September 1, 2006
Belgian purge of Holocaust archives
Appalling story -- read it all:
The Belgian authorities have destroyed archives and records relating to the persecution and deportation of Jews in Belgium in the 1930s and 1940s. Some of this happened as recently as the late 1990s. This was revealed during hearings in the Belgian Senate last Spring. Though the Senate report dates from 4 May the Belgian press has not yet mentioned the affair. The Senate report says that “documents about the period 1930-1950 have been destroyed on a massive scale.”From Brussels Journal, via Instapundit.The systematic destructions of the records of police and judiciary from the 1930s and ’40s happened chiefly in Brussels and Wallonia, the French-speaking south of Belgium. The Senate report states that in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking north of the country, archives have been saved thanks to conscientious archivists. “This policy – of having competent archivists manage dead archives – contrasts with the disastrous situation at the offices of the public prosecutors in Brussels and Wallonia.”
Posted by David on September 1, 2006 9:13 AM
Well, the people in charge largely stayed in charge. And there is the shame factor as well.
Interesting that the Wehrmacht re-patriated some of the deported Jews, and even tried to prosecute the man who promptly re-deported those who dud not have Belgian citizenship.
Posted by: John Anderson on September 2, 2006 1:23 PM
cronaca.com