Collection of personal papers of victims of the Holocaust and Nazi terror

Collection description

Holding institution (official language):: Stichting Auschwitz - vzw Auschwitz in gedachtenis

Reference number:: AuschF-Brussels-Bestanden van persoonlijke papieren van slachtoffers van de Holocaust en van de naziterreur

Title:: Collection of personal papers of victims of the Holocaust and Nazi terror

Title (official language):: Bestanden van persoonlijke papieren van slachtoffers van de Holocaust en van de naziterreur

Creator/accumulator:: Stichting Auschwitz – vzw Auschwitz in Gedachtenis; Fondation Auschwitz – Mémoire d’Auschwitz asbl

Scope and content:: This fonds contains both copies and original material. We mainly find personal documents or documentation such as identity papers, membership cards, correspondence and post cards, notes, biographical writings, drawings, texts, press clippings, obituaries, etc. from the witnesses themselves. We also note administrative documents such as attestations (e.g. of the status of political prisoner), various forms as well as legal documents (e.g. reports of interrogations, police reports, etc.). In the fonds we often find pictures of the witnesses and their families, dating from the pre-war period as well as the post-war years. We not only find portraits and family pictures but also photographs of Jewish youth movements, pictures of Jewish children hidden with other families or institutions, remembrance ceremonies, post-war visits to concentration camps, etc.

Archival history:: The documents were donated/deposited by various individuals, often on the occasion of interviews conducted by the Stichting Auschwitz.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Stichting Auschwitz (‘Auschwitz foundation’) was created in 1980 by the Belgian association of former political prisoners of Auschwitz-Birkenau, camps and prisons of Silesia. The foundation’s mission is to preserve the memory to the Holocaust and Nazi-terror i.a. through historical research, the conservation of archives and the transmission of knowledge. For this purpose a study and documentation centre was developed, the non-profit association (vzw) Auschwitz in Gedachtenis (‘Auschwitz in remembrance’). In 2010 the association became one of the three recognised research centres in the context of the Décret relative à la transmission de la mémoire (13 March 2009) of the Communauté française. (http://www.auschwitz.be)

Subject terms:: Children; Commemoration; Holocaust; Holocaust--Concentration camps; Holocaust--Hiding; Holocaust--Survivors; Jewish self-defence and resistance; Monuments and memorials; Personal records; Photographs; Prisoners; Vital records

Access, restrictions:: Consultation is reserved for researchers. They are required to fill out a research declaration prior to consultation.

Finding aids:: The inventory was published, in ten parts, in the Driemaandelijks Tijdschrift / Bulletin Trimestriel of the Stichting Auschwitz: see issues 82, 84-86, 88-90, 94 and 96-97. If the donor of the documents was interviewed, the descriptions also contain references to the interview.