Sandor Szondi
Encyclopedia
Sandor Szondi was a Flemish politician of Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 descent.

He grew up in a Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 foster family
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....

 and was naturalized Belgian because of his merits as a member of the resistance
Resistance during World War II
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns...

 during the Second World War. He studied law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 and chose a career at the Ministry of Transport. Due to his experiences as a civil servant in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, he felt the treatment of Flemings by the French speakers was unjust. This caused him to take an initiative to improve the situation of native Dutch speakers in the capital city of Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. He founded the Verbond van Vlaams Overheidspersoneel, 'Union of Flemish civil servants', and the Centraal Secretariaat van Vlaamse Verenigingen, 'Central Secretariat for the Flemish Associations'. He was also an editor of several magazines and additionally made his point clear in speeches and letters he wrote to newspapers. In 1969, he founded a kindergarten for the children of native Dutch speakers in Brussels. Szondi was a municipal councillor for the CVP, Christelijke Volkspartij or 'Flemish Christian Democrat Party', in the municipality Etterbeek
Etterbeek
Etterbeek is one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. It neighbours the municipalities of the City of Brussels, Ixelles, Auderghem, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and Schaerbeek....

 (in the Brussels Region). In that position, he regularly got into conflict with the French speaking majority. Due to his merits for the Flemish movement
Flemish movement
The Flemish Movement is a popular term used to describe the political movement for emancipation and greater autonomy of the Belgian region of Flanders, for protection of the Dutch language, and for the over-all protection of Flemish culture and history....

, he received several Flemish honour awards.
After his death, the Flemish community of Etterbeek - Brussels created a Foundation, called "Private Stichting Sändor Szondi". The Foundation issues an annual award in cash to an individual, group or organization which has given proof of positive activity to the benefit of the Flemish community, living in Brussels. Brussels

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