Metadata: Public functions – Civil registry and population
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- FelixArchief – City archives of Antwerp
- Holding institution (official language):
- FelixArchief - Stadsarchief Antwerpen
- Postal address:
- Oude Leeuwenrui 29, 2000 Antwerpen
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)3 338 94 11
- Reference number:
- FelixArCity-Antwerp-Publieke taken – Burgerlijke stand en bevolking
- Title:
- Public functions – Civil registry and population
- Title (official language):
- Publieke taken – Burgerlijke stand en bevolking
- Creator/accumulator:
- Stad Antwerpen; Ville d’Anvers; City of Antwerp
- Date(s):
- 1794/2016
- Date note:
- Material continues to be added to this collection.
- Scope and content:
- In the archival material produced by the civil registry, we firstly note expected series such as population registers, birth, marriage and death certificates, etc. The individual alien files, constituted by the city of Antwerp from 1840, are an important and widely used source. In total, the fonds contains around 600,000 individual alien files. In this fonds we also find “files resulting from the expulsion policy of the German occupier during the Second World War” (1940-1942), a policy that notably applied to Jewish aliens. These files consists of i.a. expulsion orders, In this fonds we furthermore note files in the name of arrested individuals, correspondence, orders, various lists i.a. of Jewish aliens (no. MA # 23431) and of vacant apartments (no. MA # 23430 folder 3). Apart from these large series, we point out a number of separate files. Nrs. MA # 3508/1 and MA # 3508/2 consist of two registers (dated 1808) related to name changes of Jews. In addition to the general series of index cards, registers and files concerning victims of the Second World War, we lastly note the attestations of the Bestuur voor Oorlogsschade related to presumed deaths (dated 1957-1963); see files nos. MA # 74489 and MA # 74490. The material mostly concerns victims of Auschwitz.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The municipality is one of the levels of government with which citizens most often come into contact. Its tasks and competences were first established by the decree of 14 December 1789, and by the order of 19 Frimaire year IV [1795-96]. After Belgian independence, the legal framework was provided by the Gemeentewet of 1836 and later the ‘Nieuwe Gemeentewet’ (1988). Since 2002, the organic law regarding municipalities is a competence of the Regions. Until 1980, municipalities were supervised by the provincial and central authorities. Today, there is a division of powers between the federal and regional governments. A municipality is led by a mayor, who is also the head of the local police. He/she is assisted by a college of aldermen, selected from the municipal council. Currently, there are 589 municipalities in Belgium. Before the large-scale fusions in the 1970s – in other words, for a large part of Belgian history – there were 2359 municipalities. The municipality had/has, among others, competences regarding the management of its assets, institutions and staff; municipal revenue and expenditure; Civil Registry; health and safety in public places; urban planning and environment; public works; militia; education; elections etc. This is reflected in the sources held in municipal and city archives. Important general sources include the (sometimes published) minutes of meetings and records of the municipal council and college of aldermen (often indexed by subject). We also refer to all kinds of administrative reports and general correspondence. The series of sources of the Civil Registry (e.g. birth, marriage and death certificates, population registers, registers of arrival and departure) are crucial for historical research on individuals. Relevant for this guide are notably the alien registers (since 1933), and the alien files preserved in some larger cities. Of major importance are also the accounts, correspondence and other material regarding the recognised religions. They contain information on their operation, budgets, assets but also the appointment of ministers, donations to religious communities, various conflicts etc. Building permits and files regarding environmental permits contain information and usually blueprints of buildings. Lastly, in many municipal and city archives there are specific series of sources regarding policy during the First and Second World War. We mention e.g. the various anti-Jewish ordinances, documents regarding the spoliation of the Jews, the so-called Jodenregister (register of Jews), correspondence related to the implementation of the anti-Jewish policies etc. (J. Art & E. Vanhaute (ed.), Inleiding tot de lokale geschiedenis van de 19de en de 20ste eeuw, Gent, Mens & Cultuur, 2003; P. van den Eeckhout, “De gemeenten en de lokale openbare instellingen”, 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. 31-92.)
- Access points: locations:
- Antwerp
- Access, restrictions:
- Consultation of civil registry records less than 100 years old requires the authorisation of the president of the Rechtbank van Eerste Aanleg.
- Finding aids:
-
The fonds is described in the database of the Felixarchief.
The individual alien files are made accessible via numerical and alphabetical indexes. The latter can be consulted in digital form via the search engine of the FelixArchief and on the website of FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org) for the years 1840-1930. The indexes for the files opened between 1931 and 1990 can, as the files themselves, only be consulted after the researcher has obtained the required authorisation. The alien files should be requested by using the prefix 481 # followed by the number of the alien file.
The expulsion orders are made accessible by registers and a detailed finding aid (finding aid 100 # 2938) digitally available via the search engine.
- Links to finding aids:
- http://zoeken.felixarchief.be
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
