General departments. Files related to the awarding of the Croix des évadés

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-510-2249

Title:: General departments. Files related to the awarding of the Croix des évadés

Title (official language):: Services généraux. Dossiers relatifs à l’octroi de la Croix des évadés

Creator/accumulator:: SPF Justice; FOD Justitie

Date(s):: 1943/1994

Extent:: 3 linear metres

Scope and content:: The fonds consist of individual files, ordered alphabetically. They mainly consist of correspondence and administrative documents from the departments of the Ministry of Justice, resulting from the process of verifying whether the applicant had actually been active for a certain service or accomplished a certain mission during the Second World War. The files generally mention the place and date of birth of the applicant, occasionally his history and details on his internment, his escape, the date of his escape from the country and of his entry in an Allied army. We find files of officers, commanders, volunteers in the Belgian armed forces, as well as persons who were active in the merchant fleet or liaison officers. (This fonds is indirectly related to the Jewish population.)

Administrative/biographical history:: The Ministry of Justice is subdivided into different directorates. Its structure evolved in the course of the 19th century. It entered a relatively stable phase in 1925; it was then composed of the following five main directorates: recognised religions (cultes / erediensten), donations, bequests and foundations; prisons; Public Safety (Sûreté publique); youth protection; legislation. During the 1930s, the Sûreté publique was transferred several times to the Ministry of the Interior and then re-integrated into the Ministry of Justice. The Legislation Administration is in charge of matters regarding the acquisition or loss of nationality, and it handled naturalisation applications, declarations of nationality and of loss of nationality, name changes and attributions of family name, and residency of foreigners. The ministry of Justice also supervises the recognised religions in Belgium: six religions and one philosophical community. The ministry examines litigations, determines the organisation of the religions, manages religious buildings, fixes and supervises the payment of the salaries of the ministers of worship etc. In 1839, the Sûreté publique / Openbare Veiligheid (Public Safety) was notably charged with the control of aliens in Belgium; the administration was placed under the authority of the Ministry of Justice. Its mission included the expulsion of foreigners considered undesirable, implying the collaboration of notably the municipal administrations, the army and the judiciary. The Police des Étrangers / Vreemdelingenpolitie (Alien Police) was one of the services of the Sûreté publique. It created a sort of exhaustive database of the aliens present in Belgium: an individual file fitted with a unique S.P.-number (“Sûreté publique”) was opened for each alien entering Belgian territory. After the First World War, the Sûreté publique was split into two sections: the first one was charged with monitoring subversive elements in society and gathering intelligence of a political nature; the second section, the Alien Police, dealt with migration and the residence of aliens. In this period, the first rudiments of the status of political refugee were created. However, due to its restrictive definition, thousands of Jewish refugees from Germany were not officially recognised as political refugees. In 1977, the directorate of the Alien Police became the Office des Étrangers / Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken (Immigration Office). Finally, in 1994, the Immigration Office was transferred from the Sûreté Publique to the Ministry of the Interior. (R. Depoortere & N. Saoudi, Inventaire des archives du ministère de la Justice. Direction générale de la Législation civile et des cultes. Archives des services des Cultes, Dons, Legs et Fondations, Versement 2001, T 562, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 2002 ; F. Caestecker, F. Strubbe & P.-A. Tallier, Les dossiers individuels des étrangers produits par la Sûreté publique (Police des Etrangers) (1835-1943), Jalons de Recherche/Zoekwijzers n°19, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 2009; E. PUT, Het Ministerie van Justitie (1831-1988). Deel 1. Organisatiestructuur van de centrale administratie en de adviesorganen, Miscellanea Archivistica Studia n°6, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 1990.)

Access points: locations:: Belgium

Subject terms:: Jewish self-defence and resistance; Military; World War II

Finding aids:: There is an unpublished transfer list.

Yerusha Network member:: State Archives of Belgium

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