Dans le Saillant des Ardennes, Saint Vith 1945, photo n° 96546, collection Algoet, © CegeSoma/Archives de l'Etat

World War II

Welcome to our Topics Page dedicated to Second World War. Discover our projects, events and pulications (type) about this period. Our publications also include tools such as bibliographies.You can carry out targeted research using keywords (tags). At the bottom of the page you find interesting links for further information.

Belgian Railways and deportations in WWII (2022-2023)

On 8...

Projet

Wikibase Resistance (2021 - )

In brief

Initiated by the Cegesoma in the spring of 2021, the Wikibase...

Publication

Les enfants de la répression (Children of Repression)

This book is the result of years of research by ...

Publication

Papy était-il un héros?

Between 100,000 and 150,000 men and women actively took part in the struggle...

Papy était-il un nazi? Sur les traces d'un passé de guerre.

Publication

Was Grandpa a Nazi?

Staff members from the State Archives / CegeSoma have made an essential contribution to this...

Projet

EHRI (2015 - )

EHRI is a European research project (Horizon 2020) that supports Holocaust scholars by building...

Publication

Bruxelles, ville libérée (1944-1945)

In the evening of 3 September 1944, Brussels is a liberated city....

Publication

La Wallonie libérée, 1944-1945.

Based on a careful selection of little known photos, selected for their...

Procès des collaborateurs, 1945-1949, (Don RTBF), copyrights CegeSoma/Archives de l'Etat.

Projet

BRAIN project POSTWAREX started (2020-2022)

A couple of weeks ago, the new research project POSTWAREX was started. This...

Armée Secrète.Zone V, secteur 5, Groupe D - Août 1944: cérémonie de prestation de Serment, Photo n° 27912 © CegeSoma/Archives de l'Etat

Projet

Project People@War. A social history of the Second War and its Remembrance in Belgium. (2020-2030)

People @ War. A social history of the Second World War and its Remembrance...

Gerard Romsee, gouverneur de la Province du Limburg (1940), secretaire-général des Affaires intérieures (1941-1944), 1942-1943 - Photo n° 32716, droits réservésn rechten.

Projet

New research project: The provincial administration of Limburg during the Second World War. (2020-2021)

The recent appearances of the Antwerp provincial governor Cathy Berx, in an effort to help...

Publication

Journaux de Guerre 1940-1945 (Belgium)

This series of 11 issues dealing with Belgium at the beginning of the Second World War, begins...

Publication

Journaux de Guerre (War Press) 1939-1945 (France)

Les journaux de Guerre (War Press) 1940-1945 (France) – 52 issues

Following...

Publication

Bruxelles sous l'occupation, 1940-1944

This is the first volume of the "Cities at War" series. Lavishly illustrated...

Publication

Anvers sous l'occupation, 1940-1945

Drawing largely from the rich photographic collections of CegeSoma (mainly...

Publication

La Wallonie sous l'Occupation, 1940-1945

This album aims to provide a new synthesis of the German occupation of...

Information services, picture no 28082 © CegeSoma/State Archives

Publication

Resistance in Belgium (1940-1944). Selected bibliography.

This bibliography was prepared by...

Picture no. 130343, coll. Spronk © CegeSoma/State Archives

Publication

Bibliographic essay on occupied Belgium (2004)

In the framework of the research programme 'Occupation in Europe. The Impact...

Publication

Bibliography concerning Belgium in/and the Second World War. 1970 - 2006 (CegeSoma)

From 1970 to 2006, the Centre for Research and Studies on the History of the Second World War...

Publication

Nekschot

"Nekschot" tells the story of the liberation of South Limburg, culminating...

Publication

Onverwerkt verleden

The publication of Onverwerkt verleden in 1991 was the starting point of the...

Tussen twee vuren. Gerecht en verzet tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog.

Publication

Tussen twee vuren (Between the Crossfire)

During the Second World War, the Belgian judiciary is caught in the crossfire. The German...

Politieverordening : [betreftende het gebruik van tram en buurttram en het bezoek van schouwburgen, cinema's en andere openbare inrichtingen en manifestaties door Joden in de provincie Antwerpen], [1942], copyrights CegeSoma/Rijksarchief

Projet

La Belgique docile (2004-2006)

De septembre 2004 à décembre 2006, Emmanuel Debruyne, Nico Wouters et Frank...

Publication

La Belgique et la persécution des Juifs

What was the responsibility of the Belgian authorities in the persecution of...

