Metadata: Ministry of Reconstruction. Commission d’Agréation pour les Prisonniers politiques et Ayants Droit
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- National Archives of Belgium 2 – Joseph Cuvelier Repository
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archives Générales du Royaume 2 – Dépôt Joseph Cuvelier
- Postal address:
- Hopstraat 26-28 / Rue du Houblon 26-28, 1000 Bruxelles
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 274 15 00
- Web address:
- http://www.arch.be/
- Email:
- agr_ar_2@arch.be
- Reference number:
- NAB2-Brussels-545-330
- Title:
- Ministry of Reconstruction. Commission d’Agréation pour les Prisonniers politiques et Ayants Droit
- Title (official language):
- Ministère de la Reconstruction. Commission d’Agréation pour les Prisonniers politiques et Ayants Droit
- Creator/accumulator:
- Commission d’Agréation pour les Prisonniers politiques et Ayants Droit; Aanvaardingscommissie van beroep van de politieke gevangenen en hun rechthebbenden
- Date(s):
- 1947/1960
- Extent:
- 34 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- This fonds consists of individual files of variable size. They are arranged by family name and contain minutes of the audiences of the various Commissions d’Agréation pour les Prisonniers politiques et Ayants Droit. We find biographical information on the applicants and their family, the dates of their arrest and deportation, date of death, place of residence before deportation, date and place of birth etc. The fonds also contains refusals or negative decisions by the commission. Note that it was possible (for descendants) to apply for benefits posthumously i.e. if the concerned political prisoner was deceased.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- After the Second World War, the different statuses of national recognition were handled by various administrative bodies, including the Commission d’Agréation pour les Prisonniers politiques et Ayants Droit / Aanvaardingscommissie van beroep van de politieke gevangenen en hun rechthebbenden (‘Commission for the recognition of political prisoners and rights owners’) under the authority of the Ministry for Reconstruction. The law of 26 February 1947 established the status of political prisoner and allowed for compensations. Persecution on racial grounds was not among the criteria for obtaining this status. The status is given to individuals who were detained in a prison or concentration camp for at least thirty days, who suffered serious abuse or who were sentenced to death by the enemy. At least one commission of this type was created for each Court of Appeal. Its competences and working procedures were determined by the royal decree of 20 June 1953. New deadlines for applications were set in 1999, but the status of political prisoner was then granted as a purely moral recognition. (F. Antoine, Ministère de la Reconstruction. Archives de la Commission d’Agréation pour les Prisonniers politiques et Ayants Droit 1947-1960, I 398, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 2007; I. Sirjacobs & H. Vanden Bosch, Les juridictions administratives en Belgique depuis 1795. De administratieve rechtscolleges in België sinds 1795, Miscellanea Archivistica Studia n°114, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 2006.)
- Access points: locations:
- Belgium
- Finding aids:
- F. Antoine, Ministère de la Reconstruction. Archives de la Commission d’Agréation pour les Prisonniers politiques et Ayants Droit 1947-1960, I 398, Bruxelles, ARA-AGR, 2007.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
