La Libre Belgique (English: Free Belgium) is a Belgian newspaper in French. In Belgium, it can be roughly seen as an equivalent of Flemish De Standaard. The paper is widely perceived as pro-catholic. Along with another high circulation French-speaking newspaper Le Soir, it dominates the market of Wallonia and the French speaking part of Brussels.
La Libre Belgique was founded in February 1915 by the brothers Louis and Victor Jourdain who had been active in the world of newspapers. The paper was initially secretly published in Belgium which at the time was occupied by the Germans. Hence, the name which was at the same time a reference to the collaborationist paper La Belgique. Several weeks before the end of the hostilities, both of the Jourdain brothers died of natural causes. Their work was continued by Victor's two sons Joseph and Paul Jourdain.
In 1959 the paper reached a record circulation of 190 thousand copies. However, by 1999 it had dropped to 68 212 copies.
go to: La Libre Belgique website
Metalab02 History Navigator (requires the Adobe Flash Player 8+).