Publication

La Belgique docile

In January 2003, the Belgian Senate adopted a resolution entrusting CegeSoma...

Publication

Rachel, Jacob, Paul et les autres.

Lieven Saerens, one of Belgium’s most renowned experts of the history of...

Publication

Les décombres de la guerre

The liberation of 1944 does not only mark the liberation of Belgium. It also...

Publication

Andrée De Jongh

Born in Schaerbeek on 30 November 1916 in a modest home, Andrée De Jongh, an...

Publication

"Nulpunt 1945"

The book “ Nulpunt 1945. De Lage Landen een mensenleven later ” (Zero-point...

Event

International Chair for the History of the Second World War 2024-2025

For its twelfth edition, the International Chair for the History of the...

Event

Young historians have their say!

On Thursday November 28 and Friday November 29, CegeSoma/State Archives is...

Illustrations : Collection CegeSoma/State Archives, rights reserved.

Event

Launch of the “Resistance in Belgium” national platform

We had to close registration for the launch of the national 'Resistance in...

Event

Stil verzet. De oorlogsjaren van August Vermeylen 1939-1945 (Silent Resistance: The war years of August Vermeylen 1939-1945)

Conference-debate in Dutch with guests Hans Vandevoorde and Koen Aerts, introduced by An Rydant...

Stad in verzet. Antwerpen tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog.

Event

Het verzet in Antwerpen (The Resistance in Antwerp)

A conference (in Dutch) with guests Nico Wouters and Nel de Mûelenaere, moderated by Jan Naert...

Event

Young Historian's Day (Promotions of 2019-2023)

Below you will find the abstracts of the different papers. If you are...

Publication

The first JBH of 2024 has just been published.

It contains four separate contributions. Firstly, Dorien Styven and Veerle...

The Belgian Government's return from London, 8 September 1944, photo no. 220653, CegeSoma, RTBF Collections.

Event

September 1944: Belgium is liberated. What next ?

After the liberation of Belgium in early September 1944, the country had to...

Event

Changing Perspectives on Resistance during the Second World War

From 18 to 20 September 2024 , the Department of History of the University...

A Rooie Vlinder activist draws attention to discrimination against gays and lesbians in Belgium at the Breendonk National Memorial in 1978 during the national commemorations. (Copyright: Krist de Munter).

Publication

Preliminary investigation report into the persecution of members of the LGBTQIA+ community during WWII

In response to the resolution passed on 8 February 2024 in the House of...

Event

World War II in podcasts

Conference-debate (in French) with guests Romane Carmon, Perrine Sokal and Constance Hautier...

Event

De afrekening. Geweld tegen collaborateurs in Antwerpen, 1918 en 1944-1945.

Conference-debate (in Dutch) with guest Antoon Vrints. Interview by Bruno De Wever...

Event

Ces Dames de Ravensbrück. Contribution au mémorial belge des femmes déportées à Ravensbrück, 1939-1945

Conference-debate (in French) with guest Claire Pahaut Conducted by Pierre-Alain Tallier

...

Event

La Wallonie entre Noirs et Rouges. Un autre regard sur les tensions politiques de l'entre-deux-guerres.

Conference-debate (in French) with guest Alain Colignon, co-author with Mélanie Bost of the book...

Event

On the margins of history. Current research, debates, challenges.

Registration for Contemporary History Day 2024 now open ! After Eupen two...

Event

A social history of the Resistance in small Belgian communes

On April 17, CegeSoma is pleased to invite you to the presentation of the...

Le rail belge sous l'occupation. La SNCB face à son passé de guerre : entre collaboration et résistance.

Event

Senate colloquium on Belgian Railways and deportations in WWII

On 29 March 2024 , the Senate, in collaboration with Cegesoma/ National...

War Damage 1940-1945. The scale of destruction in five Hainaut cities. An exhibition at the Mons Memorial Museum.

Event

War Damages 1940-1945. The scale of destruction in five Hainaut cities.

From 16 March to 8 September 2024, the Mons Memorial Museum will host an...

Event

Escaping Nazi Europe Understanding the experiences of Belgian soldiers and civilians in World War II

Conference-debate (in French and Dutch) with guests Bernard Wilkin and Bob Moore. An interview...

Bezet bedrijf. De oorlogsgeschiedenis van de NMBS

Publication

The wartime history of Belgian Railways.

