damman was secretary for life AESP, which he largely founded for Habsburg and Jean Violet in 1969. He organized yearly get-togethers called Grand 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 12th 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.
In 1977 Damman co-founded the Hungary Committee 1956-76 with Ernest Tottosy, Francis Dessert, Emile Lecerf, Jacques Borst, Bernard Mercier and Victor de Stankovich. 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 Italian stay-behind P-2 lodge. [2]
