Archives of the Public Prosecutor's Office attached to the Military Court. General Instructions Department. Series of documentation files (mainly) 1944-1953

• Access:  The Archives of the Public Prosecutor's Office attached to the Military Court. General Instructions Department. Series of Documentation Files, 1944-1953 is accessible during the opening hours of the reading room of NA2. Its contents may be consulted with the written consent of the College of Prosecutors General. A reasoned request should be sent to the College of Prosecutors General at Boulevard de Waterloo, 76, 1000 Brussels. (Once consent has been obtained, see consultations procedures). Archival documents dating back more than 100 years are freely available.
• Digitization: The archive fund has not been digitized.
• Reproduction :  The content of the fonds may be freely reproduced in the reading room with the written consent of the College of Attorneys General (see above). Practical information for requesting a reproduction by CegeSoma personnel can be found here.
• Finding aid : The inventory (INVI69) can be consulted via the online search environment of the State Archives of Belgium, Agatha. He can also be downloaded.

Collection description :

The importance of this department’s files for research into, among other things, the prosecution of collaboration after World War II (what is commonly referred to as ‘the Repression’) cannot be overstated. After all, the General Instructions Department was tasked with providing magistrates with a body of decision-making documentation regarding "all questions of interpretation of laws, decrees, etc., as well as all questions of principle". Efficiency and uniformity in prosecution policy and jurisprudence were the watchwords. Throughout the course of its existence, the department produced thousands of thematic files on a range of subjects, which were classified according to a series of categories, including an extensive "varia" section.

The General Instructions Department was disbanded at the end of 1953. Its strictly documentary tasks were assigned to a new Documentation Department, which remained in place until the military courts were abolished in peacetime (2003). The Documentation Department set about systematically analysing the files of its predecessor to enrich its own files, which included documents related to a variety of topics relevant to the military courts even after the Repression.