Archives related to the camp of Ravensbrück and to the female Belgian political prisoners who were interned there

Collection

Holding institution:: Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society

Holding institution (official language):: Centre d’Études et de Documentation Guerre et Sociétés Contemporaines

Postal address:: Luchtvaartsquare 29 / Square de l’Aviation 29, 1070 Bruxelles (Anderlecht)

Title:: Archives related to the camp of Ravensbrück and to the female Belgian political prisoners who were interned there

Title (official language):: Archives relatives au camp de Ravensbrück et aux prisonnières politiques belges qui y ont été internées

Scope and content:: This fonds contains documents such as notes, lists, reports, correspondence etc. concerning the deportation to, internment in and liberation, return and repatriation of (mainly) the concentration camp Ravensbrück and its satellite camps. We find information on both Belgian prisoners and prisoners deported from Belgium. We note for instance various kinds of lists (mainly ordered alphabetically) and statistics on the convoys to Ravensbrück and the prison population in these camps. See for instance no. 5 for documents concerning transports from prisoners from the Dossin Barracks to Ravensbrück. Concerning repatriation of survivors, we especially note the file no. 53 which contains lists of Jewish and Roma women who were imprisoned in i.a. Ravensbrück, Breendonk, Auschwitz, Westerbork and Mauthausen. Relevant are also various folders with testimonies (among others of Belgian prisoners) about their arrest and imprisonment. See the folders no. 61 and 62; they contains official reports of interrogations, various notes and forms. Finally we also mention the documents (declarations, reports of interrogations, etc.) in the files no. 57-58, in the framework of the “Ravensbrück trial”.

Administrative/biographical history:: Nina Bernard (1917-2008), originating from a family of wealthy industrials, obtained a degree in mathematics at the Sorbonne. As a student in Paris she got involved in the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War. During the Occupation Bernard became active in the Resistance, i.a. in the group “Benoît 910” and a French intelligence network. In 1943 she was denounced and deported as a Nacht und Nebel prisoner to i.a. the prison of Essen, Moabit and Kreuzberg, finally to end up in the concentration camp of Ravensbrück. Liberated at the end of April 1945, she returned to Belgium via Sweden. Bernard became a translator-interpreter for the Belgian Commissariat for Repatriation and would work until retirement (1972) for the Belgian Ministry of Public Health. She was married to Fernand Erauw (1914-1997), himself a former political prisoner. Bernard was often asked by schools to talk about her camp experiences. In de 1970s she founded the Waver section of the women’s organisation Infor Femmes, and she was the president of the Association pour l’information et l’éducation permanente de la femme et de la famille dans le Brabant Wallon (Infor Famille Brabant Wallon) (established in 1976). (C. Pahaut, Nina Erauw. Je suis une femme libre (1917 – 2008), Mons, Hainaut culture et démocratie, 2009.)

Subject terms:: Holocaust; Holocaust--Concentration camps; Holocaust--Deportation; Holocaust--Liberation; Holocaust--Survivors; Post-WWII trials; Prisoners; Restitution and compensation; Statistics; Testimony; War crimes

Finding aids:: List AA 1163. The fonds is also described in the database of the CEGESOMA.

Links to finding aids:: http://pallas.cegesoma.be/pls/opac/plsp.getplsdoc?lan=N&htdoc=general/opac.htm