Metadata: PK Ghent 2002 A
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- State Archives in Ghent
- Holding institution (official language):
- Rijksarchief te Gent
- Postal address:
- Bagattenstraat 43, 9000 Gent
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)9 265 76 70
- Email:
- rijksarchief.gent@arch.be
- Reference number:
- SA-Ghent-514-R533
- Title:
- PK Ghent 2002 A
- Title (official language):
- PK Gent 2002 A
- Creator/accumulator:
- Gerechtelijke politie bij het parket van de Procureur des Konings; Police judiciaire près le parquet du Procureur du Roi
- Date(s):
- 1920/2001
- Extent:
- 18.33 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- This fonds contains a sizeable series of “politically charged” research files, some of which are of importance to our guide. The file titled “Jews” (no. 227; dated 1945-1949) contains i.a. correspondence including information on Belgian Jewish organisations (with copies from an address booklet), circulars (i.a. related to the British Minister of Foreign Affairs passing through Belgium, with the judicial police being asked to gather intelligence “in Israelite extremist environments” in case they would plan a terrorist attack), a list (made on the basis of records found by the police in the Kommandantur in Ghent, in September 1944) of Jews from Ghent who were persecuted by the occupier, who fled or whose possessions were looted.
- 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:
- Ghent
- Subject terms:
- Antisemitism
- Holocaust
- Law enforcement
- Law enforcement--Police
- Plunder
- Access, restrictions:
- Consultation of documents less than 100 years old requires the authorisation of the Procureur-Generaal bij het Hof van Beroep of Ghent, or the Procureur des Konings bij het parket of Ghent.
- Finding aids:
- There is an unpublished inventory.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
