Metadata: Series IX (Civil Registry and population)
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- City Archives of Ghent
- Holding institution (official language):
- Stadsarchief Gent
- Postal address:
- Dulle-Grietlaan 12, 9050 Gentbrugge
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)9 266 57 60
- Web address:
- http://www.gent.be/zwartedoos
- Email:
- stadsarchief@stad.gent
- Reference number:
- ArCity-Ghent-IX
- Title:
- Series IX (Civil Registry and population)
- Title (official language):
- Reeks IX (Burgerlijke stand en bevolking)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Stad Gent; Ville de Gand; City of Ghent
- Date(s):
- 1756/1980
- Language:
- Dutch; Flemish
- German
- Extent:
- 16.2 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- This fonds contains two boxes titled “Jews”, containing unnumbered registers and files. Box 1 contains several (preliminary?) versions of the ‘registers of Jews’ of Ghent. We also note i.a. lists (1941-1942) of persons who had to register as ‘Jews’ in Ghent and the surrounding municipalities, written during the Occupation. Furthermore, we note lists (made shortly after the Liberation, October-November 1944) indicating whether the individuals mentioned in the register of Jews have returned to Ghent or not. We note that a number of lists concern Jewish children, i.a. children whose parents were inscribed in the register of Jews. Apart from the lists we also note the correspondence and blank forms regarding the authorised stay of (German/Austrian) Jewish children (1938), correspondence related to inscription in the register of Jews, and post-war correspondence to the AIVG. Box 2 contains one version of the register of Jews, with at the back the register of ‘Jewish’ restaurants, bars and hotels (solely mentioning the patisserie Bloch). We also find the small file titled “Destelbergen – ordinances concerning the Jews” and the file related to the attestation of inscription in the register of Jews of Mr. R.P. (1972). We especially point out the six (of an original 31) notebooks containing filled out forms regarding house searches and confiscations of furniture and household goods (undoubtedly in the framework of the Möbelaktion) from homes of Jews in the region of Ghent and the coastal region. These volumes were found after the Liberation in a house occupied by the Germans in Charles De Kerckhovelaan. The two types of forms (“Abtransport aus besichtigten Wohnungen” and “Wohnungsbefund”) from the Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete provide information on the encountered goods (address, type and number of furniture and household goods, ‘impression’ of the house on the German services etc.) and the transportation of the looted goods (date, number of transported crates and unpacked furniture, contents of the crates etc.).
- 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:
- Ghent
- Access, restrictions:
- Consultation requires filling out a Passieve Openbaarheid-form.
- Finding aids:
- There is an unpublished transfer list (Inventaris 158).
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
