Since 21 October 2024 , the Resistance in Belgium platform allows anyone to research the Resistance in Belgium, thanks to a pilot project developed by CegeSoma/ State Archives . Given the growing interest in the history of the Resistance, it is essential today to make this information accessible to as many people as possible, and to enable everyone to carry out research on the subject.
The Resistance History Network is a new network of academics. We want to pool the knowledge of basic historical research at Belgian academic institutions and universities. We also want to draw attention to all the research work that has already been done.
On 8 December 2023, Nico Wouters presented in the Senate the report on the role of the National Belgian Railways Society (NMBS/SNCB) in deportations carried out during the Second World War in Belgium. CegeSoma conducted this research from January 2022 to November 2023, commissioned by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet and the Senate.
It was seventy years ago last summer that the Korean War (1950-1953) ended in an armistice. A real peace never happened. In the summer of 2025, we will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the start of the war.
Attention. We are currently making an inventory for the 'diaries and manuscripts' collection (‘AB’-references). As such, the collection will not be accessible until further notice! Thank you for your understanding.
The archives of the military justice are of great scientific and social value. Over the past five years, the State Archives has handled more than 1,400 requests for access to these records. In a recent article for META. Tijdschrift voor bibliotheek & archief , archivist...
At the request of the Belgian government, the Study and Documentation Centre for War and Society (CegeSoma, State Archives) is conducting an investigation into the role of the National Railway Company Belgium (SNCB) in the deportations of Jews, Roma and Sinti, political prisoners and forced labourers during the Second World War.
How to research a relative’s experience during World War 2, when an ocean and 78 years separate a family from the time and place where it all happened? This is the story of how – with the help of CegeSoma - two brothers, Steve and Rick Katz, learned how their uncle, Monroe Gordon, was saved by Belgian resistance fighters in 1944.
On 13 February, UNESCO celebrated the 9th edition of the World Radio Day. This was the occasion for CegeSoma to highlight its radio archives, in particular those produced by by the German radio institution Radio Bruxelles-Zender Brussel between 1940 and 1945. They can now be accessed online and in our reading room.
Two new research projects are set to start this spring at CegeSoma. The first one will investigate the military justice and the application of the death penalty in the context of Collaboration repression after the Second World War. The second project will focus on the provincial government of Limburg during the same period.
On December 10, 2019, 200 people attended the study day at the Senate on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Centre for War and Contemporary Society (CegeSoma – State Archives). Nico Wouters (head of CegeSoma) gave a five-point overview of 75 years of history and presented the thematic 'anniversary edition' of the Belgian Review of Contemporary History.
Au-delà des anniversaires et des modes, la Première Guerre mondiale continue d’intriguer. Depuis plus d’un siècle, on publie à son sujet plus d’un ouvrage par jour dans le monde et son centenaire a vu, rien qu’en Belgique, l’organisation de centaines de colloques, conférences, cérémonies et expositions.
