Directorate of bedrijfsorganisatie (‘sectoral organisation’)

Collection description

Scope and content:: This fonds is of major interest for the study of the economic (re)organisation of the Belgian economy during the Occupation. It contains files related to i.a. the organisation and functioning of the Bedrijfsorganisatie (‘sectoral organisation’) and the bedrijfsgroeperingen, the granting of various types of licences, attestations and certificates to the various hoofdgroeperingen and zelfstandige bedrijfsgroeperingen by the German authorities. In addition we also find administrative and legal documents, such as legislative texts, statutes and circulars of the various ‘groups’ and the minutes of their meetings. We also note lists of companies attached to a certain Hoofdgroepering or zelfstandige bedrijfsgroepering, as well as an important series of correspondence from the Bedrijfsorganisatie (e.g. concerning the liquidation of ‘Jewish businesses’ – see file no. 172) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs addressed to the various economic sectors. The fonds contains a mass of information on i.a. the leather, diamond and textile industries during the Occupation.

Material in this fonds was created by FOD Economie/SPF Economie, KMO/PME and Middenstand en Energie/Classes moyennes et Energie.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Ministry of Economic Affairs was created in 1917 with the goal of supporting the reconstruction of Belgium. The Ministry was abolished in 1926 and re-established in 1934. Its competences and structure underwent a number of modifications in the course of the 1930s and after the Second World War, by splitting and re-introducing certain competences (notably regarding small businesses). As a consequence of the constitutional reforms started in the 1970s, a number of competences were transferred to the Regions. In 2002, the ministry was transformed into a Federal Public Service (FPS). The FPS Economy, SMEs, Self-Employed and Energy supervises the proper functioning of the market (goods and services), as well as the remaining competences of the federal authorities regarding agricultural policy. (E. Buyst, “De FOD Economie, KMO, Middenstand en Energie (het voormalige Ministerie van Economische Zaken en zijn voorgangers)”, in P. van den Eeckhout & G. Vanthemsche (ed.), Bronnen voor de studie van het hedendaagse België 19e – 21e eeuw. Tweede herziene en uitgebreide uitgave, Brussel, Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis / Commission Royale d’Histoire, 2009, pp. 451-464.)

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic measures; Legal records; Plunder; Plunder--Forced closures; Trade and commerce; Trade and commerce--Clothing and textile trade

Finding aids:: M. Vandervennet, Inventaire des archives du Ministère des Affaires économiques. Direction de l’organisation professionnelle, 1935-1945, I 415, Brussel, ARA-AGR, 2008.