Fonds Attestations regarding the register of Jews

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Belgium

Holding institution:: Jewish Social Service

Holding institution (official language):: Service Social Juif

Postal address:: Avenue Ducpétiaux 68 / Ducpétiauxlaan 68, 1060 Bruxelles (Saint-Gilles)

Phone number:: +32 (0)2 538 81 80

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

Reference number:: JSS-SGilles-Fonds Attestations Registre des Juifs

Title:: Fonds Attestations regarding the register of Jews

Title (official language):: Fonds Attestations Registre des Juifs

Creator/accumulator:: Service Social Juif

Date(s):: 1948/1967

Date note:: ca. 1950-1965

Extent:: ca. 7 linear metres

Scope and content:: This fonds contains individual files regarding attestations delivered by the legal department of the AIVG. We primarily find documents certifying that the concerned person was inscribed in the ‘register of Jews’ or was obliged to wear the yellow badge during the Second World War. The files generally contain information on the surname, first name, place and date of birth and legal residence during the war of the individuals requiring an attestation.

Administrative/biographical history:: The organisation Aide aux Israélites Victimes de la Guerre (1944-1961)(AIVG) was created for the purpose of helping Jewish war victims, notably those who were deported or robbed, and facilitating their social and economic rehabilitation. Its statutes were published in the Moniteur belge in October 1944. This association tried to respond to the distress and urgency of the needs of Shoah survivors. The AIVG was composed of several departments: the Service Recherches et Rapatriement (‘tracing and repatriation service’), the Service Enfance (‘childrens department’), the children’s homes, the legal department, the medical service, the social service, the labour service and the Petite caisse de prêts (‘small loans fund’). The AIVG collected information and cared for the survivors of the camps, both those who lived in Belgium before the war and survivors passing through the country. The organisation provided them with relief in the form of goods and money, housing and job assistance, and loans to purchase equipment and start a professional activity. The AIVG contributed to the reconstruction effort, and to the rehabilitation of the survivors of the camps, including by offering them legal support in their efforts to be compensated for spoliation and to defend their rights to compensation. The organisation was in particular dedicated to helping seniors and children whose families had perished during the Shoah. The AIVG ensured the care for these children by means of a dozen homes, opened since April 1945. The association managed the Home de Linkebeek, the Home d’Auderghem, the Home des Poussins, then the Home des Aiglons, the Home des Hirondelles, the Home de Lasne, the Home de Profondsart, the Home de Miravalle, the Home de Ronquières; by 1955, it only operated the Home de Rhode-Saint-Genèse. At first the AIVG was financed by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (Joint). This funding decreased and finally ended in 1972, because the successor of the AIVG, the Service Social Juif, had started receiving subsidies from the Belgian state. After having responded to the most urgent needs in the immediate post-war years, the aid provided by the AIVG evolved and adapted to the situation of the Jews in Belgium. It primarily served the needs of the elderly, of the sick and of individuals needing social or psychological assistance. This evolution was reflected in the name change to Service Social Juif, in March 1961. The available services were also adjusted. A Centre Médico-Psychologique was opened in 1962, as well as Club Amitié for seniors. At present, the SSJ is dedicated to providing assistance to Shoah survivors and people in need. The institution includes several services: the Club Amitié for the elderly; the Centre d’Action Sociale Globale, composed of social workers, has developed a homework support program and an advocacy group for the genocide of Tutsis; a café for the Russian-speaking community; and the Centre Médico-Psychologique, that organised psychological consultations, speech therapy, and social services. The SSJ published a monthly magazine called Carrefour. (D. Dratwa, Libération et Reconstruction. La vie juive en Belgique après la Shoah, Catalogue de l’Exposition 18/08/1994, Bruxelles, Musée Juif de Belgique, 1994 ; C. Massange, Les archives de l’Aide aux Israélites Victimes de la Guerre conservées au Service Social Juif (1944-1960), Bruxelles, Fondation de la Mémoire Contemporaine, 2006 ; C. Massange, Bâtir le lendemain. L’Aide aux Israélites Victimes de la Guerre et le Service Social Juif de 1944 à nos jours, Bruxelles, Didier Devillez, 2002.)

Subject terms:: Aid and relief; Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic measures; Holocaust; Holocaust--Survivors; Holocaust--Yellow star; Jewish community records; Legal matters; Restitution and compensation; Vital records

System of arrangement:: The files are ordered alphabetically.

Access, restrictions:: Consultation requires the authorisation of the president of the Service Social Juif.

Yerusha Network member:: State Archives of Belgium

fullscreen: Fonds Attestations regarding the register of Jews

Collection

Downloads

Full record

Image fragment

Formats and links

Formats