Metadata: USJJ Bruxelles archives
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-Archief USJJ Bruxelles
- Title:
- USJJ Bruxelles archives
- Title (official language):
- Archief USJJ Bruxelles
- Creator/accumulator:
- Union des Jeunes Juifs Progressistes
- Date(s):
- 1944/1960
- Language:
- French
- Yiddish
- Extent:
- ca. 0.5 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- In this small fonds we firstly note a series of internal bulletins (titled Avenir) of the USJJ (1950s), as well as notebooks containing minutes of meetings, notes, etc. We also find binders with photographs, including of (former) members of the USJJ.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Union Sportive des Jeunes Juifs (USJJ, UJJ) was created in 1944 – with the approval of the Belgian communist party (KPB) – in the Jewish communist milieu in Brussels. It was a youth movement for and by young Jews, gathering in search of support and a sense of purpose, following the traumatic experiences of the war. The related Union des Jeunes Juifs (UJJ) from Charleroi and the Rassemblement des Jeunes Juifs Liégeois from Liège were founded in the same period, and were soon centralised under the Brussels USJJ. The USJJ itself was structured into several ‘sections’, named after famous (Jewish and non-Jewish) resistance heroes and revolutionaries. Its activities were similar to those of contemporary scouting groups – games, singing (drawing on a rich left-revolutionary repertoire), dance, general education, camping – but were firmly rooted in Jewish cultural tradition. Politically, the USJJ was linked but not directly connected to the KPB, although its leaders were generally communists and there was a certain flow of former USJJ members into the local sections of the Party. The USJJ (renamed to Union des Jeunes Juifs Progressistes, UJJP in 1960) maintained a difficult, ambivalent relationship with the other Jewish organisations, not only because of its political radicalism but also due to its anti-Zionism. Although the movement joined the Fédération de la Jeunesse Juive de Belgique (‘federation of the Jewish youth of Belgium’), it remained at the margin of Jewish associational life. The various political and social developments within the radical left (Cold War, de-Stalinisation, Maoism, Trotskyism, May 68, Provo, etc.) left their mark on the successive generations of members and thus on the evolution of the UJJP itself. From the mid-1970s, many non-Jewish youths became members of the association and the specifically ‘Jewish’ character of the UJJP was increasingly put into question. Combined with a decline in interest and enthusiasm for the youth movement, this led to the dissolution of the UJJP in 1978. (A. Lapiower, Libres enfants du ghetto, Bruxelles, Points Critiques – Rue des Usines, 1989.)
- Access points: locations:
- Brussels
- Access, restrictions:
- Access requires the authorisation of the archivist of the Jewish Museum of Belgium.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium