Metadata: Archives of the Palestine Office, Belgian section
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- Jewish Museum of Belgium
- Holding institution (official language):
- Musée Juif de Belgique
- Postal address:
- Miniemenstraat 21 / Rue des Minimes 21, 1000 Bruxelles
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 512 19 63
- Web address:
- http://www.new.mjb-jmb.org
- Email:
- info@mjb-jmb.org
- Reference number:
- JM-Brussels-Fonds Office Palestinien, section belge
- Title:
- Archives of the Palestine Office, Belgian section
- Title (official language):
- Fonds Office Palestinien, section belge
- Creator/accumulator:
- Office Palestinien; Palestine Office
- Date(s):
- 1940/1959
- Date note:
- 1940s-1950s
- Language:
- French
- Dutch; Flemish
- Hebrew
- Extent:
- 15 boxes
- Scope and content:
- This fonds consists of individual files regarding emigration applications submitted to the emigration departments of the Office Palestinien. We also note photographs and correspondence of the applicants. The questionnaires contain biographical information on the applicants, their reasons for emigrating, information on whether their parents are in Palestine, if their children or parents have been deported, what their activity was during the Occupation, if they possess certain assets, if they belong to a Zionist movement, etc. (See boxes Y73 to 86b)
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Jewish Agency created Palestine Offices (PO) in many countries after the First World War as a kind of consulates in the diaspora organising the immigration of Jews to Palestine. The first PO of this type was established in Vienna in 1918. In each country the PO was managed by a commission composed of representatives of several Zionist parties, in proportion to their electoral weight in the Zionist Congress. The composition and functions of the PO were defined and modified at the Zionist Congresses, notably during the 12th, 13th and 14th congress (1921-1925). Among the main functions of the PO during the interbellum were the distribution of immigration certificates, hakhsharah (agricultural training of immigrants), the distribution of information to future immigrants, the preparation of travel documents, and the liaison with British consulates. The largest PO was located in Warsaw. There were offices in most European capitals but also in ports like Trieste or in cities with a large Jewish population. After the Second World War, the PO – unofficially – supported the ‘illegal’ immigration to Palestine of refugees and Shoah survivors. The status and functions of the PO radically changed after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. They became known as Offices of the Immigration Department of the Jewish Agency, and were directed by emissaries of the State of Israel, ensuring the promotion of emigration to Israel and the transport of needy immigrants. (A. Zwergbaum, “Palestine Office”, in M. Berenbaum & F. Skolnik (eds.), Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition, Detroit, Gale, 2007, vol. 15, p. 595.)
- Access points: locations:
- Belgium
- Subject terms:
- Aliyah
- Correspondence
- Migration
- Migration--Emigration
- Photographs
- Refugees
- Zionism
- System of arrangement:
- The applications are ordered alphabetically by applicant.
- Access, restrictions:
- Access requires the authorisation of the archivist of the Jewish Museum of Belgium.
- Finding aids:
- Inventaire provisoire, October 2011.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
