Henri Albert Oscar Lucien Marie Ghislain Story (27 November 1897 – 5 December 1944) was a Belgian businessman and liberal politician in Ghent. He was born on 27 November 1897, in a prominent liberal family of textile business people. The Story family was connected with other families such as Mechelynck and Rosseel. Henri himself married Cecile Boddaert, a cousin of the President of the Ghent Liberal Association Henri Boddaert. He died in the Gross-Rosen concentration camp.
Early life
His mother died when Henri Story was one year old and five years later his father also died. Together with his three sisters he was raised by his grandmother, Marie Voortman. He attended the Institut de Gand but early during World War I, from 1915 until 1918, he served in the war, and in 1918, he served in the occupational force in Germany. After his return to Belgium, he started working in the family business in and served in several mandates in companies such as the Financière Industrielle Belge, de NV Louisiane, de Union Cotonnière, Brufina en de Banque de Bruxelles. He became director-general of the Filature Renson and treasurer of the Ghent Chamber of Commerce.
Political career
In the twenties his political career started and he followed in the footsteps of its father and grandfather. Both served in important functions within the liberal association and were prominent people within the progressive wing of the party. His grandfather Henri Abraham conducted opposition within the Liberal Party against the doctrinary Charles de Kerchove de Denterghem. His father Albert, a close collaborator of burgomaster Lippens, had been involved actively with the Société libérale pour l’Etude des Sciences et des Oeuvres Sociales and of the Gentsche Volkskeuken (E: Ghent People Kitchen). Both were also members of the Council of management and of the redaction of the Ghent journal Flandre Libérale (where Henri would succeed them).
Henri emphasized the same political ideas as his father and grandfather. He became a convinced Social Liberal, who endorsed the emancipatory roots of traditional liberalism and dreamt of a broad People's Party which included all layers of the population. He himself was a follower of Albert Mechelynck who in the 1920s, as national President of the Liberal party brought the heart of the party to the streets and districts, away from the private salons and elitist clubs. In 1926, Henri became a member of the party office of the Liberal Association of Ghent, and immediately became a delegate for the arrondissement to the national Council of the Liberal Party.
In 1928, he became a member of the provincial Council of East Flanders, and was re-elected in 1932, but in 1936, he declared himself no longer eligible. In the same year he became President of the Liberal Association of Ghent where he succeeded Jean Van Impe. The Ghent association at that moment was severely divided and many saw in Henri Story, who was a relative newcomer, a new force which could renew and restructure the party and ensure its unity. The members of his first governing board made things more clearly: all sections of the liberals of Ghent were given a voice. Armand Colle joined the governing committee as a representative of the trade union, Carlos Flamant for the Volksbond Vrijheidsliefde, others from the Liberale Voorwacht and Help U Zelf (E: Help Yourself). Several representatives of the different district departments also got a seat. He also introduced Dutch as the language of the party governing board. The Story family belonged, just as the major part of the Ghent party leaders], to the French-speaking bourgeoisie. Story's ideas for democratisation and his striving towards a people party required the acceptance of Flemish as an equivalent language to French. Liberalism was, for Henri, the key to more prosperity and freedom for the entire population, and therefore it was obvious that the language of the majority of the people must prevail. The new party booklet, which was published in 1937, Op Nieuwe Wegen (E: On New Roads), would be written in Dutch. In this he followed the vision of his own father, who between 1880 and 1890 had been an active member of the Vlaamsche Liberale Kiesbond (E: Flemish Liberal Voters League).