Metadata: Ministry of Justice. Administration des cultes. Gifts, bequests, foundations. Files of transfers of buildings of religious foundations
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- National Archives of Belgium
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archives Générales du Royaume
- Postal address:
- Ruisbroekstraat 2-6 / Rue de Ruysbroeck 2-6, 1000 Brussel
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 513 76 80
- Web address:
- http://www.arch.be/
- Email:
- archives.generales@arch.be
- Reference number:
- NAB-Brussels-510-III.0323
- Title:
- Ministry of Justice. Administration des cultes. Gifts, bequests, foundations. Files of transfers of buildings of religious foundations
- Title (official language):
- Ministère de la Justice. Administration des cultes. Dons, legs, fondations. Dossiers des aliénations d’immeubles des fondations religieuses
- Creator/accumulator:
- SPF Justice; FOD Justitie
- Date(s):
- 1801/1967
- Extent:
- 7 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- These files concern private gifts made to Catholic, Protestant or Jewish religious institutions. Gifts of a certain amount had to be approved by the Ministry of Justice. The following files concern the Jewish religion: no. 194 (13062)(“transfer of property by Bernard Posno to the Jewish community in Antwerp in order to build a synagogue and house for the rabbi”, 1880), no. 344 (20788)(“bequest of Abraham Mayer to the hospices civils and to the Jewish synagogue in Antwerp”, 1899-1900), no. 453 (21689A)(“bequest of Émile Cahen to the Jewish synagogue in Antwerp”, 1916), no. 472 (21197A)(“bequest of Fraenkel to the Jewish community of Antwerp”, 1913-1920), no. 884 (14802)(“gift of Pauline Herman to the Jewish communities of Brussels and Ghent”, 1889), no. 1176 (21965A)(bequest of Benjamin Wolff to the administration of the Communauté israélite de Bruxelles and to the city of Brussels”, 1919-1921), no. 1190 (22331A)(“bequest of Esther Kaliska to the synagogue in Brussels”, 1920-1921), no. 1191 (22360A)(“bequest of Henri-Léon Jacobson to the synagogues of Brussels and Rotterdam”, 1920-1922), no. 1207 (22830A)(“bequest of Édouard Horwitz to the city and the synagogue of Brussels”, 1921-1922), no. 1277 (20803B)(“bequest of Lucien-Arthur Aron to the city of Brussels, to the Communauté israélite de Bruxelles, to the Œuvre des Invalides de Guerre and to the Œuvre des aveugles de guerre de S.M. la Reine”, 1926-1927) and no. 1313 (21952B)(“bequest of Jacques Cassel to the Jewish synagogue of Brussels, to the Commission d’assistance publique of Brussels and to the Fonds Adolphe Max”, 1931).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Ministry of Justice is subdivided into different directorates. Its structure evolved in the course of the 19th century. It entered a relatively stable phase in 1925; it was then composed of the following five main directorates: recognised religions (cultes / erediensten), donations, bequests and foundations; prisons; Public Safety (Sûreté publique); youth protection; legislation. During the 1930s, the Sûreté publique was transferred several times to the Ministry of the Interior and then re-integrated into the Ministry of Justice. The Legislation Administration is in charge of matters regarding the acquisition or loss of nationality, and it handled naturalisation applications, declarations of nationality and of loss of nationality, name changes and attributions of family name, and residency of foreigners. The ministry of Justice also supervises the recognised religions in Belgium: six religions and one philosophical community. The ministry examines litigations, determines the organisation of the religions, manages religious buildings, fixes and supervises the payment of the salaries of the ministers of worship etc. In 1839, the Sûreté publique / Openbare Veiligheid (Public Safety) was notably charged with the control of aliens in Belgium; the administration was placed under the authority of the Ministry of Justice. Its mission included the expulsion of foreigners considered undesirable, implying the collaboration of notably the municipal administrations, the army and the judiciary. The Police des Étrangers / Vreemdelingenpolitie (Alien Police) was one of the services of the Sûreté publique. It created a sort of exhaustive database of the aliens present in Belgium: an individual file fitted with a unique S.P.-number (“Sûreté publique”) was opened for each alien entering Belgian territory. After the First World War, the Sûreté publique was split into two sections: the first one was charged with monitoring subversive elements in society and gathering intelligence of a political nature; the second section, the Alien Police, dealt with migration and the residence of aliens. In this period, the first rudiments of the status of political refugee were created. However, due to its restrictive definition, thousands of Jewish refugees from Germany were not officially recognised as political refugees. In 1977, the directorate of the Alien Police became the Office des Étrangers / Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken (Immigration Office). Finally, in 1994, the Immigration Office was transferred from the Sûreté Publique to the Ministry of the Interior. (R. Depoortere & N. Saoudi, Inventaire des archives du ministère de la Justice. Direction générale de la Législation civile et des cultes. Archives des services des Cultes, Dons, Legs et Fondations, Versement 2001, T 562, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 2002 ; F. Caestecker, F. Strubbe & P.-A. Tallier, Les dossiers individuels des étrangers produits par la Sûreté publique (Police des Etrangers) (1835-1943), Jalons de Recherche/Zoekwijzers n°19, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 2009; E. PUT, Het Ministerie van Justitie (1831-1988). Deel 1. Organisatiestructuur van de centrale administratie en de adviesorganen, Miscellanea Archivistica Studia n°6, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 1990.)
- System of arrangement:
- The files are arranged by province and then chronologically.
- Finding aids:
- There is a summary transfer list.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
