Administration in London

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Belgium

Holding institution:: National Archives of Belgium

Holding institution (official language):: Archives Générales du Royaume

Postal address:: Ruisbroekstraat 2-6 / Rue de Ruysbroeck 2-6, 1000 Brussel

Phone number:: +32 (0)2 513 76 80

Web address:: http://www.arch.be/

Email:: archives.generales@arch.be

Reference number:: NAB-Brussels-510-III.0012

Title:: Administration in London

Title (official language):: Administratie te Londen

Creator/accumulator:: FOD Financiën; SPF Finances

Date(s):: 1940/1946

Extent:: 63.98 linear metres

Scope and content:: This fonds (not yet numbered at the time of writing) contains a number of files related to the persecution of the Jews in Belgium. See for example the files titled “D123 Belgian refugees in Spain”, “German occupation” (including correspondence with Herbert Speyer on the illegality of the German ordinances) and “Problem of Jews” (concerning the program of the American Jewish Congress, which at the time also had Belgian employees).

Administrative/biographical history:: The Belgian government created the Ministry of Finance in 1831. As one of the five ministries at the time it was in charge of, notably, the new kingdom’s bookkeeping (budget, accounts, patrimonial accounting) and the execution of fiscal legislation. The Secretary-General was assisted by the General Secretariat, responsible for logistics, staff policy, accounting, the documentation and study service, the translation service, the automation service, the social service, etc. The ministry was also supported by a number of external services, advisory and executive commissions, and a number of public institutions. The Ministry of Finance was subdivided into ‘fiscal’ (among others Direct Taxes, Customs and Excise, Land Registration and Estates, Cadastre) and ‘non-fiscal’ (Treasury and Public Debt, Mint) departments. In the 1970s and 1990s the ministry underwent extensive reforms; new services were created and the tasks of some departments were redefined. The fiscal departments in particular were thoroughly reshaped. The formal creation of the FPS Finance dates back to 2002. Today, the FPS Finance has six general administrations (incl. Patrimonial Documentation, Treasury, Special Tax Inspection), five staff departments (incl. ICT, staff), eight departments of the Chairman (incl. the Central Legal Department) and three autonomous services (incl. Tax conciliation). (Several pages on http://financien.belgium.be/nl/; M. Preneel & J. Verhelst, “De FOD Financiën”, 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. 407-421.)

Access points: locations:: Belgium; Spain

Access points: persons/families:: Speyer, Herbert

Subject terms:: Holocaust; Jewish Question; Occupation (military); Refugees

Access, restrictions:: The fonds is, for the time being, not available for consultation.

Finding aids:: There are unpublished deposit lists.

Yerusha Network member:: State Archives of Belgium

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