Metadata: Documentation from and concerning the extreme right in Belgium originating from the Centre pour l’égalité des chances
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 1868 and 1986
- Title:
- Documentation from and concerning the extreme right in Belgium originating from the Centre pour l’égalité des chances
- Title (official language):
- Documentation de et concernant l'extrême droite en Belgique en provenance du Centre pour l'égalité des chances
- Creator/accumulator:
- Gijsels, Hugo
- Date(s):
- 1980/2000
- Extent:
- 20 linear metres
- Scope and content:
-
In this fonds the parts “Archives” and “Documentation” are particularly relevant.
The part “Archives” contains Gijsels’s files, of which a number specifically relate to ‘revisionism’ and negationism (Holocaust denial) – in particular the activities/legal prosecution of Vrij Historish Onderzoek and associated individuals (i.a. Siegfried Verbeke). See the files AA 1868/109 – AA 1868/114, AA 1868/181 and AA 1868/239, for the years 1979-1998. In this series we also find files on the extreme right, nationalism, fascism, racism and antisemitism, remembrance activities, exhibitions, etc. The following files are relevant for this guide: AA 1868/84, AA 1868/94, AA 1868/99, AA 1868/22 and AA 1868/227. They cover the years ca. 1981-1988. File no. AA 1986/285 lastly consists of an alphabetically ordered list with documentation about various individuals. The information concerns both persons having played a role in the Holocaust (Kurt Asche, Klaus Barbie, John Yvan Demjanjuk, Joseph Goebbels, Harry von Craushaar, etc.) as well as Jewish figures (Regine Beer, André Gantman, David Susskind, Meïr Kahan and others).
In Gijsels’s documentation we firstly note the sections “Vrij Historisch Onderzoek” and “negationism and revisionism” from the inventory – see respectively the nos. AA 1986/113 – AA 1986/1166 and AA 1986/1270 – AA 1986/1276. The same series of documentation files contains many other relevant files related to i.a. the Holocaust, the Jewish population and certain Jewish organisations (e.g. CCLJ, Organisation juive de Combat), the attitude of the Vlaams Blok and other Flemish nationalist organisations (e.g. Nationalistisch Jong-studentenverbond) vis-à-vis the Jewish population and the Shoah, antisemitic literature (e.g. the Protocollen van de Wijzen van Zion), anti-Jewish terror, etc. See the files no. AA 1986/436, AA 1986/508, AA 1986/737, AA 1986/959, AA 1986/964, AA 1986/993, AA 1986/1042, AA 1986/1109, AA 1986/1110, AA 1986/1111, AA 1986/1112, AA 1986/1124, AA 1986/1133, AA 1986/1134, AA 1986/1188, AA 1986/1238, AA 1986/1238, AA 1986/1253, AA 1986/1309, AA 1986/1385, AA 1986/1387, AA 1986/1533 and AA 1986/1534. They mostly consist of press cuttings, press kits, copies of publications (including of some Jewish organisations, such as Regards, Kadima, In naam van de Vrijheid), notes, leaflets, etc. The oldest documents are from ca. the early 1980s, the most recent date to the late 1990s.
- Archival history:
- Donation by A. Van de Sande, Gijsels’s widow (2005).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Hugo Gijsels (1950-2004) was an investigative journalist (i.a. for Humo, Knack, De Morgen) and was mainly known for his articles and books on racism and the extreme right, especially the former Vlaams Blok. Because of his publications Gijsels was often confronted with strong opposition and he was sued several times (mostly unsuccessfully), i.a. by Paul Vanden Boeynants. He is considered to be one of the spiritual fathers of the cordon sanitaire against the Vlaams Blok. Gijsels’s journalistic activity decreased in the 1990s. He remained a commentator and speaker, and also became advisor to the Centrum voor Gelijkheid van Kansen en Racismebestrijding. In this period Gijsels and his family moved to Redu, where he ran a bookshop. He died there in 2004. (“Bij het overlijden van Hugo Gijsels” http://aff.skynetblogs.be/archive/2005/02/20/bij-het-overlijden-van-hugo-gijsels.html)
- Access points: persons/families:
- Gijsels, Hugo
- Finding aids:
- A. Stas & M. Magherman, Archief en documentatie Hugo Gijsels, Brussel, CEGESOMA, 2006-2007 (list AA 1868 en AA 1986).
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
