Document collection – Varia.

For the sake of completeness, this description contains information on the various personal papers, separate archival documents and other material from the “Document collection” of the Wiener Library, too limited in extent to describe separately. The collection constitutes the largest archive of personal papers relative to Jewish refugees from occupied Europe. By searching the database on keywords such as “Belgium”, “Brussels”, “Antwerp” etc. we find a number ‘collections’ related to the Jewish population in Belgium. We firstly note archival material donated by a couple of individuals and/or families (or their descendants) who fled Belgium, or were present in Belgium during the German occupation. They mostly contain personal documents such as identity papers, membership cards, travel documents, pictures, autobiographical writings, etc. See, among others, collections nr. 1618 (Ludwig Bieder), 1677 (Leibisch Engelbert), 1691 (Jacob Wuehl), … Furthermore, the collection contains isolated archival documents such as reports from organisations and institutions (for example, on the situation of the Jews, on Nazi war crimes, on the Breendonk camp, on a prewar protest meeting against pogroms in Poland), lists (for example, of Hungarian Jews under protection of the Hungarian consulate in Belgium – see collection nr. 512), anti-Semitic leaflets and propaganda, documents from German institutions (for example regarding occupation policies, anti-Jewish measures), … Please note that in many cases the documents are actually copies from original material located elsewhere – see for instance collection nr. 825, which contains copies of lists of hidden Jewish children in Belgium, currently kept in the archives of the Directie-Generaal Oorlogsslachtoffers / Direction Générale Victimes de la Guerre. Sometimes there is not much information on the provenance of the archival documents – see for example the collection nr. 564 titled “Brussels Relief Committee: records 1940-1949” which consists of microfilm copies of only a few pieces (mostly reports) of unclear provenance.