Robert Dreyfus archives

Collection description

Scope and content:: This fonds mainly contains correspondence addressed to Chief Rabbi Robert Dreyfus as well as copies of letters written by him, notably concerning the fate of children who survived the Shoah and the hidden children that had become orphans in the homes of the AIVG. We also note correspondence from the AIVG and various Jewish organisations such as the Centrale, Maccabi, the B’nai B’rith, the Hospice israélite, Beth Lechem, the Société de Bienfaisance israélite sépharadite de Belgique, the Villa Johanna, the Home pour Vieillards israélites, WIZO, the Belgian Zionist Federation, KKL, ORT, Jewish youth movements, rabbis and Jewish communities from other countries. Furthermore, we find documents related to courses of Jewish religion in various schools in Brussels (Lycée français, Athénée Royal d’Ixelles, etc.) and to courses taught to future librarians, documents concerning Jewish prisoners in the various prisons in the country, notebooks with personal bookkeeping, notebooks with spelling tests of his daughter Dina and press cuttings.

Administrative/biographical history:: Robert Dreyfus was born in Alsace in 1913. He entered rabbinical school in Paris in 1932. Taken prisoner by the Germans in June 1940, he spent the war in a labour camp. He succeeded rabbi David Berman as rabbi of the Jewish Community of Brussels (CIB) in 1948. He was active in the AIVG, de Maison de Retraite, the Société israélite d’Assistance Antituberculeuse, the Centrale d’Œuvres sociales juives in Brussels and within the Belgian section of ORT. He resigned from his function as great rabbi of the CIB in 1955 and moved to Metz. Robert Dreyfus returned to Belgium as Chief Rabbi in 1963 and also became inspector of the classes of Jewish religion. He was heavily involved in the fight for the rights of Soviet Jewry and in inter-religious reconciliation and dialogue. He retired in 1978 and died in Jerusalem in 2002. (J. Deom, "Le grand rabbin Robert Dreyfus. Notes pour une biographie", in Les Cahiers de la Mémoire contemporaine-Bijdragen tot de eigentijdse Herinnering, no. 4, 2002, pp. 225-243.)

Subject terms:: Aid and relief; Aid and relief--Philanthropy and charity; Children; Correspondence; Education; Education--Schools and universities; Elderly; Holocaust; Holocaust--Hiding; Holocaust--Survivors; Jewish community; Libraries; Orphans; ORT (Organisation for Rehabilitation through training); Prisoners; Rabbis; Sephardi Jews; Zionism; Zionism--WIZO (Women's International Zionist Organization); Zionism--Zionist organisations and parties

Access, restrictions:: Access requires the authorisation of the archivist of the Jewish Museum of Belgium.