Metadata: Baron Jean Bloch archives concerning the Belgian army in Great Britain and afterwards
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- 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)
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 556 92 11
- Web address:
- http://www.cegesoma.be/
- Email:
- cegesoma@cegesoma.be
- Reference number:
- CHRDWConS-Brussels-AA 1846
- Title:
- Baron Jean Bloch archives concerning the Belgian army in Great Britain and afterwards
- Title (official language):
- Archief baron Jean Bloch betreffende Belgisch leger in Groot-Brittannië en nageschiedenis
- Creator/accumulator:
- Bloch, Jean
- Date(s):
- 1938/2002
- Date note:
- ca. 1940-2000
- Language:
- French
- English
- Extent:
- 54 boxes and 6 binders
- Scope and content:
- In this fonds, for which there is currently no finding aid, we mainly find correspondence, various notes, speeches and articles, documentation etc. related to the involvement of Bloch in war veteran’s associations, patriotic organisations, fraternities of soldiers and various organisations (such as the English Speaking Union of Belgium, les Amis d’Henri Rolin and others). We especially find many subject files concerning i.a. NATO, the amnesty issue, civic education, etc.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Jean Simon Bloch was born in Brussels in 1913, as the son of Max Bloch and Germaine Brunschvig. He married Denise Errera. As a captain in the Belgian army, he joined the Piron Brigade in Great Britain. He was captured in December 1944 in Bastogne and deported to Germany, but succeeded in escaping. He was head of the Centrale d’Œuvres sociales juives from 1966 to 1970, functioned as the head of the Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium from 1978 to 1981 and even became its honorary president. He was also the honorary president of the Comité d’action des Forces belges en Grande-Bretagne, of the Union Royale Nationale des Officiers de Réserve and of the Union Royale Nationale des Évadés de Guerre. He was appointed Grand Officier in the Order of Leopold II, Commander of the Order of the Crown and Commander of the Order of the British Empire and Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur; he was titled Baron in 1991. He died in Brussels in 2002. ("Nécrologie du Baron Jean Bloch", in Le Soir, 3 April 2002, p. 21; J. Bloch, Épreuves et Combats 1940-1945. Histoires d’hommes et de femmes issus de la collectivité juive de Belgique, Bruxelles, éd. D. Devillez, 2002; T. Gergely, "Jean Bloch nous a quittés", in Kehilatenou. Bulletin trimestriel de la Communauté israélite de Bruxelles, no. 453, 2e trimestre 2002, p. 7; S. Landau, "Une grande personnalité du Judaïsme belge: Jean Bloch. Ancien président du CCIB", in La Centrale, no. 217, mars 1982)
- Access points: persons/families:
- Bloch, Jean
- Subject terms:
- Jewish soldiers
- Military
- Nobility
- War veterans
- World War II
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium