Metadata: Second World War fonds of the Belgian Red Cross
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- National Archives of Belgium
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archives Générales du Royaume
- Postal address:
- Ruisbroekstraat 2-6 / Rue de Ruysbroeck 2-6, 1000 Brussel
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 513 76 80
- Web address:
- http://www.arch.be/
- Email:
- archives.generales@arch.be
- Reference number:
- NAB-Brussels-510-2171
- Title:
- Second World War fonds of the Belgian Red Cross
- Title (official language):
- Tweede Wereldoorlogfonds van het Belgische Rode Kruis
- Creator/accumulator:
- Belgische Rode Kruis; Croix-Rouge de Belgique
- Date(s):
- 1911/1989
- Extent:
- 30 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- In this fonds we find, apart from the expected general types of documents such as activity reports, minutes of meetings, correspondence, instructions, notes, etc. also a number of files related to actions taken by the Belgian Red Cross on behalf of the persecuted Jewish population. File no. 919 concerns the repatriation of Jewish refugees from France (1940-1941). Documents concerning the refusal of the German Red Cross to provide information on deported Jews (1943) can be found in file no. 923. In files nos. 917, 918 and 922 we find correspondence concerning assistance to Jews (1941-1946) i.a. with Belgian and German authorities, and with the secretariat of Queen Elisabeth. Files nos. 915 and 916 contain activity reports of the Belgian Red Cross and the Comité National de Défense des Juifs respectively (both dated 1945). In files nos. 1220, 1347 and 1490 we find correspondence (i.a. concerning the tracing of Jews deported from the Kazerne Dossin) with i.a. Aide aux Israélites Victimes de la Guerre (1945-1961). Other files concerning aid to Jews can be found in nos. 921, 920, 924 and 1524/2; they respectively concern the attempt at sending clothing to Jews in a camp in unoccupied France (1941), inquiries about and aid to Dutch Jews who had fled to France (1941), gratitude to the Czech ambassador in Brussels for sending a list of Belgian Jews deported to Theresienstadt (1944) and transports of Jewish children to Arras (1941-1944). Please note that the above call numbers were taken from a preliminary inventory and might be subject to change in the future. We also point out that, theoretically, this fonds forms part of the large archival fonds produced by the Belgian Red Cross and preserved by the General State Archives (and for which no complete finding aid exists at the time of writing).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Red Cross was created following the first international conference of Geneva (1863). A Belgian branch was founded in 1864. After the First World War, the Belgische Rode Kruis (Belgian Red Cross, BRK) played an important role in the international arena, notably in the League of Red Cross Societies (established in 1919). The mission of the Red Cross was to provide medical care to all war victims –civilian as well as military – regardless of nationality. From the 1920s its focus shifted more towards civilians: aid to refugees (including Jewish refugees from the Third Reich), assistance during disasters and epidemics, hygiene education, protection of public health, etc. The BRK – representing 280 local sections by 1940 – already started to ‘mobilise’ from the late 1930s, to prepare for a coming war. See for example the creation of a network of auxiliary hospitals, centres for blood transfusion, first aid stations, a prisoner of war service, a ‘Motor Corps’, etc. In the 1930s the government also entrusted a number of mobilisation tasks to the BRK, such as the takeover of military hospitals. During the Second World War, the BRK did not become the willing instrument the occupier had hoped for. Its policy of principled neutrality seems to have been largely maintained. The organisation aided soldiers (prisoners of war) and their families as well as the civilian population. Relevant to this guide are the actions in support of the Jewish population, undertaken from 1943 (after the start of the deportations) by the Service des Prisonniers Politiques. This assistance included e.g. the sending of food parcels to Jewish prisoners in the Kazerne Dossin, for which the BRK cooperated with the Vereniging der Joden in België – Association des Juifs en Belgique. The BRK also worked together with the Comité de Défense des Juifs. After the Liberation the organisation played a role in the identification and recovery of war victims, repatriation etc. The ‘communautarisation’ of the Belgian Red Cross was completed in 1972, with the creation of independent French-speaking and Dutch-speaking sections. (A. Colignon, “Croix-Rouge de Belgique”, in P. Aron & J. Gotovitch, Dictionnaire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale en Belgique, Brussel, André Versaille, 2008, pp. 125-128; B. Cornel, Inventaris van het Tweede Wereldoorlogfonds van het Belgische Rode Kruis.)
- Access, restrictions:
- Documents less than 100 years old containing personal information of a medical nature are not open for consultation.
- Finding aids:
- B. Cornel, Inventaris van het conglomeraat van archieven van het Belgische Rode Kruis gevormd tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog, Der Beauftragte des Deutsches Rotes Kreuz für Belgien und Nordfrankreich, Rode Kruismedewerk(st)ers en de familie Bloch-Dronsart.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
