Metadata: General documentation. Card index of the deportation and persecution of the Jews and Gypsies of Belgium, known as “Mechelen card index”
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- Directorate-General War Victims, Archives and Documentation Department
- Holding institution (official language):
- Direction Générale Victimes de la Guerre, Service Archives et Documentation
- Postal address:
- Luchtvaartsquare 31 / Square de l’Aviation 31, 1070 Brussel (Anderlecht)
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 528 91 57
- Web address:
- http://warvictims.fgov.be/
- Email:
- archidoc@minsoc.fed.be
- Reference number:
- DirGenWarVic-Brussels-
- Title:
- General documentation. Card index of the deportation and persecution of the Jews and Gypsies of Belgium, known as “Mechelen card index”
- Title (official language):
- Documentation générale. Fichier de la Déportation et de la Persécution des Juifs et des Tsiganes de Belgique, dit Fichier de Malines
- Creator/accumulator:
- Directie-Generaal Oorlogsslachtoffers; Direction Générale Victimes de la Guerre
- Date(s):
- 1942/2016
- Date note:
- Material continues to be added to this collection.
- Language:
- German
- French
- Dutch; Flemish
- Extent:
- ca. 75,000 files
- Scope and content:
- This card index, based on the ‘registers of Jews’ (registres des Juifs) established by the municipalities, was formed by the Sipo-SD as the basic tool for the deportation of Jews and Roma to Auschwitz. The cards (fiches) notably mention the date of the transport from Mechelen, the number of the transport and the number of the deportee. The card index was initially used, after the war, by the DG Victimes de la Guerre as a tool for searching for missing persons. The index was supplemented with cards made by the Aide aux Israélites Victimes de la Guerre and the Ministry of Reconstruction. For each individual, we generally find 4-5 cards containing information on their trajectory as well as on the searches done by their relatives after 1945. The documents often also contain photographs. The fonds is subdivided in three parts: the card index of Jews and Roma of Belgium deported from Belgium, the index of Jews and Roma of Belgium who were not deported, and the index of Jews and Roma of Belgium who were deported to or from France (known as the Drancy card index).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The early predecessor of today’s Directie-Generaal Oorlogsslachtoffers / Direction Générale Victimes de la Guerre (DGVG)(Directorate-General War Victims) was the Belgisch Commissariaat voor de Repatriëring, created in late June 1944 with the aim of repatriating the many Belgian prisoners, forced labourers and refugees. In August 1945 the Commissariat (which was being liquidated) was integrated in the Ministry for War Victims, created in February of the same year. This ministry was charged with immediate assistance to Belgian war victims, but it was also responsible for their pensions, medical treatment etc. A number of new services – including a service for medical and pharmaceutical care and the Nationaal Werk voor Oud-Strijders – were added to the ministry in 1945. In April 1946, the duties and services of the Ministry for War Victims and the Ministry for War Damages were transferred to the newly created Ministry of Reconstruction. The Bestuur der Schade aan Personen (‘administration for damage to individuals’) of this ministry took over the competences related to war victims. The evaluation and granting of the status of ‘political prisoner’ was added to its duties. Its division into three main sections (statuses, pensions for civilian victims of the war, documentation) dates back to 1949. From 1946 until 1952 the Bestuur der Schade aan Personen almost continuously formed part of the Ministry of Reconstruction. Afterwards the Bestuursafdeling voor Oorlogsslachtoffers successively became a part of the Ministry of Public Health (1952-1995) and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Public Health and Environment (1995-2001). Since the division of this last ministry (2002), the Directorate-General War Victims belongs to the Federal Public Service (FPS) Social Security. Today, the DGVG has a dual mission. On the one hand, the execution of the law regarding civilian war victims, notably the granting of the various statuses of national recognition (e.g. political prisoner, hidden Jewish child, defaulter (werkweigeraar), fisherman in wartime) and processing of related pension applications. On the other hand, the DGVG manages its archives and documentation service. This voluminous body of documents is mainly the result of the field work of the Service de recherches en Belgique in the immediate post-war period – in particular the work carried out by its liaison officers and missions abroad. The personnel of the service often collaborated with a number of Jewish organisations, including Aide aux Israélites Victimes de la Guerre. (http://warvictims.fgov.be/nl/about/origine.htm; P. Nefors, Inventaris van het Archief van de Dienst voor de Oorlogsslachtoffers – Inventaire des Archives du Service des Victimes de la Guerre, Brussel, 1997.)
- Access, restrictions:
- The files can be consulted by the concerned individuals and their descendants. Consultation for research purposes is authorised on the basis of a research declaration.
- Finding aids:
- There is a card index, ordered alphabetically and by number. Searches are carried out by the personnel of the DGOS-DGVG.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
