Metadata: Files of soldiers, non-commissioned officers and chaplains
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- Ministry of Defence, Directorate-General Human Resources
- Holding institution (official language):
- Ministère de la Défense, Direction Générale Ressources humaines
- Postal address:
- Kwartier Koningin Elisabeth, Eversestraat 1, 1140 Evere
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 701 45 29
- Web address:
- www.mil.be
- Email:
- arch@mil.be
- Reference number:
- MDefence-Brussels-Dossiers soldats, sous-officiers et aumôniers
- Title:
- Files of soldiers, non-commissioned officers and chaplains
- Title (official language):
- Dossiers soldats, sous-officiers et aumôniers
- Creator/accumulator:
- Ministerie van Landsverdediging; Ministère de la Défense
- Date(s):
- 1899/2016
- Scope and content:
- This fonds contains the personnel files of soldiers and non-commissioned officers born after 1889, and of officers born after 1900. Among these files we note files of military personnel of Jewish origin. Their Jewishness however is not specifically mentioned. The files themselves vary in size; they notably consist of military documents, various forms related to the registration number, documents with details on the career of the individual, a list of obtained decorations, correspondence with the Ministry of Defence, inspection reports, press clippings, etc.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The War Ministry was created following Belgian independence, as one of the five original ministries. Its predecessor was the Comité de la Guerre of the provisional government. Until 1912, the Ministers of Defence were often officers, but this was less and less the case in later years. In addition to the Minister, the King also plays a role (as commander-in-chief of the armed forces) in the military decision-taking process and until the Second World War the sovereigns often actively influenced military policy. In 1920, the department was given its current name of Ministry of Defence. The institutional history of the ministry is marked by many minor and major changes, especially since the First World War (notably in the 1920s and 1950s, in 1963, 1974, 2000-2002). One of the reasons was the entanglement of tasks and competences, and the appointment of both civilian and military personnel – a consequence of the vaguely defined administrative and military functions of the ministry. Following the Copernicus reforms (2000-2002) the ministry was not (yet) transformed into a Federal Public Service, but its structure was thoroughly reshaped in order to avoid overlaps, to limit intermediate command levels, and to reduce personnel. Today, the four armed forces (Land, Air, Marine and Medical) and their respective services form a unified structure. Several general directorates and staff departments are in charge of human resources, legal affairs and mediation, as well as military intelligence and security, strategy, operations and training etc. (J. VAESEN, “Het Ministerie van Defensie en de krijgsmacht”, in P. van den Eeckhout & G. Vanthemsche (ed.), Bronnen voor de studie van het hedendaagse België 19e – 21e eeuw. Tweede herziene en uitgebreide uitgave, Brussel, Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis / Commission Royale d’Histoire, 2009, pp. 388-407.)
- Subject terms:
- Jewish soldiers
- Military
- Access, restrictions:
- Searches are conducted by the personnel of the service.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