The new book ‘ Bezet bedrijf. De oorlogsgeschiedenis...

Event

Scènes de Crimes. La photographie policière, témoin de l'enquête judiciaire. (Crime Scenes Police photography, a witness to the judicial investigation)

Conference-debate (in French) with guests, Laurence Druez, Xavier Rousseaux and Police Commissioner...

Event

The last 242 executions in Belgium: military justice and executions as part of the repression of collaboration after World War II.

Conference-debate (in French and in Dutch) with guests, Élise Rezsöhazy, Dimitri Roden, Stanislas...

Event

Enfants de résistants. Belgique. 1940-1945. (Children of Resistance fighters. Belgium.1940-1945.).

In Belgium, Resistance against the Nazi regime during the Second World War...

Event

Weg van ‘t Stad! De Antwerpse exodus naar West-Vlaanderen 1944-1945 (Away from the City ! The Antwerp exodus to West Flanders 1944-1945)

Conference (in Dutch) with guest Patrick Buyse An interview led by Bruno De Wever...

Publication

1943 in occupied Belgium: a turning point?

The articles in this dossier, coordinated by Geneviève Warland ( UCLouvain...

Publication

Belgium's corporate history

The last theme issue of the JBH has just been published in English under the...

Publication

Provinciebestuur Limburg tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog

The book is the result of research conducted by CegeSoma on behalf of the...

Publication

Kunst voor das Reich.

While the Second World War wreaked death and destruction, a gigantic drain...

Event

Tu rendras un grand service à l'Angleterre, 1943-1945. L'odyssée de Jacques de Duve.

Conference-debate in French with guest speaker Charles-Albert de Behault Hosted by Fabrice Maerten...

Event

German secret police and intelligence services in Belgium

On Monday 22 May from 5 pm to 7 pm, the BISC (Belgian Intelligence Studies...

Copyright Stadsarchief Antwerpen - www.felixarchief.be

Event

The Resistance in Antwerp during the Second World War

Antwerp was the most important city for the resistance in Flanders during...

Event

'Een Verzwegen Leven' (A covert life)

Conference-debate in Dutch with guest speaker Kristof Bohez Hosted by Guy Vanthemsche...

Event

Le mystère de la femme sans tête (The mystery of the headless woman)

Conference-debate with guest speaker Myriam Leroy. Hosted by Chantal Kesteloot...

Event

How did the Nazis manage to plunder so many works of art in Belgium?

A conference-debate in Dutch with guest Geert Sels interviewed by Kim Oosterlinck...

Event

The rescue of Antwerp diamonds in May '40.

Conference-debate (in Dutch) with Bruno Comer as guest speaker . A discussion led by Dirk Luyten (...

Bruno De Wever & Koen Aerts, copyrights Thomas De Boever

Event

“Oorlogscafés”: Collaboration and repression in Flanders

On 24 November, Koen Aerts ( UGent /State...

Claire Andrieu, Tombés du ciel. Le sort des pilotes abattus en Europe, 1939-1945.

Event

Fallen from the sky. The fate of pilots shot down in Europe, 1939-1945.

Conference-debate in French with guest Claire Andrieu (Sciences Po, Paris) An interview conducted...

Event

Study Day on the Resistance at the State Archives in Liège

On 17 October 2022, the State Archives in Liège and CegeSoma organised an information and...

Illustration : affiche de recrutement 'Il crée de la richesse' conçue par André Linglet, ca 1950 (Archives du musée de la mine de Beringen)

Event

The energy crisis: a sense of 'déjà vu'?

Conference-debate in Dutch with guest Guy Coppieters (State Archives). An interview by Dirk Luyten...

Cinema Capitole in Gent, photo no 5937, copyrights CegeSoma/State Archives

Event

Media and cultural life in occupied Western Europe (1940-1945)

Press, radio, cinema, literature, theatre, spectacles… In German-occupied...

Projet

Resistance in Flanders (2022 - )

“French-speaking Belgium resisted, Flanders collaborated”. This tenacious...

Projet

The SNCB/NMBS and deportations during WWII (2022 - 2023 )

At the request of the Belgian government, the Study and Documentation Centre...

Illustration: Werner Hilgemann, Atlas zur Deutschen Zeitgeschichte 1918-1968, München Zürich, Piper, 1984, p. 144.

Event

Ukraine : Clash of nationalisms during two world wars

Conference-debate (in French) with Alain Colignon (CegeSoma/State Archives) as guest speaker A...

