Metadata: Archives of Fort Breendonk
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- National Memorial of the Fortress of Breendonk
- Holding institution (official language):
- Nationaal Gedenkteken Fort van Breendonk
- Postal address:
- Brandstraat 57, 2830 Willebroek
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)3 860 75 23
- Web address:
- http://www.breendonk.be/
- Email:
- info@breendonk.be
- Reference number:
- NMFB-Willebroek-Archief van het Fort van Breendonk
- Title:
- Archives of Fort Breendonk
- Title (official language):
- Archief van het Fort van Breendonk
- Creator/accumulator:
- Nationaal Gedenkteken Fort van Breendonk; Mémorial national du fort de Breendonk
- Date(s):
- 1914/2016
- Date note:
- Material continues to be added to this collection.
- Language:
- Dutch; Flemish
- French
- German
- Extent:
- ca. 5 file cabinets
- Scope and content:
-
The archival material and documentation preserved in the Nationaal Gedenkteken Fort van Breendonk (NGFB) can be divided into several parts. The archives produced by the administration itself are of importance to the general management and operation of the NGFB. We note i.a. minutes of meetings of the board (since 1947), activity reports of the board (1947-1955), correspondence, legislation, subject files etc. Some documents are of direct interest to our guide – see e.g. the file relating to antisemitic comments in the Gouden Boek (no. 1454).
Secondly, the NGFB preserves private archives of former directors and other personnel. The material produced by Paul M.G. Lévy in particular contains many relevant documents, such as correspondence concerning remarks on the behaviour of German Jews in Breendonk, on the post-war trials of camp commanders (Wyss et al., Schmitt), on the book Les Belges face à la persecution raciale 1940-44 by Betty Garfinkels, correspondence with USHMM, with the Fondation Auschwitz and various organisations of former prisoners (incl. the Union des Anciens Résistants juifs) etc.
A third part is formed by the documentation collected by the NGFB within the framework of its activities, operation, remembrance events, exhibitions etc. We firstly note copies of archival material preserved in Belgian as well as foreign institutions such as CEGESOMA, the Directorate-General War Victims, the (Dutch) NIOD Instituut voor Oorlogs-, Holocaust- en Genocidestudies, Bundesarchiv and others. The copies contain i.a. various lists of inmates (incl. deceased or executed prisoners), criminal registers but also several series of individual files on prisoners originating from a wide range of public and private archives (incl. those of the Alien Police). We also find a number of (occasionally unpublished) testimonies of former prisoners, conducted by i.a. Televox and the Wiener Library. Some of the testimonies concern known Jewish resistance fighters and VJB leaders.
In addition, the NGFB also preserves (original and copies of) archival material from and relating to certain former prisoners and/or their descendants. We note correspondence, personal documents, various attestations and documentation. We especially mention the archival material from/concerning the artist Jacques Ochs (see nos. 359-370, 1179, 1232, 1237, 1375, 1527) including prints, drawings, photos and artworks.
Lastly, the NGFB also preserves documentation (press clippings, excerpts from magazines, literature) on a variety of topics, some of which are relevant here – see i.a. documentation on “concentration camps and Holocaust” (no. 407), antisemitism (no. 408), the Nuremberg trials (no. 409) and others. The entire archival and documentation collection contains a wealth of information on the Jewish inmates of Fort Breendonk. There is even a database (for internal use) titled “Joden in BDK” (Jews in Breendonk), constituted on the basis of information from the Directorate-General War Victims.
- Archival history:
- A large part of the archives was donated by Paul M.G. Lévy, former inmate and honorary president of the Memorial.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Breendonk Fortress was built in 1906 and formed part of the defensive belt around Antwerp. During the German invasion, it served as the headquarters of the Belgian army (10-17 May 1940). Between September 1940 and September 1944, the German occupier used the Fortress as a prison camp and later as a transit camp of the political police, the Sipo-SD. Among the leaders of this Auffanglager were the notorious Philipp Schmitt and Karl Schönwetter. The camp was initially guarded by German SS and later (from 1941) by Flemish SS. Until 1942, when the Dossin barracks in Mechelen were converted into a Sammellager, half of the prisoners were Jews. In total about 3500 individuals passed through the camp, including 500 to 750 foreigners. Almost 400 prisoners were executed or died due to physical abuse by the guards, torture or the appalling living conditions. After the Occupation, the camp (then called “Breendonk II”) served as an improvised prison for ‘collaborators’. The government restored its authority over the camp in October 1944, when it became an official detention centre for incivieken (collaborators). Between late 1946 and the summer of 1947, the Fortress served as a common internment centre. The law of 19 August 1947 transformed the Fortress of Breendonk into a public institution under the authority of the Ministry of National Defence. It was renamed to Nationaal Gedenkteken Fort van Breendonk / Mémorial national du fort de Breendonk (NGFB) and designated a national place of remembrance. Since then, the NGFB is open to the public and organises exhibitions, guided tours and commemoration ceremonies. (http://www.breendonk.be; P. Nefors, Breendonk 1940-1945. De geschiedenis., Antwerpen, Standaard, 2004; P. Nefors, O. van der Wilt & D. Roden, Het Fort van Breendonk. Inventaris van het archief in het Fort bewaard, Fort van Breendonk, 2000 [2012]; J.-M. Yante & P.-A. Tallier (dir.), F. Plisnier, S. Carnel, G. Coppieters & V. Pirlot, Gids van de instellingen van openbaar nut in België. Band 2. Notities van de parastatalen niet onderworpen aan de wet van 16 maart 1954 (notities 380 tot 457), Guides/Gidsen no. 70, Brussel, ARA-AGR, 2008, pp. 564-566.)
- Access points: locations:
- Breendonk
- Access points: persons/families:
- Ochs, Jacques
- Access, restrictions:
- In principle, the fonds can be consulted freely. There are restrictions on the consultation of certain files – i.a. the files produced by the Auditoraat-Generaal and files closed by agreement with the donor of the material. Researchers are advised to contact the NGFB in advance.
- Finding aids:
- There is an inventory, meant for internal use: P. Nefors, O. van der Wilt & D. Roden, Het Fort van Breendonk. Inventaris van het archief in het Fort bewaard, Fort van Breendonk, 2000 [2012].
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
