1939 in Belgium

Events of the year 1939 in Belgium.

← 1938 1937 1936 1939 in Belgium → 1940 1941 1942
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s
See also:	Other events of 1939 List of years in Belgium

Incumbents

• Monarch: Leopold III
• Prime Minister: Paul-Henri Spaak (to 22 February); Hubert Pierlot (from 22 February)

Events

A view of the Exposition internationale de l'eau in Liège from a cable car

• 9 February – Paul-Henri Spaak's coalition government falls apart
• 22 February – Hubert Pierlot forms Catholic–Socialist coalition
• 2 April – 1939 Belgian general election
• 18 April – Hubert Pierlot forms Catholic–Liberal coalition
• 25 June – Hermann Lang wins the 1939 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps
• 30 July – Exposition internationale de l'eau opens in Liège
• 25 August – Belgian Armed Forces begin mobilisation
• 3 September – Hubert Pierlot forms government of national unity

Publications

• Hergé, Le Sceptre d'Ottokar (serialised in Le Petit Vingtième from 4 August 1938 to 10 August 1939) published as an album
• Georges Simenon, Le Bourgmestre de Furnes
• Gerard Walschap, Houtekiet

Art and architecture

Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (Waterloo)

Buildings

• Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel on the Argenteuil Estate in Waterloo

Paintings

• René Magritte, The Palace of Memories

Births

• 21 February – May Claerhout, artist (died 2016)
• 9 March – Jos Van Gorp, actor (died 2021)
• 12 April – Philippe Moureaux, politician (died 2018)
• 9 June – Johan Weyts, politician (died 2021)
• 3 July – Willy Vanden Berghen, road bicycle racer

Deaths

• 6 January – Georges Ista (born 1874), writer
• 15 February – Henri Jaspar (born 1870), politician
• 6 March – Michel Levie (born 1851), politician
• 14 March – Marie Haps (born 1879), philanthropist
• 25 June – Richard Seaman (born 1913), racing driver, dies after crashing in the 1939 Belgian Grand Prix
• 6 November – Adolphe Max (born 1869), politician
• 23 November – Gaston-Antoine Rasneur (born 1874), bishop