Life
According to Paul Belien, editor of the Brussels Journal, "Dillen came from a non-political background. His father, an Antwerp labourer, abandoned his wife and their two sons when Dillen was still a baby. He was raised by his mother. Neither he, nor his brother nor his mother were involved in any political activities at all during the war,..."
In 1977 he established the Vlaams Nationale Partij (Flemish National Party), which became Vlaams Blok at the elections of 1978. He was president of the Vlaams Blok (later reformed as Vlaams Belang) until he appointed Frank Vanhecke as his successor in 1996.
Karel Dillen was a Member of the European Parliament between 1994 and 2004, and vice-chairman of the Technical Fraction of the European Right, together with among others Jean-Marie Le Pen and Franz Schönhuber.
Read more about this topic: Karel Dillen
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