The "Front de l'Indépendance" archives

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• Reproduction : The content of the collection can be freely reproduced in the reading room. For any reproduction request by the CegeSoma teams, practical information is available here.
• Research tools : Provisional collection list AA2127

Collection description :

Rapports d'activités, correspondance émanant du Front de l'Indépendance, [5/1944-1/1948]

The origins of the “Front de l’Indépendance” (FI) date back to the spring of 1941, before Germany’s attack on the USSR on June 22, 1941. The role of the “Parti communiste de Belgique” (PCB) in this movement was crucial from the very beginning. Its influence would persist since the final objective, the formation of a broad front with other parties, was never accomplished. The representatives of other political parties did join the FI but only in their personal capacity (see José Gotovitch, Du Rouge au Tricolore. Les Communistes belges de 1939 à 1944. Un aspect de l’histoire de la Résistance en Belgique, Bruxelles, Éditions Labor, 1992).

The FI effectively evolved as a coordinating body to which a wide range of organizations reported. “Les Partisans armés (PA)” were the armed branch of the movement. “Les Milices patriotiques” (MP) were founded at the end of the war to support the Allied forces during the Liberation. A large number of civil resistance groups then joined them. These included, among others, “Solidarité”, “Comités de lute syndicale”; “Wallonie libre”, “Comité de défense des Juifs”, “Lomo” (teachers of official secondary education in Flanders), the underground newspaper “Front” as well as associations of artists, intellectuals, young people, etc.

The current FI is the archive administrator for many of these groups. Their archives have been collected at different times over the past 60 years. Around 1965, the “Confédération Front de l’indépendance/MP/PA” was founded. The three movements acted together from that moment on. A number of organisations joined this confederation in the early 1970s, when the “Musée national de la Résistance” was founded (see Jorg Timmerman, Inventarisering van het archief van het Onafhankelijkheidsfront berustend in het Huis van het Verzet - Nationaal Museum van de Weerstand, VUB/UGent/KUL. Interuniversity Gespecialisationerde Opleiding in Archivistiek en Hedendaags Documentbeheer, 2005).

The FI archives are already partly inventoried. Nonetheless, the overall state of conservation in the “Musée de la Résistance” was somewhat inadequate. Due to the lack of sufficient facilities the current FI directory board decided to transfer these extensive and historically interesting archives to CegeSoma.

Content of the deposited archives

These large archives mainly concern the post-war period. During the occupation, only very few documents were produced and many of them were destroyed for security reasons. This is why the FI archives and the archives of affiliated organizations report above all on activities carried out after the Liberation. Many concern recognition records, compensation claims, etc. The fight against the collaboration and later against the far-right as well as the commemoration of the Resistance, have left their mark on the archives. Due to the importance of the communist movement within the FI, it remained linked to the Cold War.

The FI archives also contain some remarkable, albeit somewhat isolated, documents. On the one hand, there are the "purification files" kept in the red binders. These "investigation files" contain rich material, sometimes even from the pre-war period, about persons suspected of having had links with Nazi Germany. In addition, there is a collection of clandestine press, the archives of the “Amicale des survivants du camp de concentration de Dachau”, documents concerning the “Hidden Children” (of Jewish origins), documents relating to and coming from the Soviet army prisoners of war involved in the Belgian Resistance, a collection of the “Fédération internationale des résistants”/” Association antifasciste” and, finally, the archives of the “Amicale des anciens combattants d'Espagne”, all of which were transferred to the IF in the post-war years.

In agreement with the “Musée juif de la déportation et de la résistance” in Mechelen (Kazerne Dossin), it was decided to reintegrate the documents concerning Jews in the Resistance into the original archival collection. They were kept there but compiled by the IF.

Since the IF is still active as an association of interests (recognition files, commemorative ceremonies, etc.), the management of the association has decided to keep the dynamic and semi-dynamic archives at 14, rue Van Lint in 1070 Brussels (Anderlecht). These are mainly the recognition files of armed partisans and patriotic militias. Recent administrative records also remain stored at this address. With regard to the transferred archives, CegeSoma is responsible for their classification and inventory, in order to make them accessible to scientific research.

For more information :

• José Gotovitch, Du Rouge au Tricolore. Les Communistes belges de 1939 à 1944. Un aspect de l’histoire de la Résistance en Belgique, Bruxelles, Éditions Labor, 1992
• Jorg Timmerman, Inventarisering van het archief van het Onafhankelijkheidsfront berustend in het Huis van het Verzet – Nationaal Museum van de Weerstand, VUB/UGent/KUL. Interuniversitaire Gespecialiseerde Opleiding in Archivistiek en Hedendaags Documentbeheer, 2005