Archives of the lawyer Jules Wolf

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Belgium

Holding institution:: Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society

Holding institution (official language):: Centre d’Études et de Documentation Guerre et Sociétés Contemporaines

Postal address:: Luchtvaartsquare 29 / Square de l’Aviation 29, 1070 Bruxelles (Anderlecht)

Phone number:: +32 (0)2 556 92 11

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

Email:: cegesoma@cegesoma.be

Reference number:: CHRDWConS-Brussels-AA 1836

Title:: Archives of the lawyer Jules Wolf

Title (official language):: Archief advocaat Jules Wolf

Creator/accumulator:: Wolf, Jules

Date(s):: 1940/1985

Language:: French; English

Extent:: 30 boxes

Scope and content:: This fonds mostly consists of files produced by Jules Wolf. We find correspondence, various notes and working documents, articles written by Wolf, minutes of meetings of associations and organisations, reports, bookkeeping documents and documentation (press cuttings, excerpts, legal texts). Files nos. 1-5 contain personal documents, such as correspondence (1960-1966) and documents related to Wolf’s activity during the war and his capacity as member of an intelligence service. A number of files concern the post-war trials of war criminals, notably the Nuremberg trials (nos. 6-10; years 1946-1982), the Von Falkenhausen trial (nos. 11-21; 1950-1979) and the Breendonk trial (nos. 22-31; 1946-1973). Other files concern i.a. the representation of Belgium in the human rights commission of the UN, the Ligue belge pour la Défense des droits de l’Homme, the International Year for Human Rights (Tehran conference of the UN, 1968), Wolf’s activity as an observer for the Ligue in Israel in the framework of the Geneva convention, the Armenian genocide, the Algerian war of independence and Wolf’s defence of Algerians before French courts, etc. Of interest are also the files concerning the violation of human rights in the former Belgian colonies (i.a. the trial against the ‘martyrs of Pentecost’, mercenaries, the Lulua-Baluba conflict, Congolese politicians such as Nguza Karl’I Bond and Kamitatu, the Tutsi issue, the Comité pour la Protection des Droits de Réfugiés du Ruanda, the riots in Leopoldville, etc.). In addition we also note files (mostly consisting of documentation) about the state of human rights in countries such as Spain, Greece, Chile, Tunisia, Morocco and Haiti. The fonds also contains less extensive files, i.a. on the imprescriptibility of war crimes, on the activity of Jules Wolf as substitute of the militair auditeur, on his work Dans l’ombre et le silence, German rearmament, the revision of the Rosenberg-Sobell trial, the associations Les Amis d’Henri Rolin and Les Amis de Paul Brien, slavery, decolonisation, Israeli prisoners in Syria, etc. A number of individual files and documents in particular relate to the Belgian Jewish community – see the files nos. 182-183 concerning the situation of the Jews in the USSR (1971) or no. 202 which contains minutes of the meetings of the Service Social Juif (December 1983-June 1985).

Archival history:: Bequest by Jules Wolf’s daughter Claire Wolf in 2003.

Administrative/biographical history:: Jules Wolf (1904-1985) was born in Brussels in 1904. He was a lawyer attached to the Hof van Beroep in Brussels. He was married to Lucienne Creten. Like his older brother Maurice, he joined the resistance and was active in the Milet and Sabot networks. Wolf was arrested in 1942 and imprisoned for a year. After the war he was appointed as lieutenant-colonel at the War Crimes Commission and served as an observer to i.a. the Nuremberg, Poznan and Lüneburg trials. With Henri Rolin and Georges Aronstein he re-established, in 1954, the Belgische Liga voor de Rechten van de Mens in which he was involved as vice president and president of its legal commission. With this background, Jules Wolf was considered an expert in various international legal issues: he notably defended anti-Francoist political prisoners and fighters of the Algerian FLN, led the Comité d’aide au Biafra, represented the Tutsi of Ruanda at the United Nations and also served as the Belgian representative at the UN human rights commission. In addition, Wolf was a member of the board of the Service social juif. (J.-P. Schreiber, “Wolf, Maurice”, in J.-P. Schreiber, Dictionnaire biographique des Juifs de Belgique. Figures du judaïsme belge, XIXe-XXe siècles, Brussel, De Boeck, 2002, pp. 364-365.)

Access points: locations:: Belgian Congo; Belgium; France; Israel; Ruanda

Access points: persons/families:: Wolf, Jules

Subject terms:: Ashkenazi Jews; Post-WWII trials; Professions; Professions--Lawyers; State of Israel; War crimes

Access, restrictions:: Access requires the authorisation of the CEGESOMA.

Finding aids:: S. Wolf, Fonds Jules Wolf, Brussel, CEGESOMA, 2004 (list AA 1836).

Yerusha Network member:: State Archives of Belgium

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