“Give them a face” collection

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Belgium

Holding institution:: Kazerne Dossin - Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on the Holocaust and Human Rights

Holding institution (official language):: Kazerne Dossin - Memoriaal, Museum en Documentatiecentrum over Holocaust en Mensenrechten

Postal address:: Goswin de Stassartstraat 153, 2800 Mechelen

Phone number:: +32 (0)15 29 06 60

Web address:: https://www.kazernedossin.eu

Email:: info@kazernedossin.eu

Reference number:: KazDossin-Mechelen-Collectie 17

Title:: “Give them a face” collection

Title (official language):: “Geef ze een gezicht”-verzameling

Creator/accumulator:: Kazerne Dossin – Memoriaal, Museum en Documentatiecentrum over Holocaust en Mensenrechten; Kazerne Dossin – Mémorial, Musée et Centre de Documentation sur l’Holocauste et les Droits de l’Homme; Kazerne Dossin - Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on the Holocaust and Human Rights

Date(s):: 1900/1999

Date note:: 20th century

Extent:: ca. 19,000 images

Scope and content:: This collection consists of photographs of Jews and Roma from Belgium and northern France, deported from the Kazerne Dossin between 1942 and 1944. The photos were collected in the framework of the project “Geef ze een gezicht” (“Give them a face”)(2005-2009), in preparation of the book Mechelen-Auschwitz. The photographs originate from various archival fonds such as the individual alien files (ARA-AGR), the Relics collection (Kazerne Dossin), private collections, etc. Note that this collection now contains more photographs than were published in the book.

Administrative/biographical history:: The infamous ‘Kazerne Dossin’ (‘Dossin barracks’) was built in the mid-18th century as an infantry barracks of the Austrian authorities. The complex was named Hof van Habsburg. Until the Second World War it continued to function as an army barracks. From July 1942 until the Liberation in 1944 it served as an SS-Sammellager (transit camp) for Jews and Roma. Jews – men, women and children – who had voluntarily registered or who had been arrested were imprisoned in the barracks awaiting deportation. Daily life in the barracks, the harsh camp regime and the violence of the camp guards have been depicted in many historical and autobiographical works. During the Occupation, 28 transports left Mechelen (including one so-called ‘Z-transport’ of Roma) for Auschwitz-Birkenau, totalling over 25,844 individuals. The vast majority did not return from the camps. Between 1945 and 1975 the buildings were once again used by the Belgian military. In the 1980s, after years of vacancy, the complex (threatened with demolition) was divided into apartments. Spurred by the Vereniging van de Joodse Weggevoerden in België and the Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium and with the support of the Flemish government, the Province of Antwerp and the city of Mechelen, part of the infrastructure was reserved with the intention of accommodating a museum about the sinister function of the barracks during the Occupation. The Joods Museum van Deportatie en Verzet (‘Jewish museum of deportation and resistance’), which also became a documentation centre, opened its doors in 1995. In the early 2000s, plans for a new and expanded museum were approved by the Flemish government. The foundation stone for the renewed museum site was laid in 2010. The updated museum, designed by Flemish architect Bob Van Reeth, was opened to the public in November 2012. Today, the complex is divided into a memorial (housed in the rooms of the old museum), a museum, and a documentation centre. (http://www.kazernedossin.eu)

Access points: locations:: Belgium; France; Kazerne Dossin

Subject terms:: Holocaust; Holocaust--Concentration camps; Holocaust--Deportation; Personal records; Photographs

Access, restrictions:: Consultation is only possible upon prior request and requires the authorisation of the archivists.

Finding aids:: There are detailed finding aids; however, searches are best done in cooperation with the archivists.

Yerusha Network member:: State Archives of Belgium

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