Archive of the Diamond collection
Extent and Medium
233,916 digital images, JPEG
53 microfilm reels (digitized), 16 mm
3 microfilm reels (digitized), 35 mm
Archival History
Archives générales du Royaume (Belgium)
Acquisition
Source of acquisition is the Belgian National Archives.The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the collection from the Belgian National Archives via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Project in June 2009.
Scope and Content
This collection concerns the diamond trade in Belgium between 1935 and 1946. The collection traces the looting of Jewish diamond traders, organized and centralized through the so-called Devisenschütz-Kommando, which ultimately expropriated property worth an estimated 72 million Belgian francs. The collection is organized into personal and subject files.
System of Arrangement
Divided into two parts: Personal (roughly a third of the collection), and subject-related files.
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--Economic aspects--Belgium.
- Belgium--History--German occupation, 1940-1945.
- Antwerp (Belgium)
- Diamond industry and trade--Belgium--History--20th century.
- Jews--Belgium--Antwerp.
- World War, 1939-1945--Belgium--Antwerp.
- World War, 1939-1945--Destruction and pillage--Belgium.
Genre
- Document
Copies
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum holds copies of Holocaust-relevant archives from Archives générales du Royaume (Belgium)