“On July 31, 1950, I accepted to hand over the royal powers to my son. It was my will to renounce the throne for good as soon as it turned out that all Belgians would have united themselves around Prince Baudouin. I now establish that this unanimity has been achieved. The last words I wish to say as king of the Belgians will strongly indicate that the future of the fatherland depends on your national solidarity, I swear to agree to you, God protect Belgium and our Congo.” BelgiumLeopold IiiKing Leopold IiiRoyal QuestionLeopold Iii Of BelgiumPrince Baudouin Author:Leopold III
“The Parliament's acceptance of such measures would enable me to temporarily entrust the exercise of my pregoratives to the Crown Prince and, in agreement with the Government, to end this task when I consider that the interests of the country are also served.” BelgiumLeopold IiiKing Leopold IiiRoyal QuestionKing Of The Belgians Author:Leopold III
“The first proper sample-based census was not carried out until 1949, so demographers have to reconstruct population totals from micro-level data on food supply, settlement patterns, village counts, birth records, and the like. The most sophisticated modeling by French and Belgian demographers variously suggests a population of 8 to 11 million in 1885 and 10 to 12 million by 1908. The Belgian Jean-Paul Sanderson, using a backward projection method by age cohorts, found a slight decline, from 10.5 million in 1885 to 10 million in 1910. This estimated change in total population governed by changing birth and death rates over a 25 year period represents a negligible annual net decline in population.” GenocideCongoCongo Free StateAdam HochschildLeopold S GhostAfrican HolocaustBlack HolocaustLeopold IiiCongolese Holocaust Book:King Hochschild’s Hoax: An absurdly deceptive book on Congolese rubber production is better described as historical fiction. Source: King Hochschild’s Hoax: An absurdly deceptive book on Congolese rubber production is better described as historical fiction.