‘Jours de Guerre’ collection concerning the television broadcast with the same name by RTBF-Charleroi

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Belgium

Holding institution:: Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society

Holding institution (official language):: Centre d’Études et de Documentation Guerre et Sociétés Contemporaines

Postal address:: Luchtvaartsquare 29 / Square de l’Aviation 29, 1070 Bruxelles (Anderlecht)

Phone number:: +32 (0)2 556 92 11

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

Email:: cegesoma@cegesoma.be

Reference number:: CHRDWConS-Brussels-AA 1450

Title:: ‘Jours de Guerre’ collection concerning the television broadcast with the same name by RTBF-Charleroi

Title (official language):: Collection 'Jours de Guerre' de l'émission de télévision qui portait le même nom RTBF-Charleroi

Creator/accumulator:: Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie; Radio-Télévision belge de la Communauté française

Date(s):: 1989/1995

Extent:: 861 binders

Scope and content:: This fonds firstly contains transcripts of interviews of individuals, taken by the RTBF in preparation of the television program Jours de Guerre. We note many interviews that are relevant for this guide, notably those concerning: Jewish resistance (incl. the CDJ); the persecution of the Jews in Antwerp; roundups, arrests and deportation of the Jews; the XXth transport; hiding and adoption of Jewish children; concentration camps and killing centres (incl. the Kazerne Dossin, Fort Breendonk, Auschwitz, Buchenwald); the VJB; etc. See no. 28 (Regine Beer), no. 34 (Jeanne Biatour), no. 37 (Blitz), no. 57 (Edith Buch-Dudicq), no. 58 (Jacques Bude), no. 59 (Helène Bude), no. 64 (Willy Callewaert), no. 70 (Lydia Chagoll), no. 200 (Gerstler), no. 211 (Michel Goldberg), no. 212 (Maurice Goldstein), no. 230 (Irma Halkin), no. 247 (Benjamin Hermelin), no. 270 (Edith Katz), no. 276 (Ladeuze), no. 313 (Edouard Limbos), no. 324 (Ernest Mandel), no. 374 (Regine Orfinger), no. 383 (Peled), no. 498 (Maurice Pioro), no. 412 (Adi Rosenberg), no. 414 (Bracha Rotschild-Altman), no. 425 (Jules-Henri Send), no. 431 (Marcel Sonneville), no. 434 (Rachel Souritz), no. 437 (Joseph Sterngold), no. 440 (Rachel Surytsa), no. 441 (Julia Sztainke), no. 442 (Philippe Szyper), no. 443 (Claire Szyper), no. 445 (Mina Talmazan) and no. 454 (Sam Topor). Apart from interviews, the fonds also contains documentation files. See files nos. 535 (i.a. about Jewish children), 548 and 549 (concerning antisemitism, pogroms in Antwerp, wearing of the yellow badge, hidden Jewish children), 550 (related to a symposium of the Auschwitz foundation) and 702 (concerning the first ‘Jewish ordinances’ in Belgium). Lastly, the ‘summaries’ (syntheses), made on the basis of the interviews and files mentioned above, were used in the drafting of the texts of the broadcasts. See the nos. 741 and 742 (concerning hidden Jewish children), no. 782 (the camp in Breendonk), no. 783 (antisemites in the Antwerp region), 787 (“Jews”), 789 (a comparison of the persecution of the Jews in various European countries), no. 807 (compulsory wearing of the yellow badge, deportations) and no. 811 (foreign refugees in Belgium).

Administrative/biographical history:: The Belgisch Nationaal instituut voor Radio-Omroep (Belgian National Institute for Radio Broadcasting)(NIR) was created in 1930 as a public institution, based on the model of the BBC. The institute, having received a de facto monopoly on radio broadcasts, partly took over the staff and broadcasting infrastructure of private radio stations. The first television programs were broadcast in 1953. During the Second World War, the installations of the NIR were used by the occupier for the propaganda of Sender Brüssel. The Belgische Nationale Radio-omroep (BNRO), created in 1942 by the exile government, broadcasted from London. After the Liberation the BNRO merged with the NIR. The ‘communautarisation’ of the Belgian state also heavily influenced the structure of the public broadcasting organisation. From 1937, there were independent directorates for the broadcasts in Dutch and French, with common administrative bodies. In 1960, the NIR was split up in three institutions: the Instituut van de Nederlandse Uitzendingen (BRT) (Dutch broadcasts), Instituut van de Franse Uitzendingen (RTB) (French broadcasts) and Instituut van de Gemeenschappelijke Diensten (IGD) (common services). The IGD was gradually phased out and eventually dissolved in 1977, the date of the definitive separation of the public broadcasting organisation. From the late 1970s onwards, individual broadcasting decrees for the two institutions were passed; the French-speaking RTBF and the Dutch-speaking BRT/BRTN/VRT went their separate way. Since the late 1980s, the public broadcasting institutions are faced with competition from private broadcasters. Today, RTBF and VRT are highly autonomous although they are financed by their respective Communities. Their relationship with the government is defined in administrative agreements with the Vlaamse Gemeenschap and the Communauté française respectively. Both public broadcasters are located in Brussels at the Reyerslaan (since 1968); before that they were based at the iconic Flagey building (1938-1968). Relevant for the present guide are the so-called ‘uitzendingen door derden’ (broadcasts by third parties), existing since the 1950s. Judaism (as an officially recognised religion) is one of the religious and philosophical communities receiving airtime on public broadcasting. (J. Derwael, Archief van de Belgische Radio en Televisie. Instituut van de Nederlandse Uitzendingen en rechtsvoorgangers, I 503, Brussel, ARA-AGR, 2011.)

Access points: locations:: Antwerp; Auschwitz; Belgium; Breendonk; Buchenwald; Kazerne Dossin

Access points: persons/families:: Beer, Regine; Chagoll, Lydia; Limbos, Edouard; Mandel, Ernest; Orfinger-Karlin, Régine; Prowizur-Szyper, Claire; Topor, Sam

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic measures; Children; Communism; Holocaust; Holocaust--Concentration camps; Holocaust--Hiding; Holocaust--Yellow star; Jewish self-defence and resistance; Pogroms; Radio and television; Refugees

Finding aids:: L.-A. Bernardo y Garcia, Archives Jours de Guerre Emission historique de la R.T.B.F. (Centre de Production de Charleroi), Brussel, CEGESOMA, 1995.

Yerusha Network member:: State Archives of Belgium

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