 In 1935 he entered the political scene, and campaigned against the fascist parties Rex and VNV, and in 1936 became "Minister of Education" in the second government of Paul Van Zeeland.While he was in office, he founded the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten and a Dutch and French "cultural council" (1938).During World War II he stayed in Great Britain, where he became the under-secretary for education in the Belgian government in exile.