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These cards were created between 1941 and 1944 by the Security Service (SD) of the German Security Police in occupied Belgium. They were based on official registration records relating to Jewish persons who were domiciled in Belgium. The cards were used by the German occupation authorities to systematically track and document the ongoing deportation and annihilation of the Jewish population.
Both deported and non-deported persons whose personal data was recorded on the cards are included. The latter were able to escape deportation, for example by fleeing or going into hiding. The majority of the deported persons were taken to Auschwitz, in many cases from the SS assembly camp in Mechelen.
While a small number of cards include details such as transport numbers or deportation dates, the majority of the documents do not allow any conclusions to be drawn as to the persecution of the people concerned.
These cards were created between 1941 and 1944 by the Security Service (SD) of the German Security Police in occupied Belgium. They were based on official registration records relating to Jewish persons who were domiciled in Belgium. The cards were used by the German occupation authorities to systematically track and document the ongoing deportation and annihilation of the Jewish population.
Both deported and non-deported persons whose personal data was recorded on the cards are included. The latter were able to escape deportation, for example by fleeing or going into hiding. The majority of the deported persons were taken to Auschwitz, in many cases from the SS assembly camp in Mechelen.
While a small number of cards include details such as transport numbers or deportation dates, the majority of the documents do not allow any conclusions to be drawn as to the persecution of the people concerned.
Where was the document used and who created it?
Between 1941 and 1944, the Security Service (German abbreviation SD) of the German Security Police in Brussels created a card index to document the deportations of Jews, Sinti, and Roma.
The information contained therein was based on the so-called “Jewish registers” of the municipal administrations and other official data sources. According to a decree issued by the German occupying power on October 28, 1940, Jewish persons in Belgium were required to register with the local authorities. At that time, the Jewish population of Belgium numbered around 75,000, most of whom lived in Antwerp and Brussels. Around 22,000 of them were Jewish refugees from Germany. The registration of Jews was a central administrative prerequisite for their subsequent internment and deportation.
The card index was used by the security service between 1941 and 1944 during the German occupation of Belgium. When the Germans withdrew in September 1944, it was left behind in Hasselt, Belgium. This is indicated by the stamp “Document trouvé à la Werbestelle de Hasselt” on the bottom of many cards. Through the AIVG (Aide aux Israélites Victimes de la Guerre – Aid to Jewish War Victims), the card index was transferred to the Administration du Service des Victimes de la guerre (Archive Service for War Victims) in Brussels in 1945.
There, it was used in the following years for investigative purposes and to clarify individual fates. To this end, employees of the archive service supplemented the cards extensively with handwritten source excerpts, notes, and other documents from the war and post-war period that were relevant to the investigations.
The card index was used by the German occupation authorities to record and monitor the deportations of the Jewish population. New or changed information was continuously added to the cards by hand. For example, new addresses of individuals, deportations, the disappearance of individuals, or their admission to assembly camps such as Mechelen were noted. In some cases, the cards also contain transport numbers and the respective date of deportation. The destination of the deportation was not recorded; the majority of those affected were deported to Auschwitz.
The complete file now contains over 56,000 cards. The originals are kept at the Belgian Archives Service for War Victims, where the file has been divided into three sections.
One section contains the SD cards and, where applicable, other documents relating to individuals who were deported from the SS assembly camp in Mechelen. Another sub-file contains the cards and documents of persons who were deported from camps in France, while a third sub-file contains the cards of persons who were able to escape deportation, for example by fleeing or going into hiding.
The ITS (predecessor organization of the Arolsen Archives) adopted this arrangement when it took over the copies, which are now in inventory 7.7.1.
The typewritten information on the cards was taken from other sources, such as the registration registers; handwritten entries were added at a later date by employees of the Security Service (SD). Some cards also show signs of use by the archive service after the war, for example in the form of notes or attached photographs that were created in the course of processing inquiries.
In some cases, there are several cards for the same person. If a person's card could not be found, for example because they had not yet been registered or due to different spellings of their name, poor legibility, or incorrect assignment, a new card was created by hand.
Some cards also contain racist terms from Nazi ideology, such as “Mischling” (half-breed) or “Mischehe” (mixed marriage).
Today, it is unclear according to which system these cards were originally arranged. However, it is assumed that they were kept as a card index, regardless of where and when the persons concerned were imprisoned or deported.
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