Metadata: General Documentation – Majestic collection
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 – Majestic collection
- Title (official language):
- Algemene Documentatie – Fonds Majestic
- Creator/accumulator:
- Directie-Generaal Oorlogsslachtoffers; Direction Générale Victimes de la Guerre
- Date(s):
- 1940/1968
- Language:
- German
- French
- Dutch; Flemish
- Extent:
- 28 binders
- Scope and content:
- This fonds almost exclusively contains prints of microfilmed documents from the archives of the Militärverwaltung in Belgien und Nordfrankreich. The originals are preserved in the Archives Nationales in Paris. The binder “inventaire archives Majestic” (Nefors no. 1332) contains notes of the DGOS-DGVG as well as overviews of this fonds. R.184/tr.77.146 (12 binders in total) concerns, among others, the anti-Jewish measures, the Belgian economy (e.g. the leather industry), forced labour in France and Germany (i.a. for the Organisation Todt), the expulsion of aliens away from the Belgian coastal region, tracing of suspects and the diamond industry in Antwerp. In the same reference we also note excerpts from the activity reports of the Militärverwaltung (including French translations), reports on the ceramics, cement, glass and diamond industry in Belgium and northern France, and documents related to the diamond industry in Antwerp (in particular the liquidation of businesses). French translations of archival material of the Militärsbefehlshaber in Frankreich can be found in r.184/tr.53.154 (totalling 15 binders).
- 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 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
