General Documentation – Limburg: provincial and municipal administrations

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Belgium

Holding institution:: Directorate-General War Victims, Archives and Documentation Department

Holding institution (official language):: Direction Générale Victimes de la Guerre, Service Archives et Documentation

Postal address:: Luchtvaartsquare 31 / Square de l’Aviation 31, 1070 Brussel (Anderlecht)

Phone number:: +32 (0)2 528 91 57

Web address:: http://warvictims.fgov.be/

Email:: archidoc@minsoc.fed.be

Reference number:: DirGenWarVic-Brussels-

Title:: General Documentation – Limburg: provincial and municipal administrations

Title (official language):: Algemene Documentatie – Limburg: provinciaal bestuur en gemeentebesturen

Creator/accumulator:: Directie-Generaal Oorlogsslachtoffers; Direction Générale Victimes de la Guerre

Date(s):: 1940/1958

Language:: German; Dutch; Flemish; French

Extent:: 12 folders

Scope and content:: In this fonds (containing both originals and copies) we note i.a. circulars of the provincial administration of Limburg to the mayors, about the (non-Belgian) Jews banished from Antwerp and obliged to settle in Limburg (r.497/tr.142.546, years 1940-1956). R.497/tr.150.172 (1941) contains, among others, forms related to changes of residence of (Jewish) aliens from Antwerp, Genk and other municipalities in Limburg, lists of émigrés in the Overpelt camp (1941) and ‘registers of Jews’ of some Limburg municipalities. In r.497/tr.150.635 (years 1940-1958) we find registers of banished Jews who were assigned a compulsory residence in various towns in Limburg. Lastly, we note (in r.497/tr.151.037, dated 1940-1941) correspondence, i.a. between the province of Limburg and Feldkommandantur 681 (Hasselt) concerning the Jews banished from Antwerp, transfer of Jews to Greater Brussels, etc.

Administrative/biographical history:: The early predecessor of today’s Directie-Generaal Oorlogsslachtoffers / Direction Générale Victimes de la Guerre (DGVG)(Directorate-General War Victims) was the Belgisch Commissariaat voor de Repatriëring, created in late June 1944 with the aim of repatriating the many Belgian prisoners, forced labourers and refugees. In August 1945 the Commissariat (which was being liquidated) was integrated in the Ministry for War Victims, created in February of the same year. This ministry was charged with immediate assistance to Belgian war victims, but it was also responsible for their pensions, medical treatment etc. A number of new services – including a service for medical and pharmaceutical care and the Nationaal Werk voor Oud-Strijders – were added to the ministry in 1945. In April 1946, the duties and services of the Ministry for War Victims and the Ministry for War Damages were transferred to the newly created Ministry of Reconstruction. The Bestuur der Schade aan Personen (‘administration for damage to individuals’) of this ministry took over the competences related to war victims. The evaluation and granting of the status of ‘political prisoner’ was added to its duties. Its division into three main sections (statuses, pensions for civilian victims of the war, documentation) dates back to 1949. From 1946 until 1952 the Bestuur der Schade aan Personen almost continuously formed part of the Ministry of Reconstruction. Afterwards the Bestuursafdeling voor Oorlogsslachtoffers successively became a part of the Ministry of Public Health (1952-1995) and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Public Health and Environment (1995-2001). Since the division of this last ministry (2002), the Directorate-General War Victims belongs to the Federal Public Service (FPS) Social Security. Today, the DGVG has a dual mission. On the one hand, the execution of the law regarding civilian war victims, notably the granting of the various statuses of national recognition (e.g. political prisoner, hidden Jewish child, defaulter (werkweigeraar), fisherman in wartime) and processing of related pension applications. On the other hand, the DGVG manages its archives and documentation service. This voluminous body of documents is mainly the result of the field work of the Service de recherches en Belgique in the immediate post-war period – in particular the work carried out by its liaison officers and missions abroad. The personnel of the service often collaborated with a number of Jewish organisations, including Aide aux Israélites Victimes de la Guerre. (http://warvictims.fgov.be/nl/about/origine.htm; P. Nefors, Inventaris van het Archief van de Dienst voor de Oorlogsslachtoffers – Inventaire des Archives du Service des Victimes de la Guerre, Brussel, 1997.)

Access points: locations:: Antwerp; Genk; Limburg

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic measures; Holocaust; Jewish community records; Residency issues of Jews; Vital records

Access, restrictions:: The files can be consulted by the concerned individuals and their descendants. Consultation for research purposes is authorised on the basis of a research declaration.

Finding aids:: There is a thematic and geographic card index. There is also a (partially outdated) inventory: P. Nefors, Inventaris van het Archief van de Dienst voor de Oorlogsslachtoffers – Inventaire des Archives du Service des Victimes de la Guerre, Brussel, 1997.

Yerusha Network member:: State Archives of Belgium

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