JV Merksplas 1996

Collection description

Web address:: http://www.arch.be/index.php?l=nl&m=praktische-info&r=onze-leeszalen&d=beveren

Scope and content:: This fonds is of great importance for studying the history of the Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany and Austria, present in Belgium in the 1930s. We firstly note circulars and regulations of the refugee centre. We also find an extensive series of incoming and outgoing correspondence (including correspondence from the directors Dr. Max Beckmann, Dr. Weichmann and Ing. Paul Wolfram), i.a. with Rabbi Schapira and the Comité d’Assistance aux Réfugiés juifs, and concerning the arrival of new refugees, prison labour, collective and individual leaves (verloven) of Jewish refugees, bookkeeping, funding by the Ministry of Justice as well as correspondence with the Israëlitische Kultusgemeinde Wien, Auswanderungsabteilung and the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland etc.

A second large series is formed by the opsluitingsdossiers (individual files) of the Jewish refugees, totalling 39 bundles, from the refugee centres in Merksplas (1390 files) and Wortel (211 files). These files are ordered chronologically, according to date of internment or arrival. Lastly, we mention the archival material of the bookkeeping department, containing bills and financial documents concerning the refugee centre (1938-1940).

Administrative/biographical history:: This small fonds contains archival material of the griffie of the Jewish refugee centre in Merksplas – notably, 2 bundles of individual files of internees (opsluitingsdossiers) from the period November-December 1938 (individual file numbers 233-292).

Access points: persons/families:: Beckmann, Max; Schapira; Weichmann; Wolfram, Paul

Subject terms:: Aid and relief; Correspondence; Financial records; Migration; Migration--Immigration; Rabbis; Refugees

Access, restrictions:: Consultation of documents older than 30 years containing personal information requires the authorisation of the Algemeen Rijksarchivaris or his representative, as well as the signing of a research declaration.

Finding aids:: B. Rzoska & K. Velle, “Inventaris van het archief van het Joods Vluchtelingencentrum te Merksplas (“Centrum voor Israëlitische uitwijkelingen”)”, in B. Rzoska & K. Velle, Inventarissen van de archieven van diverse strafinrichtingen uit de provincies Antwerpen, Limburg en Brabant (20ste eeuw), T22 (Rijksarchief te Beveren), Brussel, ARA-AGR, 1997, pp. 41-46.