Auschwitz Foundation - AUSCHWITZ FOUNDATION - REMEMBRANCE OF AUSCHWITZ
Library / Archives
Nonprofit Organization - Study and Documentation Center
 
 

Having worked together for several years for the recognition and preservation of the former headquarters of the SiPo-SD (Gestapo) located at 453 and 347 Avenue Louise in Brussels, Daniel Weyssow, Remembrance of Auschwitz project leader, and Claire Pahaut, secretary of the Groupe Memoire, an association working to preserve memory of the Second World War, are very pleased with the decision made on January 9, 2014, by the government of Brussels, at the initiative of Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region, Rudi Vervoort, to begin the process of registering the cellars as historical sites. This is an important process, given that there are many inscriptions on the walls left by Jewish and resistance victims of the occupying forces. The Monuments and Sites directorate will soon begin inventorying the graffiti in the cellars.

 

More information: Gestapo cellars - Photo galleries

 

 

Domicile of the Auschwitz Foundation
Domicile of the Auschwitz Foundation

The Auschwitz Foundation was founded in 1980 by the Belgian Association of former political prisoners in Auschwitz-Birkenau and Silesian Camps and Prisons, its main aim being to study the history and remembrance of Holocaust and Nazi terror, awareness of them, the transmission of their memory and the preservation of archives concerning them. To achieve its goals, the Foundation set up a non-profit-making Study and Documentation Center, Remembrance of Auschwitz. The two institutions work together to promote scientific research and multidisciplinary publications with a view to broadening understanding of the historical processes which led to the coming to power of the Third Reich and to Holocaust and Nazi terror, while also developing teaching projects intended for the various education sectors in particular, and for society in general.

 

On April 1, 2010 the Foundation became a Resource Center under the terms of the "Memory" Decree.

 

Both Institutions possess important archival materials, a well-stocked library, and a vast range of audiovisual documentation which is available to the public, particularly to researchers, teachers, students and the young in general.

 

They carry out their work and projects in a framework which is resolutely multidisciplinary, encompassing all mass crimes and crimes committed in the past or in contemporary history.

 

 

 

Our activities are supported by:

 

  • the National Lottery, the Flemish Community of Belgium, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Ethias, P&V Insurance,

    and:
  • the French Community Commission, the SPF/FOD [Department of War Victims], The City of Brussels, local authorities, the National Bank of Belgium and our friends and members.



We thank them warmly.
loterie en logo_fwb logo_ethias_2 logo_bnb_en


logo_vlaamse_gemeenschap_2 logo_pv_2  

etageresalivres

The Library

 

The Auschwitz Foundation makes a multilingual library with over 13,000 books available to the general public. The books and periodicals relate to the study of the Second World War (particularly in Belgium, France and the Netherlands), Fascism, National Socialism and the Third Reich (history, movements, regimes, institutions, society, economy, ideologies, etc.) as well as to all dimensions of Fascist and Nazi criminality (political repression, racial persecutions, medical experiments, war crimes, genocidal politics, etc.). The genocides of the Jews and Roma perpetrated by the Nazis are widely represented.

We possess extensive documentation on extermination centres and concentration camps.

Many books also deal with the history of anti-fascism, anti-Nazism and the Resistance in Europe.

More theoretical and methodological themes are also covered: the relationship between history and memory, the use of testimonies and oral history, the validity of comparative approaches, the great historiographical debates and controversies on the interpretation of totalitarian, fascist, Nazi and Stalinist phenomena, etc.

In addition, the Auschwitz Foundation library offers readers educational books, numerous testimonies and significant novels about the Shoah.

The collections also include works on racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and their resurgence, and on Holocaust denial today.

Other mass crimes and genocides, from the Armenians to Rwanda to the former Yugoslavia, etc., are also found among the works in our collection.

A computerised catalogue of books and periodicals is available to readers and can be consulted on site.

By appointment, the scientific staff of Remembrance of Auschwitz are available to guide readers in their research.

The library is open to the public from Monday to Friday from 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 a.m. and from 1.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m., only after making an appointment with the library manager, Mr Verschueren,  by e-mail.

Registration is free and compulsory. Consultations are free of charge. Some of the documentation can be borrowed for a fortnight. A4 photocopies can be produced for €0.05.

Access to the library and its documentation is subject to general reading regulations.

halter

The Archive Collections


Since its creation in 1980, the Auschwitz Foundation has undertaken to collect all types of archival documents relating to the Nazi concentration camp world and the situation of deportees and survivors. This collection of archives is motivated by the desire to preserve as many traces as possible, but it also aims to gather a large amount of documentation for scientific research or any type of educational process.

The archives are accessible from Monday to Friday from 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 a.m. and from 1.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m., by appointment only with the archives manager, Ms Timperman by e-mail.


The Auschwitz Foundation has a number of archive collections, including:

  • A photo library consisting, on the one hand, of photos relating to the activities of the Amicale d'Auschwitz and the Auschwitz Foundation (trips, seminars, etc.) and, on the other hand, of photographic prints relating to the Second World War (Belgium under occupation, the Third Reich, concentration camps and extermination centres, etc.); these are reproductions from the main museums or renowned study centres;
  • the archives of the Amicale Belge des Ex-Prisonniers Politiques d’Auschwitz-Birkenau: current archives of the Amicale such as correspondence, activity programmes, minutes of meetings, organisation of events, etc.;
  • the archives of the International Auschwitz Committee: publications, minutes, balance sheets, articles of association, correspondence with national committees, etc.;
  • the Personal Papers of Victims of Nazi Crimes and Genocides collection: these include membership cards, identification cards, deportation cards, official acknowledgements, correspondence, certificates and declarations of incarceration, photographs, press cuttings, drawings, etc.; the latter collection is mainly made up of documents supplied by survivors following their audiovisual interviews.

As the Belgian branch of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies of Yale University, the Auschwitz Foundation has been collecting testimonies of camp survivors in the form of audiovisual interviews since 1992. These interviews are life stories in which the witness tells his or her story before, during and after deportation. The recordings are accompanied by a biographical sheet containing factual information about the witness’ life. In addition, a number of these interviews are thematically indexed (with reference to the ‘time-code’ and sequenced to facilitate research. To date, the Foundation has collected 246 interviews representing almost 1,250 interview hours. The average length of the interviews is 5 hours 10 minutes.

http://fortunoff-testimonies.be/

Contact

Auschwitz Foundation – Remembrance of Auschwitz
Rue aux Laines 17 box 50 – B-1000 Brussels
   +32 (0)2 512 79 98
   info@auschwitz.be
BCE/KBO Auschwitz Foundation: 0876787354
BCE/KBO Remembrance of Auschwitz: 0420667323

Office open from Monday to Friday  9:30am to 4:30pm.
Visit only by appointment.

fbytininstagram logo

Become a member

To become a member of Remembrance of Auschwitz ASBL, take part in its activities and support its actions, please contact us.
Membership costs €40.00, payable to account n° 310-0780517-44 (IBAN : BE55 3100 7805 1744 – BIC : BBRUBEBB)
Donations of more than €40.00 qualify for a tax exemption for Belgian tax-payers.

 

Subscribe

to our newsletter in English

captcha 
I agree with the Privacy policy
The website of the Remembrance of Auschwitz and the Auschwitz Foundation uses cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. By using this website, you consent to our use of cookies.