Belgian Service for Management and Liquidation

Collection description

Creator/accumulator:: Belgische Dienst voor Beheer en Liquidatie; Office belge de Gestion et de Liquidation

Scope and content:: This fonds contains a number of files related to the release of property and funds of individuals, sequestered and subsequently managed by Allied powers (often the British) during the Second World War. Relevant for this guide are the files concerning property in Palestine. They consist of lists, correspondence (i.a. with British services such as the Trading with the Enemy Department), instructions etc. related to the post-war release of property in Palestine of Belgian citizens in Palestine, search efforts to trace the owners or their heirs. See the nos. 1416, 1581, 1582 and 1598. Judging from the family names, these last files often contain information on the property of Jews living in Belgium.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Belgische Dienst voor Beheer en Liquidatie / Office belge de Gestion et de Liquidation (Belgian Trading Committee) was established in 1941 by the Belgian exile government in London. This service, a public legal entity under the authority of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, was based in London and (from 1945) in Brussels. Its mission was to manage the assets and merchandise of Belgians (or individuals residing in Belgium) requisitioned by other countries during the Second World War, and occasionally subsequently transferred to the Belgian state. It also managed the sums granted to Belgium in compensation for these claimed assets. From 1949 onwards the service was liquidated. (J.-M. Yante & P.-A. Tallier (dir.), F. Plisnier, S. Carnel, G. Coppieters & V. Pirlot, Gids van de instellingen van openbaar nut in België. Deel II. Band 2. Notities van de parastatalen onderworpen aan de wet van 16 maart 1954 en van diegene die daarvoor afgeschaft werden (notities 160 à 290), Guides/Gidsen no. 70, Brussel, ARA-AGR, 2008, pp. 838-840.)

Finding aids:: M. Jacquemin, Inventaire des archives de l’Office belge de Gestion et de Liquidation, I 411, Brussel, ARA-AGR, 2008.