Jodenregister van Antwerpen. Collection

Contact Kazerne Dossin Documentation Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu The German Verordnung (Anti-Jewish measure) of 28 October 1940, published in the Verordnungsblatt on 5 November 1940, ordered the registration of Jews from the age of 15 by the Belgian municipalities. The heads of the Belgian civil service willingly placed the country’s administrative apparatus at the occupier’s disposal to allow the registration of Jews, from Arlon to Ostend. In so doing, civil servants were attacking the Belgian constitution and the The Hague Convention no. IV of 1907. Henceforward, anyone with three Jewish grandparents was considered a “Jew”. Since the Nazis were unable to define the concept of “Jewishness” racially, they turned instead to a religious criterion. A person’s grandparent was Jewish if he or she (had) practiced the Jewish religion. Severe penalties were introduced for those who failed to register. Exact numbers are unavailable, since the exact size of the Jewish community in Belgium before 1940 is unknown, but it is estimated that 5% to 10% of the community did not register. However, the Belgian municipalities actively urged children turning 15 to visit the town hall. This resulted in the registration of Jews in Belgium up until 1943, long after deportations from the Dossin barracks had started. Centraal Beheer voor Joodse Weldadigheid en Maatschappelijk Hulpbetoon [Central Bureau for Jewish Welfare and Social Aid], Antwerp The German decree of 28 October 1940 made it compulsory for all Jews from the age of 15 to register in the Jewish register of the municipality where they officially lived. The names of younger children were added to the forms of the parents (in most cases the copy of the father). Each form has room for the following information : surname, first names, date and place of birth, profession, nationality, religion, date of arrival in Belgium, the country of migration, successive addresses, date and place of registration, and the person’s signature, but also name, date and place of birth and religion of the spouse, the parents, the grandparents and the children. However, in case of the Jewish Register of Antwerp in most cases only surname, first names, date and place of birth, nationality, successive addresses, date of arrival in Belgium and the names of children were filled out. Access to the name index, containing the names of all persons older than 15 who registered, is available at the Kazerne Dossin documentation centre.