Metadata: Archives of the Sequester of the Brüsseler Treuhandgesellschaft and the Group 12, including the archives of the ‘Belgian department’ of the Office of Colonial Policy of the NSDAP
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- National Archives of Belgium 2 – Joseph Cuvelier Repository
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archives Générales du Royaume 2 – Dépôt Joseph Cuvelier
- Postal address:
- Hopstraat 26-28 / Rue du Houblon 26-28, 1000 Bruxelles
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 274 15 00
- Web address:
- http://www.arch.be/
- Email:
- agr_ar_2@arch.be
- Reference number:
- NAB2-Brussels-545-462
- Title:
- Archives of the Sequester of the Brüsseler Treuhandgesellschaft and the Group 12, including the archives of the ‘Belgian department’ of the Office of Colonial Policy of the NSDAP
- Title (official language):
- Archives du Séquestre de la Brüsseler Treuhandgesellschaft et du Groupe 12, y compris les archives du ‘Service Belgique’ de l’Office de Politique coloniale du NSDAP
- Creator/accumulator:
- Brüsseler Treuhandgesellschaft
- Date(s):
- 1899/1988
- Date note:
- The majority of material dates from 1940-1963.
- Language:
- German
- French
- Dutch; Flemish
- Extent:
- 81 linear metres
- Scope and content:
-
This archival fonds is crucial for studying the mechanisms of spoliation, and the ‘aryanisation’ of the Belgian economy by the occupier. It is also of major importance for reconstructing the socio-economic position of the Jewish population in the years before the Second World War.
The fonds is divided in four parts, corresponding to the various archival creators, namely the sequester of the Brüsseler Treuhandgesellschaft (BTG), the BTG itself, the Gruppe XII and the Kolonialpolitisches Amt. The first three parts in particular are relevant to this guide.
From the archival material of the sequester of the BTG, we firstly note general documents related to the internal operation of the department (personnel, administrative framework, bookkeeping etc.). We especially point out the documents related to the financial administration of the registration and restitution of looted property. They consist of subject files, correspondence, reports, instructions, notes and so on concerning the restitution and/or sale of negotiable instruments (waardepapieren), financial assets on various types of bank accounts, the contents of safes, ‘personal belongings’ (incl. jewellery), rough diamonds etc. This section also contains series of correspondence with banks (known spoliation banks (roofbanken), and other banks with BTG accounts), as well as correspondence with Jewish organisations (see e.g. no. 90 containing correspondence with the Association des Prisonniers politiques juifs). A final section relates to the processing of individual files concerning questions about the restitution of ‘Jewish’ and ‘enemy’ property. We note series of files (of individuals, businesses) and series of registers (repertoria)(e.g. of accounts with certain banks). The archives of the BTG itself contain, apart from material related to the internal operation of the organisation (personnel, bookkeeping, instructions etc.), mainly archival material concerning the management of the – presumed – ‘enemy’ and ‘Jewish’ influence in the Belgian economy. We note, for example, correspondence, reports and notes addressed to the Gruppe XII; documents from the direction of the BTG; material resulting from the identification and confiscation of ‘Jewish’ property (i.a. large series of individual files concerning banking transactions on the accounts of the BTG, opened in the name of the victims of the spoliation); archival material produced as a result of the management of this property by the Sammelverwaltung of the BTG, as well as by individual Verwalter (i.a. of movable property looted during the Möbelaktion, belongings of persons imprisoned in the Kazerne Dossin).
The archives of the Gruppe XII contain, apart from documents of a general nature (legal texts, various documentation, statistical material), in particular archival material related to the registration, administration and liquidation of ‘enemy’ and ‘Jewish’ businesses and organisations. We note i.a. lists of to be liquidated businesses but especially large series of declaration forms, filled in by ‘enemy’ or ‘Jewish’ companies. ‘Jewish enterprises’ were identified through these M-forms, ordered by economic sector. In addition, we note the sizeable series of files related to the management of these businesses by the occupier (nos. 836-2956), ordered by economic sector (food industry; commerce; radio, press, theatre and cinema; banking and finances; industry; miscellaneous; transport, hotels and restaurants). We also point out the material related to the taking over of ‘Jewish’ firms by Belgian Oostfronters (Eastern Front volunteers), collaborators, German companies etc.
A final important section concerns the files and forms related to the confiscation of possessions of Jewish individuals (mainly German Jews). We note i.a. correspondence, notes and declaration forms.
