ABSTRACT
As Belgian historian Thierry Delplancq underlines, research into municipal records and the “Jewish question” during the occupation of Belgium is beset with numerous practical problems which make any exploration of the fundamental factual and ideological questions which are so important to our understandings of the Holocaust in Belgium all the more difficult. Many archives are closed and require special permission for access; the “hundred year rule” prevents scholars from identifying the subjects of many records from the Second World War; files are incomplete or missing, etc.1 The situation in Brussels exemplifies many of these problems. The files relating to the years of occupation found at the Archives of the City of Brussels from the Mayor’s Office (Cabinet du Bourgmestre) are incomplete. Indeed, the Inventory and finding aid at the City Archives summarizes the state of the holdings as follows:
The part of the holdings relating to the war 1940-1945 is much less interesting. The documents, especially the correspondence with the Occupying Power were found in a state of extreme disorder, which could only be remedied to a small decree … Moreover, it appears that many of the files have been destroyed or removed.2
