The Order of Flemish Militants ( or VMO) – originally the Flemish Militants Organisation (Vlaamse Militanten Organisatie) – was a Flemish nationalist activist group in Belgium defending far-right interests by propaganda and political action. Established in 1949, they helped found the People's Union ( or VU) in 1954, a Belgian political party. The links between the extremist VMO and the VU lessened as the party moved towards the centre. In later decades the VMO would become linked to neo-Nazism and a series of paramilitary attacks on immigrants and leftists before disappearing by the late 1980s. Foundation and early years In the years following the end of World War II, Flemish nationalists often fell victim in anti-Nazi rallies, manifestations and riots because of their anti-Belgicism and because the entire Flemish movement was discredited by military, political and economic collaboration with the Germans during World War II. The only outlets for organised Flemish nationalism were charitable groups dedicated to war veteran care or local branches of the dominant Christian Social Party (Christelijke Volkspartij, CVV) which, whilst not avowedly nationalist, did have a significant separatist wing. The VMO was founded in 1949 by Bob Maes; it was part of a wave of Flemish nationalist groups that emerged that year, including (Vlaamse Concentratie, VC). VMO was in fact initially established as a steward group for the VC. The group sought the creation of an independent Flanders. Soon, the VMO started expanding and turned into a full-scale paramilitary organization. Between 1950 and 1970 it was heavily criticized by, but nevertheless tolerated by, the Ministry of Justice. On 14 December 1953, however, 16 individual VMO members were convicted for the possession of forbidden weapons earlier that year. The VMO itself was not convicted (since it was impossible at that time to prosecute a group on penal grounds, only individuals). In 1954 the VMO became associated with the Christian Flemish People's Union (Christelijke Vlaamse Volksunie, CVV) and the more formal alliance of the People's Union (Volksunie, VU) that followed this group that same year. The VMO soon took over much of the propaganda and stewarding work for the VU although relations between the two groups became increasingly strained as the VU moved further towards a centrist position and the VMO hardened its rightist attitudes. A formal schism between the two organisations was announced in October 1963. First trial On 14 June 1970, a trial against the VMO