Metadata: Solidarité Juive 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 Solidarité Juive
- Title:
- Solidarité Juive archives
- Title (official language):
- Archief Solidarité Juive
- Creator/accumulator:
- Union des Progressistes Juifs de Belgique; Unie van Progressieve Joden van België
- Date(s):
- 1942/1969
- Date note:
- ca. 1944-1969
- Language:
- French
- Yiddish
- Extent:
- ca. 6 linear metres
- Scope and content:
-
In this fonds we mainly note documents and series that are typically found in archives of associations. We firstly point out general material such as statutes, excerpts from the Staatsblad, correspondence (internal, with other associations, with official institutions, etc.), bookkeeping records (1940s-1950s), various internal texts, etc. Furthermore, the fonds contains subject files (e.g. concerning the 20th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising), documentation (e.g. on the extreme right, 1950s-1960s), documents concerning the Yiddish lending library of Sol, etc.
The documents are often written in Yiddish. Some of them have been translated to French by Boris and Joseph Szyster.
Apart from activities and organisations related or ideologically close to Sol such as Aide aux Victimes de l’Oppression Nazie, Maison du Bonheur, Club Sholem Aleichem, École Juive, YASK, etc. the fonds also provides information on the various holiday camps i.a. in Middelkerke (Villa Johanna), Presles (maison Blanche Neige) and Faulx-les-Tombes. We also note binders with photographs (1950s-1960s) of (inter)national meetings and activities, militants, festivities, etc. For many photos there are notes (often written by Joseph Szyster) identifying the persons depicted. Lastly we mention the box containing 9,5 and 35 mm films, dated 1946. They concern i.a. the holiday camps of Solidarité Juive (incl. the camp in Presles). These films were copied (by the RTBF) on VHS video cassettes; there are also copies on DVD.
Note that a small part of the archives concern Contact 66 (the organisation created after the dissolution of Sol, and prior to the establishment of the UPJB) and the early days of the UPJB.
- Archival history:
- Until 2014 almost half of the fonds was kept by Joseph Szyster. The other half was mainly located in the attic of the UPJB building in Saint-Gilles. These two parts were donated in 2014 to the Jewish Museum of Belgium, respectively by the UPJB and by Joseph Szyster.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Solidarité Juive (Sol, in short) was created in the autumn of 1939 by former members of the dissolved Patronatn and Comité Juif pour l’Espagne (both linked to the Belgian communist party, KPB); its main objective was to support the refugees from the Third Reich. Sol united active Jewish communists as well as ‘fellow travellers’ and sympathisers; virtually all its leaders were members of the KPB. During the Second World War, Sol was at the basis of the Comité de Défense des Juifs (‘Jewish defence committee’)(CDJ), created in 1942. Immediately after the Occupation, the organisation (then called Solidarité Juive, Aide aux Victimes de l’Oppression nazie) played an important role in the initial accommodation of and assistance to survivors of the camps and Jews returning from hiding. Apart from social and cultural activities, Sol also organised holiday camps, notably in the Villa Johanna in Middelkerke (purchased in 1946) and in Faulx-les-Tombes (Namur region). Its relationship with ‘the Party’ was not always cordial, but it was only really severed in the late 1960s. After several turbulent years, the Union des Progressistes Juifs de Belgique (UPJB)(‘union of Jewish progressives of Belgium’) originated in 1969 from a fusion of the weakened Solidarité Juive and the group Contact 66 (founded by, among others, members of the Union Sportive des Jeunes Juifs and former instructors of the holiday camps). Today, the UPJB is a secular Jewish and progressive organisation, fighting in the political arena for the defence of democratic values and against all forms of discrimination. It organises cultural activities, such as lectures and debates. The Club Sholem Aleichem is open to adult members; a youth movement (UPJB-Jeunes) was launched in 1980. As a consequence of its rejection of “israelocentrism” and its critical support for the Palestinian cause, the UPJB is often at odds with the broader Jewish community. Yiddish, spoken by the majority of the pre-war Jewish population, occupied an important place in the associational life of Sol / UPJB from the very beginning – this is notably reflected in the newspapers (i.a. Unzer Kamf, Solidaritet, Lebn un Sholem) and other publications of Sol. The UPJB-monthly Points Critiques (published since 1979) also always contains a section with Yiddish texts. (A. Bozzini, “Yiddish et “rue juive” communiste à Bruxelles au lendemain de la guerre (1944-1955)”, in Les Cahiers de la Mémoire contemporaine-Bijdragen tot de eigentijdse Herinnering, no. 8, 2008, pp. 193-218; A. Bozzini, “De l’engouement à la rupture. Les Juifs communistes à Bruxelles et le PCB (1944-1956)”, in Les Cahiers de la Mémoire contemporaine-Bijdragen tot de eigentijdse Herinnering, no. 7, 2006-2007, pp. 131-158; A. Lapiower, Libres enfants du ghetto, Bruxelles, Points Critiques – Rue des Usines, 1989; http://www.upjb.be.)
- Access points: locations:
- Aiseau-Presles
- Faulx-Les Tombes
- Middelkerke
- Access, restrictions:
- Consultation requires the authorisation of the archivist of the Jewish Museum of Belgium. Reproduction requires the authorisation of the UPJB.
- Finding aids:
- There is a preliminary, basic finding aid made by Joseph Szyster. The fonds is currently being reordered and inventoried.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
