A woman with extreme right-wing sympathies who takes care of children at her home has sparked an outcry in Belgium.

A portrait of Adolf Hitler hangs in the living room of her Antwerp home, along with the flag of banned neo-fascist organisation the Flemish Militant Order, VMO.

A journalist from Flemish TV news programme Terzake filmed inside the woman's home with a hidden camera, pretending to be a father looking for after-school care for his daughter.

Nothing to hide
The care facility is accredited by Child and Family, a national childcare organisation. The woman told the reporter, "I have nothing to hide. I don't agree with the child care policies of Child and Family. They want the children to decide by themselves when they want to sleep." She explained that she wanted "clear rules".

"My husband is an old-style Nazi. Not pro-German, but very conservative. He is very interested in WWII." The walls of the living room are lined with shelves filled with books on the Nazi occupation of Europe and fascist memorabilia. "Many parents don't understand us," the woman says. "They say, Heil Hitler, yuck!"

Immigrant problem
She told the reporter Hitler's ideas were "phenomenal" and said that current trouble with Islamic immigrant families should be handled in the same way that Hitler handled the Jews. "We've got the same problem today. We're being overrun by them."

Children should be taught again to obey their parents, she added. "We should send all children to the Hitler Youth, then they will listen again."

Flemish Welfare Minister Jo Vandeurzen has now launched an investigation into the Antwerp crèche. "I'm shocked by the images and I think this is unacceptable. It's strange that someone whose living room is a tad too small is turned down as a childcarer by Child and Family, while someone who promotes fascist ideas is accepted."

A spokesperson for Child and Family said she was "very surprised" by the report. "If there is a childcare problem, we will review the woman's accreditation."

Photos: VRT television screenshots