- Archival history:
- The archives of the BTG were transported from Brussels to Germany from September 1944 – first to Baden-Baden and then to Göttingen, where ca. 30% of the fonds was destroyed in a bombing. As a result of the transports the archives became mixed with archival material of i.a. the Gruppe XII. In September 1945, the Department of Economic Recovery, in cooperation with the English military administration, succeeded in identifying the fonds and transporting it back to Belgium, where it was first kept in the buildings of the former Emissiebank, and later moved to the headquarters of the Dienst van het Sekwester. In 2005 the fonds was transferred to the General State Archives. A number of files, preserved by the Directorate-General War Victims, were transferred to the General State Archives in 2013 and integrated in the fonds.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The German authorities quickly took an interest in the so-called ‘Jewish’ possessions in occupied Belgium. For various reasons, it soon became clear to the Military Administration that the ‘dejudaisation’ (Arisierung) would have to take place outside the framework of the Belgian legal system. When it appeared that individual administrators (Verwalter) were not able to handle this task, the Brüsseler Treuhandgesellschaft (BTG) was created on 12 October 1940. While the BTG was a company under Belgian law, its management largely consisted of senior officials from the Gruppe XII of the Wirtschaftsabteilung of the Military Administration – the economic department responsible for “enemy and Jewish possessions”. The mission of the BTG, in charge of eliminating the ‘Jewish influence’ in the Belgian economy, was twofold. First, ‘enemy’ (French, British, American etc) and ‘Jewish’ assets were identified. In the case of the Jewish population, this implied a process of categorisation and isolation. A total of 7729 ‘Jewish businesses’ were declared. In a second step, the assets and possessions were centralised, managed and eventually liquidated for the benefit of the Reich. By 1942, this ‘dejudaisation’ was fully underway. Almost 83% of the ‘Jewish businesses’ would be liquidated ‘voluntarily’ – the businesses shut down, had to be removed from the handelsregister and their stocks were transferred to the Warencentrales (created on the initiative of the occupier). Some businesses, for example those who yielded high profits, were large enough, or were of strategic importance for the war economy, remained in operation for a while. They were managed by Verwalter – Germans but also non-Jewish Belgians. The BTG also managed so-called ‘non-active assets’ such as active debts or bank accounts, notably from Jews. A number of banks under German control managed the revenue (securities, liquid assets) yielded by this form of organised robbery. After the Liberation of Belgium the BTG was sequestered. A separate department called Dienst Sekwester Brüsseler Treuhandgesellschaft (headed by Alfred Pranger until 1956) was charged with the settlement of these vast assets, and it organised the restitution, wherever possible, to the rightful owners. In 1960, the Administratie van Registratie en Domeinen of the Ministry of Finance took over this task. Assets that could not be returned were transferred to the Belgian Treasury in successive phases. The (sequester) archives of the BTG were among the main sources used by the so-called Buysse Commission I (1997-2001) and II (2002-2008), charged with studying the plunder of the Jewish population, and the indemnification by the Belgian state. (Studiecommissie betreffende het lot van de bezittingen van de leden van de Joodse gemeenschap van België, geplunderd of achtergelaten tijdens de oorlog 1940-1945, De bezittingen van de slachtoffers van de Jodenvervolging in België: spoliatie, rechtsherstel, bevindingen van de Studiecommissie., Brussel, Diensten van de Eerste Minister, 2001; P. Falek, “Nouvelles pistes de recherches pour l’histoire juive en Belgique. Éclairage sur trois fonds conservés aux Archives de l’État”, in Les Cahiers de la Mémoire contemporaine-Bijdragen tot de eigentijdse Herinnering, te verschijnen in 2014; J. Franssen & F. Strubbe, Inventaire des archives du Séquestre de la Brüsseler Treuhandgesellschaft et du Groupe 12 y compris les archives du ‘Service Belgique’ de l’Office de Politique coloniale du NSDAP, I 25 (ARA2-AGR2), Brussel, ARA-AGR, 2014.)
- Access points: locations:
- Brussels
- Subject terms:
- Antisemitism
- Antisemitism--Antisemitic measures
- Film
- Financial matters
- Financial matters--Banks, banking, and bankers
- Holocaust
- Hospitality industry
- Hospitality industry--Restaurants
- Nazism
- Nazism--Nazi parties and organisations
- Plunder
- Plunder--Aryanisation
- Plunder--Forced closures
- Publishing
- Radio and television
- Restitution and compensation
- Theatre
- Trade and commerce
- Trade and commerce--Clothing and textile trade
- Access, restrictions:
- Certain items (indicated as such in the inventory) are subject to the legislation related to protection of privacy, and are, in principle, only freely consultable after 100 years. In practice, consultation requires the authorisation of the Algemeen Rijksarchivaris or his representative. Researchers are required to sign a research declaration in order to consult items younger than 30 years.
- Finding aids:
- J. Franssen & F. Strubbe, Inventaire des archives du Séquestre de la Brüsseler Treuhandgesellschaft et du Groupe 12 y compris les archives du ‘Service Belgique’ de l’Office de Politique coloniale du NSDAP, I 25 (ARA2-AGR2), Brussel, ARA-AGR, 2014.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
