Metadata: PK Antwerp 2003 A
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- State Archives in Beveren
- Holding institution (official language):
- Rijksarchief te Beveren
- Postal address:
- Kruibekesteenweg 39/1, 9120 Beveren
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)3 750 29 77
- Email:
- rijksarchief.beveren@arch.be
- Reference number:
- SAB-Beveren-512-R532
- Title:
- PK Antwerp 2003 A
- Title (official language):
- PK Antwerpen 2003 A
- Creator/accumulator:
- Gerechtelijke politie bij het parket van de Procureur des Konings; Police judiciaire près le parquet du Procureur du Roi
- Date(s):
- 1922/1971
- Extent:
- 387.41 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- This fonds contains a large number of research files. We note a series of general files (nos. 1209-2597; dated 1922-1954) as well as the so-called ‘E’-files (nos. 142-1611 and 2762; dated 1954-1971). These series are made accessible through a card index (nos. 2598-2725) containing the names of the individuals mentioned in the files. The files relate to a wide variety of subjects. In no. 2241 we note, for instance, 700 subfiles on the Emissiebank, but the fonds also contains many files concerning crimes related to the Jewish population in various ways. Nr. 1725 for example not only contains a file related to an attempted burglary of the building of Agoedas Jisroel in 1939 (subfile no. 48012) but also a bundle of very interesting files (ca. 25 subfiles bearing the number 48050) concerning “Jodensmokkel”. These files i.a. concern the smuggling of Jewish refugees to/from Belgium (1930s, mainly 1939-1940) and of Jews wishing to emigrate to Palestine (1940s). They are actually files on the suspects of this form of human trafficking and include protocols of interrogations, reports and the like.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The gerechtelijke politie (GPP) / police judiciaire (PJP) (‘judicial police’) was created in 1919. Although propositions to create an autonomous judicial police had been made since the late 19th century, the project only gained widespread political support after the First World War, with the high crime rate during the Occupation having certainly played a role. The judicial police was under the authority and supervision of the procureurs-generaal, and was led by the procureurs des Konings of the different jurisdictions. The Commissariat Général / Commissariaat-Generaal (General Commissioner’s Office) was set up in 1936; it was in charge of the national coordination of the different brigades and of centralising information. The main decision-taking and advisory body was the Comité tot regeling van de Gerechtelijke Politie (set up in 1927), to which an advisory committee was added in 1949 in order to counterbalance the power of the judiciary. Another related body is the Nationaal Instituut voor Criminalistiek en Criminologie (whose predecessor was created in 1920). The judicial police of Brussels was by far the largest department (almost half of the total corps) and often operated in jurisdictions other than its own, due to the central role of the capital, the presence of particular forms of crime and the policy of centralisation of information from foreign and national agencies in Brussels. During the Second World War, the corps continued to function under the authority of secretary-general Gaston Schuind; due to the structurally understaffed police services of the occupier, Belgian judicial police officers were regularly called in. The corps was reinforced after the Liberation, out of fear of the left-wing of the resistance. The service remained virtually unchanged until the police reforms of 2001, when it was replaced by the Federal Police. The service had mainly repressive tasks: it investigated criminal activity, gathered evidence and brought offenders before the courts. In addition it also monitored all kinds of political groups that potentially posed a threat to public security. (C. Martens, Inventaris van het archief van de gerechtelijke politie bij het parket van de procureur des Konings van Brussel (1921-1976), Bruxelles, ARA-AGR.)
- Access points: locations:
- Belgium
- Access, restrictions:
- Consultation of documents less than 100 years old requires the authorisation of the Procureur-Generaal bij het Hof van Beroep of Antwerp, or the Procureur des Konings bij het parket of Antwerp. The index cards (nos. 2598-2725) mentioned above can only be consulted by the police and judiciary services and by the personnel of the Rijksarchief in Beveren.
- Finding aids:
- K. Velle, “Inventaris van het archief van het parket van de procureur des Konings te Antwerpen. Overdracht 2003”, in K. Velle & P. Drossens, Inventaris van het archief van het parket van de procureur des Konings te Antwerpen. Diverse overdrachten, I 149 (Rijksarchief te Beveren), Brussel, ARA-AGR, 2006, pp. 131-194.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
