Jamar archives

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)

Scope and content:: In file nos. 232 to 236 we find mainly correspondence but also notes, circulars, legal texts, press cuttings etc. concerning various aspects of the anti-Jewish policies of the occupier, i.a. concerning the ‘Jewish ordinance’ of 28 October 1940 (no. 232), the status of the Jews in Belgium and the exclusion of Jews from the magistracy and the Bar (no. 233), protest about this ordinance by Jean-François-Joseph Jamar and Adolphe Gesché to Alexander von Falkenhausen (no. 234), as well as a file containing general documents on the persecution of the Jews (no. 235) and notes of Joseph Jamar about “Semitism” (no. 236). Nr. 292 is a file containing correspondence (1940-1944) between Belgian judiciary institutions and the German occupation administration, assembled in the framework of the trial against von Falkenhausen; it contains, among others, correspondence with regard to the persecution of the Jews. Lastly we mention file no. 65, which concerns payment of the salaries of magistrates who were suspended from active duty (i.a. as a result of the anti-Jewish ordinances).

Administrative/biographical history:: Jean-François-Joseph Jamar was a descendant from an old noble family from the Liège region. Jamar, a progressive liberal, obtained a PhD in law (1891) and started working as a lawyer at the Bar in Liège (1891-1906). In 1906 Jamar became a magistrate, first attached to the Rechtbank van Eerste Aanleg in Verviers (1906-1907), later as substitute of the Procureur des Konings in Liège. After the First World War, Jamar’s career took off – he was first attached at the Hof van Beroep in Liège (from 1919), later at the Hof van Assisen (as a president) and finally at the Hof van Cassatie (1923-1945). As president of this last court he was an important interlocutor of the occupier during the Second World War. Jamar was considered to be one of the primary architects of the Belgian “policy of the lesser evil”. He achieved emeritus status in 1945. He would devote the last years of his life to the defence of his conduct and policy during the Occupation. (F. Maerten, Fonds Jamar, Brussel, CEGESOMA, 2007.)

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic measures; Holocaust; Nazism; Nazism--Nazis; Post-WWII trials; War crimes