Metadata: Archives of the Koninklijk Atheneum van Antwerpen
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- State Archives in Antwerp
- Holding institution (official language):
- Rijksarchief te Antwerpen
- Postal address:
- Sanderusstraat 81, 2018 Antwerpen
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)3 236 73 00
- Reference number:
- SAA-Beveren-511-3013
- Title:
- Archives of the Koninklijk Atheneum van Antwerpen
- Title (official language):
- Archief van het Koninklijk Atheneum van Antwerpen
- Creator/accumulator:
- Koninklijk Atheneum van Antwerpen; Athénée Royal d’Anvers
- Date(s):
- 1830/2008
- Extent:
- 70 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- In this fonds we firstly note a number of registers (8 notebooks in total; see no. 1848) containing an overview of the subject matter and examination questions related to the courses of Jewish religion (1960-1969). We also mention file no. 2431, concerning the creation of a memorial and the accompanying celebration in honour of former teachers and students (including a number of Jewish students) killed during the Second World War. We also point out the various general series such as registers of enrolment (inschrijvingsregisters) and registers of correspondence (e.g. no. 51, dated 1938-1945 and related to the compulsory exclusion of Jewish pupils from the school during the war).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1797 (as a result of the Daunou law of 25 October 1795) an école centrale was created in Antwerp. The educational reforms started in 1799 led to the establishment of an école secondaire communale instead of a lycée in Antwerp. During the United Kingdom of the Netherlands the institution continued to function; in April 1818 it was succeeded by the Koninklijk Atheneum van Antwerp (KAA)(Royal Athenaeum of Antwerp), a state institution. The school remained in operation after the Belgian Revolution, although the adjective ‘Royal’ (referring to King Willem I) disappeared from its title; it was again a municipal institution between 1830 and 1850. Following the new legislation on the organisation of secondary education (for boys) of 1850, the Athenaeum was again renamed to Royal Athenaeum of Antwerp. The Athenaeum was first located in the former prefecture of Maritime Affairs (in the Prekersstraat); due to lack of space a new, more spacious school was constructed (situated on the Gemeenteplein, today the Franklin Rooseveltplaats) and inaugurated on October 6, 1884. A second branch of the school was opened in Wilrijk in 1988. Noteworthy is the involvement of many teachers and students in the Flemish movement. The first female teacher was appointed in 1961, the first female school principal in 2001. The increase in women in the teaching staff and girls in the student body was primarily the result of a number of circulars issued in 1969-1970. Lastly we also mention the culturally diverse composition of the school. In the interwar period, it was one of the five state schools providing classes in Jewish religion. In 1937 the Athenaeum counted some 250 Jewish pupils. The number of students with a foreign nationality rapidly increased from the second half of the 1980s. Today, with its students from 45 nationalities, the KAA is a truly multicultural school. (B. Willems, Inventaris van het Koninklijk Atheneum van Antwerpen en de RMS van Antwerpen, I 68 (Rijksarchief te Antwerpen), Brussel, ARA-AGR, 2010; V. Vanden Daelen, Laten we hun lied verder zingen. De heropbouw van de joodse gemeenschap in Antwerpen na de Tweede Wereldoorlog (1944-1960), Amsterdam, Uitgeverij Aksant, 2008.)
- Access points: locations:
- Antwerp
- Access, restrictions:
- Consultation of documents older than 30 years containing personal information requires the authorisation of the Algemeen Rijksarchivaris or his representative, as well as the signing of a research declaration. For consultation of documents less than 30 years old, the authorisation of the school principal of the Koninklijk Atheneum van Antwerpen is required.
- Finding aids:
- B. Willems, Inventaris van het Koninklijk Atheneum van Antwerpen, in B. Willems, Inventaris van het Koninklijk Atheneum van Antwerpen en de RMS van Antwerpen, I 68 (Rijksarchief te Antwerpen), Brussel, ARA-AGR, 2010.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
