Leopold II of Belgium: The Biggest Coverup In European History

Hello everyone. We've been experimenting with a bit of a podcast (a few people were asking for audio versions so they can get Biographics while doing other things)! Fair warning: none of these are new biographies, but rather me having a bit more of a free form chat around the script. I'd love to know what you think, if these are useful, wanted etc :). Thanks, Simon. Links: iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/biographics-history-on… Sitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/biographics-history-one-l… Website: biographics.blubrry.net/ RSS: biographics.blubrry.net/feed/podcast/ Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/6N9PS4QXF1D0OWPk0Sxtb4 Trolled people: open.spotify.com/show/0JzjzwJcRqFZ3BcACtahh8?si=MG…

As a belgian having lived in Belgium my entire life I can tell you every single Belgian knows what Leopold did in the Congo, it is very much public knowledge.

When I visited Belgium and attended a city tour of Brussels, the crimes in Congo under Leopold II was one of the first things we were told.

I was taught in elementary school that Leopold II was Belgium's greatest king, he gave his country the colonies. That was in 1990. I was taught in secondary school that Leopold II was a criminal who allowed unspeakable atrocities to be comitted and he even sponsored them. That was in 1998. I now teach the latter in my history classes myself. There has been a cover-up in the past but we're fully aware of what happened now. In fact, the only reason I was probably taught that in elementary school was because of the teacher who was very lazy and didn't want to offend the grandparents of his pupils (who couldn't care less about Leopold II anyway).

And Hitler is seen as the biggest villain ever to mankind. Seems like Leopald has him beat 100 times over. Where are the Netflix doccies about him????

Belgian schoolmarm here. I was taught in school about the Congo for the first in 1968, in first grade. The official story back then was exactly as Simon described it. Ten years later, when I was in 10th grade, class went on a visit to the Museum of Central Africa at the Estates at Tervuren, near Brussels. Our guide was a Jesuit missionary priest. We skipped the exhibits about the Leopold II era and went straight for the Congolese art. Again ten years later, in 1988, I was teaching in Brussels (not history), and had a peek at the history books for 5th grade. The contents had dramatically changed. They contained the truth. One teacher started his lessons about the Congo with "What Hitler was for the twentieth century, our own King Leopold II was for the nineteenth." It is true that Leopold II of the Belgians run his 'Congo Free State' as private property. It wasn't a Belgian colony until 1908. It was a private enterprise until then. Leopold had the controlling share, but the other large shareholders had been rich US senators. Leopold had to allow protestant missionaries, even Mormon ones, to the Congo on their request. The Belgian Catholic missionary organisation was kept out of the loop by Leopold. He didn't want them there. They might inform the Belgian public and make the king look bad. Belgian journalists weren't welcome there, either, for the same reason.The United States was the first country to recognise Congo Free State as a legitimate country. Please Simon don't link Leopold's childhood trauma to the way he ran the Congo. He was the king of a Liberal Constitutional Monarchy that relegated the king to a ceremonial role. He was envious of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and of all his other cousins that wielded real power. He wanted it, too. In the early sixties, the US and Belgium wanted to keep their control of the Congo's natural resources, after the independence. They supported a half crazy admirer of Leopold II by the name of Mobutu Sese Seko against the legitimately elected president, Patrice Lumumba. The CIA killed him, and the Belgian mining companies bankrolled Mobutu who remained dictator of the Congo for over 30 years.

Hi, Belgian here. We know full well Leopold II was a monster, and the only statue I know of him is on the coast in the city of Ostende. In fact, a lot of people are unhappy that the statue is there at all. A few years ago some protestors either cut one of the hands off the statue or painted it red, I can't recall. He's still one of the kings and because of that we can't just sweep him under the rug.

His statue was vandalized today and is broken down

Just wow... the fact that I did not hear about this until college is just mind-blowing

I am from Belgium, and this video starts with a big lie already. Rest assured that we know full well what a monster he was. The fact that a lot of Congolese people had their hand(s) chopped off under his reign, that a lot of people got murdered and enslaved, is a blemish that we acknowledge without restraint.

Biggest cover-up in Euopean history? I know from first hand accounts that the history of what Britain/England has done to Ireland for 800 years is barely ever mentioned in British schools.

In Belgian classes is told that Leopold2 was a very bad king who only did afwul things to the people of Congo

"For the love of money is the root of all evil." - 1 Timothy 6 : 10

The greatest coverup is the one that never got discovered.

“There’s nothing left for us kings but money!” Cry me a River.

Listen to the yell of Leopold's ghost, Burning in hell for his hand-maimed host. Hear how the demons chuckle and yell, Cutting his hands off, down in hell. -Vachel Lindsay

I live in Belgium and have discussed this with my Belgian friends. I am told that for at least 20 years the real truth of what atrocities Leopold oversaw in in the Congo has been taught in school. The only issue I see is that Belgium hasn't removed all statues and monuments to him.

"He is glorified with golden statues of his likeness in every major city in Belgium" Both of them?

"You didn't meet the rubber quota for this month, so I am going to remove your hands, so that you can never bring me any rubber ever again!" Seriously, he was just reducing his labor pool

As an African, with Congolese relatives the atrocities committed are much much worse. I've seen the effects first hand on the ground. The term ' Crimes against Humanity' was borne out of this era by American scholars travelling to the region at that time. Thank you for a great video!