René de Clercq

After the magazine was discontinued in 1916, he wrote a now famous poem directed at the Belgian government in exile in Le Havre, "Aan die van Havere" (To the Havrians).

In 1917 he wrote the song "Daar is maar één Vlaanderen" (There is only one Flanders) that became the national anthem of the Flemish separatists.

De Clercq became curator of the museum dedicated to the art of the controversial 19th century Belgian romantic painter Antoine Wiertz in Brussels.

After the war he fled again to the Netherlands, where he received by letter the news of the death sentence pronounced upon him by the Belgian government in 1920.

His book of songs and poetry De Noodhoorn, published in 1916, is listed in the Canon of Dutch Literature.