Event

Military justice and executions in the context of post-World War II repression in Belgium: the results of the Postwarex research project

After World War II, 242 people who were sentenced to death by military...

Event

Which future for the Journal of Belgian History?

In spring 2012 was published the first issue of the new Journal of Belgian...

Event

The Resistance in Belgium during the Second World War

CegeSoma is pleased to invite you on 25 April to a study day about the Resistance in Belgium...

Les barbelés de la vengeance? Les prisonniers allemands en Belgique.

Event

Les prisonniers de guerre allemands en Belgique après la Seconde Guerre mondiale (German war prisoners in Belgium after the Second World War)

Conference-debate ( in French ) with guest Pierre Muller ( War Heritage Institute )...

Fighting Hunger, Dealing with Shortage. Everyday Life under Occupation in World War II: A Source Edition

Publication

Shortage and hunger in occupied Europe

World War II and the resulting occupation by Nazi Germany are inextricably...

Projet

Les transmissions. La guerre en héritage. (TheTransmissions. The Legacy of War). ( 2020-2021)

In 2017 the research project ' Transmemo ' on...

Event

Trains and the Holocaust. From a Symbol of Progress to a Genocidal Tool.

On 26 April 2022, Europalia organizes the conference " Trains and the...

Event

Interférences : Radios, collaborations et répressions en Belgique (1939-1949)

Conference-debate (in French) with Céline Rase (UNamur) as guest speaker. A discussion led by Jean-...

Event

Frantz Van Dorpe : a resistance member against liberal democracy.

Lecture and debate (in Dutch), guest speakers:...

Publication

The Holocaust in South-Eastern Europe: Historiography, Archives Resources and Remembrance

For many decades, the Holocaust in South-Eastern Europe lacked the required...

Publication

En territoire ennemi 1914-1949.

Periods of commemoration often offer opportunities in the editorial field....

Publication

Tweehonderd jaar justitie. Historische encyclopedie van de Belgische justitie / Deux siècles de justice. Encyclopédie historique de la justice belge

At the time of the Dutroux affair, an easy slogan was that Belgian justice...

Group of Belgians liberated from camp Vernet in July 1940.

Publication

De verdwenen boekenkast van Aloïs Goossens.

In May 1940, Flemish National Socialist agitator Aloïs Goossens was arrested...

Event

National forgetting and memory : the destruction of 'national' monuments from a comparative perspective

Seventy-five years ago, on 16 March 1946, the Yser Tower was blown up by...

Publication

A new online publication on the activities of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) in Belgium

During the occupation, the Nazis carried out cultural looting: libraries and...

Publication

Het Schaduwleger. Van clandestiniteit naar herinnering. / L’Armée de l’ombre. De la clandestinité à la mémoire.

Commemorating in Pandemic Times

Originally, the...

Event

A workshop on looted library materials in Belgium during the Second World War

On 14 June 2019, Dr Patricia Kennedy Grimsted (Harvard University) was...

Illustration : Les enfants de la collaboration © Cédric Deru – Zest Studio

Event

Regards d'historiens (Historians' viewpoints)

Three years ago, Koen Aerts (who in the meantime became a member of CegeSoma...

Event

First review of some ongoing research projects at CegeSoma (2020)

On Monday October 19th, a number of scientists from the permanent team as...

Publication

Inventory of the Jacques Wynants archives published!

Notwithstanding the vicissitudes of life, scores of human beings show a...

Publication

Camille Gutt

Jean-François Crombois presents an in-depth biography of Camille Gutt, a man...

Publication

Les curateurs du ghetto

This work is the result of research led by a team of experts on World War II...

De Tweede Wereldoorlog als factor in de onderwijsgeschiedenis.

Publication

La Seconde Guerre mondiale, une étape dans l'histoire de l'enseignement

The war certainly affected education during the occupation. However, little...

Publication

Uit de lus van de strop

Marc Verschooris is a seasoned researcher (archives) and it’s not his first...

Revue théâtre des Galeries à Bruxelles, 1943, Collection Spronk : photo d'Otto Kropf, photographe officiel de la propagande allemande, photo n°100034 © CegeSoma/Archives de l'Etat.

Event

Cultures of Spectacle in German-occupied Belgium.

Prior to the confinement, a workshop was held on 12 and 13 March at CegeSoma...

