The ‘V’ hand sign

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The ‘V’ sign – a hand gesture which has the palm outwards with the index and middle fingers open and all others closed – was used during the Second World War. Suggested by Victor de Laveleye, former Belgian Minister of Justice and director of the Belgian French-language broadcasts on the BBC  and promoted by BBC presenter Douglas ‘Colonel Britton’ Ritchie, resistance fighters in German-occupied territories used it as a symbol of camaraderie and strength during World War II as it represented the first letter of French, Flemish and English words for ‘victory’ (victoire, vrijheid and victory, respectively). Famously, UK Prime Minister approved of the V for Victory campaign and adopted the V sign, and Charles de Gaulle was known to flash a full-arm version of the sign during speeches. In the USA during the 1960s activists against the Vietnam War adopted the sign as an anti-war symbol of peace.✌✌




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