Metadata: Direction générale de la Sûreté Publique. Office des Étrangers (and legal predecessors). Surveillance of the borders
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-510-2247
- Title:
- Direction générale de la Sûreté Publique. Office des Étrangers (and legal predecessors). Surveillance of the borders
- Title (official language):
- Direction générale de la Sûreté Publique. Office des Étrangers (et précurseurs en droit). Surveillance des frontières
- Creator/accumulator:
- SPF Justice; FOD Justitie
- Date(s):
- 1832/1996
- Extent:
- 18 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- This fonds is divided in several series related to the legal framework of the border surveillance, general instructions, visas and border control, files arranged by bordering country, files arranged by means of transport (by road, railways, by air or by sea), as well as documents concerning surveillance in cooperation with other services (such as the Gendarmerie and customs). The following files are of great importance to this guide: no. 28 (including material on aliens working in industry, instructions to central and local government administrations concerning Czech, Polish, Russian and Yugoslavian nationals etc.; 1936-1947), no. 30 (including material on the internal operation of the service, on inspection of passports and visas, surveillance of foreign artists, students, sailors, cross-border workers etc.; 1937-1951), no. 31 (including instructions related to i.a. naturalisation, political refugees, detention and internment of aliens and their expulsion or repatriation etc. ; 1936-1943), no. 33 (including material on the passport service of the Belgian legation in Warsaw, repatriation of Russians ; 1925-1936), no. 38 (including correspondence concerning payment of telegrams by aliens sent by the Sûreté Publique to the Belgian legations in Poland, Vilna etc.), nos. 92-93 (including files related to passport inspections at the Belgo-German border, negotiations between Belgium and Germany to reduce the illegal immigration of German Jews to Belgium), no. 204 (incl. files concerning measures taken at the border following the Anschluss, 1938) and no. 205 (incl. material concerning the evacuation of Belgians and the transfer of persons from the dangerous regions of the Belgo-German and Franco-Belgian border, 1939-1940).
- 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.)
- Subject terms:
- Children
- Migration
- Migration--Immigration
- Passports and visas
- Refugees
- Vital records
- Access, restrictions:
- Consultation of documents older than 30 years containing personal information requires the authorisation of the Algemeen Rijksarchivaris or his representative. This authorisation is granted on the basis of a research declaration signed by the researcher. For consultation of more recent archives researchers should contact the FPS Interior – Office des étrangers.
- Finding aids:
- F. Strubbe, Ministerie van Justitie. Algemene Directie Openbare Veiligheid. Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken (en rechtsvoorgangers). Grensinspectie, transfer list n°232, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
