During
World War II Schiltz was a member of the
Nationaal-Socialistische Jeugd Vlaanderen (
National Socialist Youth Flanders). This led to him being jailed for some months after the war. He studied law, economic science and
Thomistic philosophy at
KU Leuven, where he became a member of the
Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond (Catholic Flemish Students Union). In 1953 he became a lawyer and an economics teacher. In 1958, he was elected member of the
Antwerp municipal council, which he would remain until 1998. After a short period with the
Christian People's Party, he became a member of the
Volksunie in 1963. From 1975 to 1979 he was party president. During that time, he steered the party into a more
social liberalism direction. He participated in drawing up the 1977
Egmont pact, which was seen as treason by more hard line advocates from the
Flemish Movement. The Belgian government didn't survive the disapproval of the pact in parliament. The new, more liberal direction of the Volksunie, and the cooperation in the Egmont pact were the reason for the creation by the more radical, right wing-conservative part of the Volksunie, of two new small parties, the
Vlaams Nationale Partij (
Flemish National Party, VNP), and the
Vlaamse Volkspartij (
Flemish Popular Party, VVP). Later, both parties merged into the
Vlaams Blok. Together with
Wilfried Martens and
Jean-Luc Dehaene, Hugo Schiltz was instrumental in the ongoing
State reform in Belgium (five constitutional updates during Shiltz's lifetime, continued thereafter), which saw some of the basics of the defunct Egmont past enacted, making Belgium a federal state recognizing the
communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. From 1994 to 1998, Schiltz was alderman for finances in
Antwerp in an anti-Vlaams Blok coalition. In 1995 he received the honorary title of Minister of State from
Albert II of Belgium. After the dissolution of the
Volksunie into the
New Flemish Alliance and
Sociaal-Liberale Partij in 2001, Schiltz became a member of the latter. In that year, he resumed practising law, first with
Ernst & Young and
Peeters Advocaten, later he founded
Laurius-Schiltz-Verschoeven ADVC. Willem-Frederik Schiltz, his son by his second marriage, is an
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats politician who has served as a
Belgian Senator and as a member of the
Flemish Parliament (a language/community based parliament that emerged from the state reforms the senior Schiltz helped introduce). == Death ==