Private sources related to the Jewish presence in Charleroi

Collection

Reference number:: VVagman-Namur-Sources privées relatives à la présence juive à Charleroi

Title (official language):: Sources privées relatives à la présence juive à Charleroi

Scope and content:: This fonds contains, among others: numerous photos of members of the Jewish community of Charleroi and of their descendants; personal documents and private records of members of the Jewish community of Charleroi and their descendants; transcriptions of oral testimonies by members (or former members) of the Jewish community of Charleroi (most of them born before 1940); the periodical Écoute, the internal bulletin of the community published from 1983 to 1995 in which the daily life of the community is reflected; lists of deported Jews from Charleroi and the surrounding area (1942-1944); etc. We also note alphabetical lists of Jews present in Charleroi and the surrounding area between 1940 and 1945 (compiled by combining partial lists from research centres and resources such as Kazerne Dossin, Direction générale Victimes de Guerre, Yad Vashem, the Jewish genealogy association Gen Ami, JewishGen). These lists, completed by data found in various archives, contain the following elements for each person: family name, first name, date of birth, place of birth, address, name of the spouse/husband and profession.

Administrative/biographical history:: Vincent Vagman (born 1963), who holds a degree in history (UCL), is the director of the historical research and communication agency Les mots pour le lire, tasked by the Jewish community of Charleroi with writing the history of this community. To this end he launched, via the website http://www.zakhor-belgium.com, a call for testimonies and for the collection of family records from members of this community and/or their descendants. The results of this collecting operation were described and form a separate archival fonds, the “Sources privées relatives à la présence juive à Charleroi”. (Interview of the author with Vincent Vagman, March 2014)

Subject terms:: Communism; Genealogy; Historical research; Holocaust; Jewish community; Jewish community records; Jewish press; Jewish self-defence and resistance; Oral history; Personal records; Statistics; Testimony; Zionism

Access, restrictions:: Access is possible on demand; write to info.zakhor.belgium@gmail.com.

Finding aids:: V. Vagman, Inventaire de Sources privées relatives à la présence juive à Charleroi, Jambes, 2014.