Caricature depicting the monetary census ordered by the Belgian government - Historical Archives of BNP Paribas Fortis
At the beginning of September 1944, as the Allied armies made rapid progress through Belgium, an inspector from the Banque de la Société Générale de Belgique moved up the lines of American tanks aboard a van. His objective: to travel to the liberated areas to communicate instructions drafted by the Belgian government in London. The country’s financial stability was at stake.
Belgium, at the time of Liberation
Headquarters of the Banque de la Société Générale de Belgique in Kortrijk, destroyed by the crash of a plane in July 1944 as part of the Allied offensive in Western Europe – Historical Archives of BNP Paribas Fortis
August 1944. As Paris is liberated by its internal resistance and General Leclerc’s 2nd Armored Division, American and British-Canadian troops rush towards the Rhine. On their route: Belgium, which they reach on September 2 and penetrate into the hamlet of Cendron (now part of the municipality of Momignies in Hainaut). After various battles, Brussels is liberated on September 3 by the British and the Piron Brigade (the Belgian equivalent of the Kieffer Brigade); on the 4th, the Canadians take the city and the port of Antwerp, with the support of the Belgian Resistance (the White Brigade – Witte brigade); on the 7th, the Americans arrive in Liège and join forces with the French troops who had landed in Provence on August 15.
On a political level, the situation is confusing: King Leopold III, a prisoner at the Palace of Laeken with his family, is taken to Germany. The Pierlot government is still in London. Given the urgency of the economic measures to be taken for the country, it is decided to finalize the first laws from the British capital and announce them on the BBC. They are promulgated in the Belgian Monitor and sent by plane to Brussels. The Bank of the Société Générale de Belgique will immediately put them into effect.
London, 4 September 1944, at BBC headquarters
The Minister of Finance of the Belgian government in exile, Camille Gutt, gave a speech to his fellow citizens. The subject was serious but crucial for Belgium’s future. The Minister summarised six legislative decrees prepared some time previously, the enactment of which had become urgent due to the rapid advance by the Allied forces in Belgium. The aim was to freeze the circulation of money, to “keep things as they stand until measures are taken after the full liberation of the country,” to prevent war profiteers from escaping the full force of the punishment they deserve.
Do all it takes to prevent depositors from emptying their accounts
Gutt banned all transactions on currencies put into circulation in the Kingdom by the enemy and prepared for the withdrawal of these currencies. Foreign banknotes in circulation in Belgium would be counted. Another legislative decree drastically limited withdrawals of funds from bank accounts. It was necessary, the minister explained, to prevent depositors from rushing to banks to empty their accounts. In reality, the government had decided to drastically reduce the money supply but did not disclose its plan for fear of provoking rash movements of funds in areas not yet liberated.
For appearances’ sake, Gutt downplayed the scope of the measures and declared them to be temporary:
“They will hardly bother you. When vermin has been in your house and you disinfect it, you sometimes get smoke in your eyes; you take comfort in knowing that the vermin has gone”.
— Camille Gutt
The Bank takes action against fraud
On 5 September, an edition of the Moniteur was being prepared in London with the text of the six legislative decrees. A few copies were shipped by plane to Brussels, which had been liberated two days earlier. But even before the details of the government announcements were published in Belgium, the authorities asked the management of the Banque de la Société Générale de Belgique in Brussels to urgently inform its provincial network of the instructions to be followed by its branches, as and when local areas were liberated.
On the morning of Tuesday 5 September, acircular was quickly prepared setting out the terms of the resumption of business. The bank’s management explained that payments into current accounts must be refused until further notice; that withdrawals from customer accounts were limited to BEF 2,000 per week, except in special cases such as the payment of salaries to third parties; and that purchases and sales of securities were suspended.
In short, the people’s assets must be frozen as much as possible.
What does FLY-TOX mean?
The operation derived its name from a French fly spray widely used in Belgium from the 1920s until the 1950s. As Minister Gutt compared the occupying forces and war profiteers to vermin, the measures taken by the Bank were considered a disinfection operation.
