Metadata: Archives of the War Crimes Commission (Commissie van onderzoek inzake de inbreuken op het volkenrecht, op de wetten en gebruiken van de oorlog)
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society
- Holding institution (official language):
- Centre d’Études et de Documentation Guerre et Sociétés Contemporaines
- Postal address:
- Luchtvaartsquare 29 / Square de l’Aviation 29, 1070 Bruxelles (Anderlecht)
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 556 92 11
- Web address:
- http://www.cegesoma.be/
- Email:
- cegesoma@cegesoma.be
- Reference number:
- CHRDWConS-Brussels-AA 120, AA 1148
- Title:
- Archives of the War Crimes Commission (Commissie van onderzoek inzake de inbreuken op het volkenrecht, op de wetten en gebruiken van de oorlog)
- Title (official language):
- Archief van de Commissie van onderzoek inzake de inbreuken op het volkenrecht, op de wetten en gebruiken van de oorlog, beter bekend als Commissie voor Oorlogsmisdaden – Commission des Crimes de guerre
- Creator/accumulator:
- Commissie van Onderzoek inzake de inbreuken op het Volkenrecht, op de wetten en gebruiken van de oorlog; Commission d'enquête concernant la violation du droit des peuples, des lois et usages de la guerre
- Date(s):
- 1945/1946
- Extent:
- 10 bundles and 19 folders
- Scope and content:
- In this fonds (AA 120) we mainly note the “Series D”. It consists of files (AA 120/D/I/1 to AA 120/D/II) explicitly related to the persecution of the Jews. We find i.a. documentation, excerpts and copies of various judicial documents, declarations and witness reports, statistics and reports on the roundups, deportations, the camps in Mechelen and Auschwitz-Birkenau as well as correspondence on the camps in Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Blumenthal. We also find printed material from the Office israélite de Presses et de Documentation (Ofipresse). Apart from “Series D”, bundle III of “Series A” (AA 120/A/III/4) contains material related to the persecution of the Jews as well. Other series are relevant too, see i.a. the files on persons suspected or accused of war crimes (series G, totalling 8 folders), and the files concerning the trials of war criminals and concentration camps including Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Dachau. (series A bundle V, totalling 10 bundles). Lastly, we note (reference AA 1148), documents (lists, reports, correspondence) from the years 1946-1947 concerning war crimes (i.a. against Belgians) in the Dutch concentration camp in Vught.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Commissie van Onderzoek inzake de inbreuken op het Volkenrecht, op de wetten en gebruiken van de oorlog / Commission d'enquête concernant la violation du droit des peuples, des lois et usages de la guerre (‘Commission of Inquiry into the violations of international law, of the laws and customs of war’) was established by virtue of the regency decree of 13 December 1944. The commission was composed of six members – mainly jurists – appointed by the decree of 22 December 1944: Antoine Delfosse (president), Jacques Basyn (secretary), Fernand Dehousse, Pierre Graux, Léon Van der Essen and Alfred Wauters. The task of the ‘War Crimes Commission’ was to identify “atrocities committed against the Belgian population” and to inform public opinion of these crimes. Contrary to a similar commission set up after the First World War, this commission intended to assemble documentation for the purpose of future prosecution of war criminals. Between 1945 and 1949, the War Crimes Commission published nine brochures about the war crimes perpetrated in occupied Belgium, notably during the campaign of May 1940, the Liberation of 1944, the Battle of the Bulge, etc. A report about the persecution of the Jews was also issued (1948). (Commissie voor Oorlogsmisdaden, De Oorlogsmisdaden bedreven gedurende de bezetting van het Belgisch grondgebied 1940-1945. De Jodenvervolging in België, Luik, Georges Thone, 1948; M. Khoojinian, “Crimes de guerre (jugement des)”, in P. Aron & J. Gotovitch, Dictionnaire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale en Belgique, Brussel, André Versaille, 2008, pp. 120-123.)
- Access points: locations:
- Auschwitz
- Blumenthal
- Buchenwald
- Dachau
- Mauthausen
- Mechelen
- Vught
- Finding aids:
- List AA 120. The fonds is also described in the database of the CEGESOMA.
- Links to finding aids:
- http://pallas.cegesoma.be/pls/opac/plsp.getplsdoc?lan=N&htdoc=general/opac.htm
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
