Historical person
Victor de Laveleye
1894–1945
Victor de Laveleye was a Belgian Liberal politician, sportsman and broadcaster who left occupied Belgium during the Second World War and worked with the BBC’s Belgian service in London. In January 1941 he proposed that listeners use the letter V as a public sign of resistance because it could stand for both victoire in French and vrijheid in Dutch.
The suggestion developed into the wider V for Victory campaign, promoted by the BBC and adopted across occupied Europe. The symbol was later strongly associated with Winston Churchill and Allied resistance propaganda. David Boyle’s V for Victory places de Laveleye at the origin of one of the war’s most successful participatory propaganda campaigns.
Non Fiction
Non Fiction featuring Victor de Laveleye (1 book)
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.