Metadata: General Documentation – government: the BO and its predecessors – central departments in Brussels
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 – government: the BO and its predecessors – central departments in Brussels
- Title (official language):
- Algemene Documentatie – overheid: de BO en zijn voorlopers – centrale diensten te Brussel
- Creator/accumulator:
- Directie-Generaal Oorlogsslachtoffers; Direction Générale Victimes de la Guerre
- Date(s):
- 1940/1987
- Language:
- German
- French
- Dutch; Flemish
- English
- Yiddish
- Extent:
- several hundred folders
- Scope and content:
-
In this description we discuss the various (sub)collections of the larger collection “General Documentation”, mentioned in the second part (titled “De Naoorlog”) of the inventory by Nefors, below title “Overheid: de B[estuursafdeling] O[orlogsslachtoffers] en zijn voorlopers”, subtitle “Centrale Diensten te Brussel”. Subdivisions are made according to archival creator/section. In absence of a “rapport-transmis” code, we are forced to refer to the numbers of the Nefors inventory.
General: The binder “Liste des rapatriés France et Malines” (Nefors no. 1759) contains registers of repatriated Jews deported from France or Mechelen; the bundle “listes des rapatriés convois de Malines” (Nefors no. 1761) concerns repatriated survivors of the transports from the Kazerne Dossin. The folder “Malines: renseignements au transfer de Malines” contains various isolated items related to the deportation of Jews from Mechelen (Nefors no. 1762). The 5 binders from r.497/J (1951-1952) contain alphabetically arranged forms with questionnaires for Jews deported during the Occupation. We find the report by Mrs. Estelle Goldstein on the deportation of the Jews (dated 1953) in the folders “Juifs. Tableau statistique déportation. Jodendeportatie. Rapport de Mme Goldstein. Doc. Ord. Gén./Dok. Alg. Aard”, “De Jodendeportatie” (both copies in Dutch; Nefors nos. 1793a and 1793b); “Juifs” (copy in French; Nefors no. 1793c). Binder “Immeubles privés réquisitionnés. Devisenschutzkommando. Dossiers Verwaltung” (1940-1966) contains, apart from material and reports i.a. about the activities of the Devisenschutzkommando, also a list of files from the “Verwaltung biens juifs” and of requisitioned private buildings in Brussels (Nefors no. 1806). “Listes des camps”: In this section we find lists and notes containing information on Belgians imprisoned and/or deceased in camps or cities in Europe or elsewhere. The documents are generally duplicates of documents from other series. The advantage of this series is its arrangement: the files are ordered alphabetical (by geographical location). It concerns 111 binders in total (Nefors nos. 2047-2157), dated 1945-1951. “Bestuur der schade aan personen - dienst der Statuten”: R.610/tr.73.500 – 99.999 contains i.a. a brochure in Yiddish about the camp of Puy-l’Évêque and various other documents concerning Jews. The binder “Dir. Gén. Des Victimes de la Guerre: israélites mis au travail pour l’O.T. …. Demande de statut à été introduite” contains a register of Jews employed by the Organisation Todt who had applied for a certain official status (Nefors no. 2278). “Dienst Opzoekingen, Documentatie en Overlijdens – Algemeen”: In r.497/tr.101.480 & 109.571 (1949-1954) we note files of Jews (residing in Belgium) who underwent medical experiments in the concentration camps. Furthermore, we note the register in the folder “juifs hollandais ayant été internés à Breendonk” (Nefors no. 2318), as well as r.706/tr.181.496 – 250.829 (i.a. register and statistics on Jews in Verviers in 1940, documents on the XXth transport), r.706/tr.250.830 (1967-1980; incl. registers, lists, statistics on the deportations of Jews and Roma from Mechelen), r.706/tr.272.199 – 272.240 (1979-1980; incl. a list of Jews liberated in Mechelen on 4 September 1944, statistics on the transports, a register of deported Jewish and Roma children younger than 2 years, statistics on Belgian and non-Belgian Jews on 10 May 1940, and others) and r.706/tr.272.218 – 272.394 (1979-1987; incl. statistics on individuals entering the Sammellager of Mechelen, a lists of mainly Jewish repatriated person deported from Belgium or France, and others).
“Briefwisseling (extern & intern)”: From the series of correspondence we mainly note the 4 binders holding outgoing letters to the AIVG (1945-1987)(Nefors nos. 2371 - 2374). The “correspondentie met particulieren en organisaties” (1945-1987) totals 43 binders and contains outgoing letters to i.a. associations of former prisoners, the Centraal Beheer van Joodse Weldadigheid en Maatschappelijk Hulpbetoon, the United HIAS Service, the United Restitution Organisation and others (Nefors nos. 2380 - 2422).
