JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

elgium
merical contribution from Eastern Europe, but this had little
effect on its structure or character. The Belgian government’s
restrictive naturalization policies encouraged the continued
cohesion of the Antwerp community, whose members represented
some 75% of the local manpower employed in the diamond
industry and commerce.
[Simon R. Schwarzfuchs]
Holocaust Period
The study of the Holocaust in Belgium has been complicated
by lack of unified research and by contradictory accounts.
Furthermore, as the Belgian Constitution does not allow any
mention of religion in documents of civil status, exact official
data are lacking.
When the German army invaded on May 10, 1940, between
90,000 and 110,000 Jews lived in Belgium, among
whom there were probably about 20,000 German refugees.
Only 5–10% of the Jews in Belgium were of Belgian nationality,
while the majority of Jews who immigrated to Belgium
from other countries had to remain foreign nationals. Antwerp
had at that time at least 55,000 Jews, forming Belgium’s
largest, and economically, socially, and culturally most closely
knit Jewish community, and thus suffered more heavily than
the loosely knit community in Brussels (at least 35,000) and
the other smaller communities: Charleroi, with at least 2,000
Jews; Liège, 2,000; Ghent, 300; and Namur, 50. At the time of
the invasion, the adult males among the German-Jewish refugees
were treated as suspect aliens although many had volunteered
for the Belgian Army. They were rounded up by the
Belgian police and interned in the Gurs camp in France. Their
families remained behind, many reliant on the social welfare
committees of the Jewish communities.
The majority of Jews in Belgium fled the country, mainly
southward toward France. Some managed to escape German
occupation and emigrated overseas; others were overtaken
by the German armies and ordered to turn back. Many who
reached unoccupied France were lured back to Belgium a few
months later in accordance with Nazi policy at the time to assuage
the fears of the Jews and prevent the rise of antagonism
among the non-Jewish population. Belgium capitulated on
May 28, 1940, and was held under military rule until the liberation
in September 1944. The German military occupation
set up a Belgian administration in charge of civilian affairs,
which was instructed by the Wehrmacht to carry out anti-
Jewish measures. This situation was more favorable than that
for the Jews in the *Netherlands, where the *Gestapo was in
charge of carrying out anti-Jewish measures. The anti-Jewish
policy was executed in two stages. The preparatory phase circumscribed
the Jewish population, ordered their geographic
fixation, and brought about gradual economic and social paralysis.
The exterminatory phase, which began on July 22, 1942,
consisted of labor call-ups, followed by roundups and razzias
for internment in the Dossin assembly camp near Mechlin
(Malines). From there, the inmates were deported to extermination
camps in the east.
The succession of edicts followed that in other Nazi-occupied
countries, though what the Germans termed the “lack
of understanding of the local population,” and the courageous
and well-supported Jewish resistance did slow up the persecution
somewhat. The tragic and still not forgotten experience
in Belgium of German occupation during World War I
brought about more immediate and efficient resistance than in
the Netherlands. The first edicts were issued in October 1940.
Ritual slaughter was forbidden (Oct. 23, 1940). The first sign
of racial discrimination was the ordinance of Oct. 28, 1940,
which defined who was a Jew and prohibited the further return
of Jews to Belgium. It required all Jews above the age of
15 to register at the communal administration and have the letter
J stamped on their identity cards. The registration affected
about 42,000 Jews; apparently 10,000–13,000 Jews did not register
at all. Jewish property had to be registered, and was not
transferable. Notices of Jewish ownership in three languages
(Flemish, French, and German) had to be posted. Jews in the
fields of law, education, and communication were prohibited
from practicing their professions. The first protest was raised
by the Belgian associates of Jewish professional men and the
Belgian administration in the case of discriminatory legislation
bearing on Jews in the professions. They objected to the
anti-constitutional character of the anti-Jewish legislation and
claimed they were unable to carry it out. The Belgian government
in exile, residing in London, laid down a decision on
Jan. 10, 1941, that all laws imposed by the German occupation
which contradict the Belgian Constitution would be annulled
at the time of liberation.
In 1941, further edicts were issued to restrict and paralyze
Jewish life: edicts for confiscation of radios (May 31); enforced
declaration of bank holdings (June 10); prohibition against residing
outside the four large cities of Antwerp, Brussels, Liège,
and Charleroi (August 29); and a curfew between 8 p.m. and
7 a.m. (August 29). On Nov. 25, 1941, the German military
commander for Belgium and northern France ordered the formation
of a Judenrat, called Association des Juifs en Belgique
(AJB), under the pretext of organizing Jewish social welfare
for the community and furthering Jewish emigration. A national
committee of seven representatives was to encompass
all Jews and take over existing Jewish bodies and their property.
Rabbi T.S. Ullman, the only rabbi of Belgian nationality,
accepted the presidency only after consultation with high
Belgian authorities. Local committees were formed in Brussels,
Antwerp, Charleroi, and Liège. Although no documents
attest to the modes of constitution of these committees, there
are indications that the Germans held sway over the choice
of their members. In the course of time, the members of the
AJB committees were utilized by the Germans as a front for
carrying out their own aims. On Dec. 1, 1941, the Judenrat
was ordered to set up an educational system for Jewish children
who were expelled at that time from the public schools
by the Germans.
The AJB was ordered to hold another census of the Jews
and, by March, forced to take charge of the distribution of call-
282 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3