Metadata: Moscow archives
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium
- Holding institution (official language):
- Consistoire central israélite de Belgique
- Postal address:
- Joseph Dupontstraat 2 / Rue Joseph Dupont 2, 1000 Bruxelles
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 512 21 90
- Web address:
- http://www.jewishcom.be/
- Reference number:
- CJCons-Brussels-Archives de Moscou
- Title:
- Moscow archives
- Title (official language):
- Archives de Moscou
- Creator/accumulator:
- Consistoire central israélite de Belgique; Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België
- Date(s):
- 1840/1940
- Language:
- French
- Yiddish
- Polish
- Russian
- Extent:
- 5 boxes
- Scope and content:
- This fonds is very rich in almost unexplored material regarding Belgian Judaism in the interwar period. The subject files, related to various associations, are divided in five boxes. They mainly consist of correspondence, notes, reports, statutes, minutes of meetings and leaflets. Box 145 contains documents from: Hatikwah, the periodical of the Fédération Sioniste de Belgique (1920-1921); the central committee of the populist fraction Zeire Zion (1920-1921); the Parti Socialiste Juif Poale Zion-Zeire Zion of Brussels, etc. Box 156 contains documents related to: the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU)(1913-1923 and 1930-1940), the central committee of the AIU (1929-1939), the Antwerp committee of the AIU, etc. In box 160/1 (1-16) we find material concerning the CCIB (1939), the Fédération de la Jeunesse sioniste de Belgique (1937-1939), the Foyer Israélite de Bruxelles (1937-1939), the Comité d’Assistance aux Réfugiés juifs in Brussels (1939), the Conseil d’Associations juives de Bruxelles (1937-1940), the Communauté israélite de Liège (1920), as well as correspondence of Y. Livschitz (1938-1940), of the Association des Étudiants juifs de Bruxelles (1939-1940), and of the CCIB with various communities (1844-1940), a list of members of the Joodse Socialistische partij in Belgium (1933), etc. Box 160/2 (1-18) contains material regarding the Union sioniste de Bruxelles (1930-1933), the committee of the Association des Juifs diplômés de hautes écoles de Belgique (1931-1933), the Foyer Israélite de Bruxelles (1937-1940), the Cercle universitaire juif de Bruxelles (1934-1939), the Conseil des associations juives de Bruxelles (1940), the Cercle d’études de la jeunesse juive (1939), Ezra, société philanthropique pour la protection des migrants (1901-1925), the Congrès mondial des migrations in London (1925), the Confédération universelle des Juifs sépharades (1928), the Antwerpsch Comité voor Joodsche vluchtelingen (1939-1940), the Jewish community of Antwerp (1876-1906), the board of the synagogue of Antwerp (1890-1903), various Jewish organisations from Antwerp (1840-1924), the Communauté israélite de Liège (1903-1912), etc. Lastly, box 160/2 (19-34) consists of documents from/regarding the Communauté israélite de Liège (1870-1940), the CCIB (1906-1926), the Comité federal sioniste de Belgique (1921), the Comité Belgique Palestine (1927-1934), the Association palestinienne des Amis de la Belgique (Tel Aviv)(1935-1939), the Jewish Central Information Office Amsterdam (1939), etc.
- Archival history:
- These archives were confiscated by the German authorities in 1940. At the end of the war they were transported to Berlin, where the Soviets found them in 1945. The archives were subsequently preserved and inventoried in Moscow by functionaries of the ‘Central Special State Archives of the USSR’ (OSOBYJ). They became accessible for Western European researchers only in 1993. The material was eventually transferred to the Consistory in 2002.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Consistoire central israélite de Belgique / Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België (Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium)(CCIB) was created in 1832 by Adolphe Oppenheim, Henri Furth, Sigmund Benda, Adolphe Hauman and Henri Schuster. They were inspired by the similar institution established by Napoleon in the early 19th century. The founders tried to acquire the same benefits that had already been granted to the other recognised denominations for the Jewish religion. As the Jewish contact institution to the Belgian authorities, responsible for the management of the Jewish religion, the CCIB represents Belgian Judaism and embodies the spiritual authority of the religious communities. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the institution tried to be the guarantor of the emancipation and modernisation of the Jewish communities in Belgium, along the lines of the Enlightenment philosophy, which led to friction with the most conservative communities. These communities tried to escape the authority of the CCIB in order to enjoy a greater spiritual independence.
The CCIB was also a meeting place for the different conceptions of Judaism. Key figures were, among others, rabbi Élie-Aristide Astruc, rabbi Armand Bloch, rabbi Ernest Ginsburger and rabbi Robert Dreyfus. Among the presidents of the Consistory we note iconic figures such as Louis Lassen, Joseph Oppenheim and Jacques Wiener in the 19th century, Franz and Paul Philippson, Ernest Wiener, Jean Bloch and Georges Schnek in the 20th century.
The range of functions of the CCIB has greatly expanded since the Second World War. It supports cultural, educational and heritage initiatives. The CCIB has supported the Institut d’Études du Judaïsme Martin Buber in Brussels, the Instituut voor Joodse Studies in Antwerp, the Fondation pour la Mémoire Contemporaine, the Joods Museum voor Deportatie en Verzet in Mechelen; it was at the initiative of the creation of the Jewish Museum of Belgium and the Institut de la Mémoire Audiovisuelle juive. The Consistory publishes the quarterly Nouvelles Consistoriales – Consistoriaal Nieuwsblad, and organises radio and television broadcasts. The institution is involved in the Organe de Consultation entre Chrétiens et Juifs en Belgique. It plays a key role in domains such as inter-religious dialogue, Jewish education, preservation of Jewish cultural heritage, the study of the history of Belgian Judaism, remembrance of the Shoah and the dissemination of Jewish culture. Although the CCIB was liberal from 1832 until 1880, it is currently influenced by Orthodox Judaism and refuses to include the liberal community Beth Hillel. The current president of the Consistory is Professor Baron Julien Klener. He remains the moral authority of Belgian Judaism, its representative and the manager of its communities. (J.-P. Schreiber, Politique et religion. Le Consistoire central israélite de Belgique au XIXe siècle, Bruxelles, éd. de l’Université de Bruxelles, 1995; http://www.jewishcom.be/)
- Access points: persons/families:
- Livschitz, Y
- Subject terms:
- Aid and relief
- Aid and relief--Philanthropy and charity
- Children
- Correspondence
- Education
- Education--Schools and universities
- Education--Student organisations
- Education--Students
- Jewish community
- Jewish political activity
- Migration
- Migration--Immigration
- Refugees
- Sephardi Jews
- Socialism
- Socialism--Socialist parties and organisations
- Synagogues
- Zionism
- Zionism--Zionist organisations and parties
- Zionism--Zionist youth movements
- Access, restrictions:
- Consultation requires the authorisation of the president of the Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium.
- Finding aids:
- A detailed description can be found in J.-P. Schreiber, "Les archives du judaïsme belge conservées à Moscou", in Les Cahiers de la Mémoire contemporaine-Bijdragen tot de eigentijdse Herinnering, no. 2, 2000, pp. 145-161.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
