Belgium has been one of the last European countries to look at the restitution of stolen property to the Jews by the Nazis. It was not until the month of July 1997. The inquiry of the Buysse Commission then revealed that the banks had not sought the heirs or the owners holding accounts, in contradiction with their claims. In addition, the Belgian authorities had seized money robbed by the Germans without looking for the legitimate owners.
A commission for the compensation of members of the Jewish community in Belgium (2001–2007) was then created. Treating thousands of files, she found that in many cases, the absence of survivors prevented any individual recovery. Following this work, Belgium paid around 110 million euros to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust is around.
Of this total, 35 million euros were paid directly to the beneficiaries (survivors or descendants), via the commission for compensation. The balance, ie 75 million euros, corresponding to unqualled funds (for lack of identifiable heirs), were transferred to the foundation of Judaism in Belgium. This foundation is responsible for financed projects of general interest for the Jewish community (cultural, social and religious actions for the benefit of the community).
Belgian Jews or Belgian Jews
But this figure is distinct from possible repairs paid by Germany or via international mechanisms. As part of an agreement bilateral signed with federal Germany in 1960, the latter paid the equivalent From 40 million euros of the time to Belgium, in compensation for the Nazi persecutions suffered by people residing in Belgium during the Second World War.
However, the distribution of these funds aroused criticism, as the majority of Belgian Jewish survivors were excluded. The Belgian government had obtained repairs from the German government for “those who had been prosecuted for political and racial reasons”. However, he excluded most of the Jewish survivors on the pretext that they “did not have Belgian nationality in 1940”. But the Refugee or stateless Jews who resided in Belgium on this date fled for mostly persecution in their countries of origin, notably Nazi Germany. It is the police files originally drawn up to monitor these “stateless” which served the Nazis to identify their victims. As a reminder, out of the 50,000 Jews present on Belgian soil at the end of 1940, 25,000 did not survive.
In addition, Belgian Jewish survivors were able to benefit from individual compensation via international mechanisms, including the Claims Conference. This organization, created in 1951, negotiates compensation with Germany for the Jewish victims of Nazism. It allowed survivors residing in Belgium to receive pensions or social assistance, without being able to establish specific and detailed amounts.
-Discreet and late apologies
In France, in 1995, President Jacques Chirac marked a historic turning point by presenting clear apology on behalf of the French State, breaking with its predecessors who claimed that Vichy, it was neither the State, nor France. Belgium waited 2012 to pronounce these official apology, in a speech by Elio Di Rupo during the inauguration of the Memorial of the Dossin barracks, in Mechelen.
“On behalf of the Belgian government, I apologize to the Jewish community in Belgium for the persecution inflicted on it and for the role played by the Belgian authorities in the deportation of the Jews.”
A speech, however, without real media magnitude and not really followed by concrete measures. The memory policy (places of memory, educational policies) thus remains largely more developed among our neighbors. Although Belgium has finally taken measures to compensate the Jewish community, criticisms persist concerning the slow steps, the exclusion of certain victims – as we have seen – but also the little diligence to pursue employees, especially in the north of the country.
The role of the SNCB
There remains the role of the SNCB, the railroad having obviously played an essential role in the industrial destruction of the Jewish peoples of Europe. Contrary to In cases of the Netherlands and France, where the authorities compensated the survivors and descendants of Jewish deportees via their national railways, our railways have undertaken anything. They nevertheless perceived the Nazi occupant 51 million Belgian francs for the transport of deported Jews.
In 2019, the House of Representatives voted for the establishment of an investigation into the role played by the SNCB in the deportation of the Jews. Curly in 2023, this study led to the creation of a “group of wise men”. Last January, the latter sent his recommendations to the Belgian rail: “With regard to the recognition of victims, the SNCB must not only express regrets but also to present official apology for the role played by Belgian railways of the time in the organization of railway convoys deportation“said, for example, lawyer Françoise Tulkens.
The railway company is also invited to develop memorial initiatives and organize a day of memory. In addition, the federal government and all public administrations and organizations are encouraged to inform managers, civil servants, magistrates, police and other soldiers of the moral dilemmas that their counterparts of the time had been confronted. “”A question more current than ever“said Françoise Tulkens.