“Service de recherches en Belgique (Mme Vandenberghe & Mr du Monceau de Bergendal)”: We point out, among others: r.497/tr.34.436 – 37.700 (1949; incl. a list of Jews interned in Rekem), r.497/tr.52.815 (1950; incl. a register of Jews domiciled in Belgium and forced to work in camps in northern France), r.497/tr.69.000 – 73.799 (1940-1951; incl. a list of Jews who stayed in the Hospice d’Anderlecht during the Occupation), r.497/tr.73.800 – 89.599 (1940-1952; incl. forms filled in by Jews for the purpose of exemption of compulsory labour, a register of Jews registered as jobseekers in the Liège region), r.497/tr.117.746 – 119.181 (1942-1953; incl. reports on the persecution of the Jews), r.497/tr.123.000 – 135.500 (1940-1954; i.a. reports on Jews buried in Dilbeek, forced relocation of Jews to Limburg, lists of the Joods Hospitaal in Elsene), r.497/tr.142.600 – 149.999 (1956-1958; i.a. reports on the deportation of Jews to Limburg, confiscation of Jewish property, the internment Centre for Jews in Schoten, confiscation of furniture in Antwerp), r.497/tr.150.000 – 153.999 (1945-1959; incl. confiscated valuables of Jews in the Kazerne Dossin, “Jews. Miscellaneous”, Austrian emigrants 1938-1940) and r.497/tr.155.788 – 156.387 (1940-1959; i.a. reports on Jews).
The following files contain reports on individual cases: r.497/tr.156.433 – 158.827 (1940-1960; i.a. related to the Möbelaktion in Liège, including address lists, anti-Jewish propaganda), r.497/tr.160.162 – 164.699 (1940-1960; i.a. concerning the Möbelaktion), r.497/tr.164.700 – 169.138 (1940-1961; incl. Jews who were victims of the Möbelaktion), r.497/tr.169.439 – 170.999 (1940-1962; i.a. about buildings managed by Verwalter E. Müller, reports on German confiscations of ‘Jewish property’, various documents on the Möbelaktion), r.497/tr.171.000 – 174.999 (1940-1962; i.a. about the Möbelaktion and other confiscated property), r.497/tr.175.000 – 176.443 (1961-1962; i.a. records of lists of Jewish children placed in institutions), r.497/tr.179.500 – 185.900 (1964; i.a. about the Möbelaktion), r.497/tr.185.901 – 193.699 (1965; i.a. related to Ernst Ehlers, the Möbelaktion, hidden Jewish children), r.497/tr.206.525 – 223.043 (1941-1966; i.a. about the Möbelaktion, Devisenschutzkommando, circulars related to the Jewish education system, registers of deported and non-deported Jews from Charleroi), r.497/tr.223.111 – 226.496 (1941-1968), r.497/tr.230.961 – 232.502 (1940-1969; i.a. concerning the Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne, report on a group of Catholic Jews, concerning the deportation of the Jews), r.497/tr.232.658 – 237.508 (1944-1970; i.a. concerning help to Jews, a Jewish group in the Gewapende Partizanen, a note by Dom Bruno Reynders on the legal situation of Jewish children, clandestine press in Yiddish), r.497/tr.237.609 – 241.934 (1940-1970; i.a. about Jewish children, a decoration to Dubois-Pelerin, support of the Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne to Jewish children), r.497/tr.242.201 – 245.976 (1940-1972; i.a. a of Jewish patients in the sanatorium Lizzie Marsily in Westmalle), r.497/tr.251.478 – 263.586 (1944-1973), r.497/tr.263.904 – 272.241 (1944-1980; i.a. about Jewish monks).
Furthermore, we also point out r.497/tr.176.444 – 179.499 (1940-1963; i.a. related to the efforts of the Comité de Défense des Juifs in saving Jewish children, a list of files of the Brüsseler Treuhandgesellschaft), r.497/tr.185.913 (1964-1973; i.a. a list of documents about Jewish children hidden by the CDJ, documents related to Jewish children placed in institutions by the AIVG after the war) and r.497/tr.203.012 – 206.524 (1941-1966; i.a. reports on the activities of the AJB, various documents on the situation of the Jews during the war). R.497/tr.272.246 – 272.318 (1942-1987) contains i.a. press clippings related to the trial against Kurt Asche, a register of people who helped Jews during the war and publications from, among others, the Conseil des Associations Juives en Belgique, Leon Leiberg and the Comité de Vigilance of the Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium.
- 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.)
- Subject terms:
- Aid and relief
- Aid and relief--Philanthropy and charity
- Antisemitism
- Antisemitism--Antisemitic measures
- Antisemitism--Antisemitic propaganda
- Children
- Citizenship
- Holocaust
- Holocaust--Concentration camps
- Holocaust--Deportation
- Holocaust--Hiding
- Holocaust--Rescue and resistance
- Holocaust--Survivors
- Jewish self-defence and resistance
- Nazism
- Nazism--Nazi parties and organisations
- Plunder
- Prisoners
- Resettlement of Jews
- Restitution and compensation
- Statistics
- Vital records
- Vital records--Death records
- 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. Files relating to medical experiments can not be consulted.
- Finding aids:
- There is a thematic and geographic card index. There is also a (partially outdated) inventory: P. Nefors, Inventaris van het Archief van de Dienst voor de Oorlogsslachtoffers – Inventaire des Archives du Service des Victimes de la Guerre, Brussel, 1997.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