Publication

Anniversary issue of the JBH on 75 years of the Second World War history

The new (double) issue of the Journal of Belgian History (JBH) was released...

Event

Gurs, history and memory of the Spanish republican exile (1939)

The Marcel Liebman Institute and CegeSoma/State Archives are pleased to...

The Senate - 10.12.2019, © Bart Boon (State Archives)

Event

Study day on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of CegeSoma and the 75th anniversary of the Liberation

On December 10, 2019, 200 people attended the study day at the Senate on the...

Event

Book launch: Gerlinda Swillen, 'Der Zweite Weltkrieg ist unsere Wiege - Eine ostbelgische Geschichte (mit Zeitzeugenberichten von Wehrmachts- und GI-Kriegskindern)'

[...

Event

Colloquium about the 75th anniversary of the Liberation and the 50th anniversary of CegeSoma

About the event ?

In 2019, we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the...

Transmemo. A project on the memory of collaboration and resistance during the Second World War in Belgium.

Projet

TRANSMEMO (2017-2020)

In September 2017, the federal research project TRANSMEMO was launched - a...

Event

Guerre, famille et transmission

On Thursday 3 October 2019 we will co-organize a conference of the research project TRANSMEMO...

Publication

Attendre la lune de mai.

In April 1944, Albert Mélot, secret agent, member of the British Special...

Publication

Sources pour l'histoire des populations juives et du judaïsme en Belgique

Scattered sources on the history of the Jews of Belgium .......

Event

L'histoire d'espoir de la résistante armée Sarah Goldberg

Pour sa quatrième Rencontre d'Histoire publique, le CegeSoma invitait avec...

Event

Current challenges for a war museum?

Cette cinquième Rencontre d'Histoire publique du CegeSoma s'est déroulée en...

Event

When photography becomes a historical source in its own right

La sixième Rencontre d'Histoire publique du CegeSoma a rassemblé les auteurs...

Event

The use of Violence in Times of War

In 1984, Lannoo published the work of Bruno De Wever entitled ' Oostfronters...

Publication

War. Occupation. Liberation.

On 8 May 2019, a new permanent exhibition on World War II was inaugurated at...

Publication

De l’avant à l’après-guerre.

November 24, 1991. Shockwaves are sent reverberating through Wallonia. Today...

Publication

Der Zweite Weltkrieg ist unsere Wiege

[The World War II is our cradle – An East Belgian story with testimonies of...

Publication

Democratie in crisis

Laurence Petrone investigated the democratic resilience of states on the...

Publication

Les saboteurs de Morlanwelz

This sociological study carried out by M. Franckson and A. Mairiaux explores...

Publication

Zélateurs & stipendiés des nazis en Fagne & Thiérache

The work of a privileged witness of the last world conflict, Marcel...

Publication

Schoollopen in oorlogstijd

This book, published in 1988, is the work of students and former students...

Publication

de Gaulle, la Belgique et la France Libre

This publication brings together various papers presented at a study day on...

Publication

Le travail obligatoire en Allemagne 1942-1945

« The deportation of workers » … in the list of crimes committed between...

Publication

De l’Avant à l’Après-guerre. L’Extrême droite en Belgique francophone.

November 24, 1991. Shockwaves are sent reverberating through Wallonia. Today...

Publication

Les Juifs de Belgique

This book is a selection of texts mainly written for the Belgian-Israeli...

Belgische bibliografie over de nazi-kampen

Publication

Getuigen (Bibliography of first-person accounts of the Nazi camps)

This book was (and remains) the first national bibliography of its kind, a...

Publication

Commémoration. Enjeux et débats.

As everyone knows (or should know), any commemoration involves a...

Publication

Enfants du ghetto

Rudi Van Doorslaer relates, in this book, the itinerary of Jewish communist...

Publication

Breendonk. Les débuts ...

This book is based on the high-quality illustrations from a photo-reportage...

Publication

Henri Storck, le cinéma belge et l'Occupation

In August 2006, a controversy broke loose in the Francophone media in...

Publication

Ils ont pris les armes pour Hitler

The fruit of a research conducted in 2003 on behalf of CEGES thanks to the...

Publication

Justice in Wartime and Revolutions. Europe, 1795-1950

Revolutions, wars and their settlement put pressure on legal systems....

Event

Editathon UGESCO

On 25 April, the CegeSoma held its first Editathon about Brussels in times...

Un maquis dans les cités. La Résistance à Watermael-Boitsfort, 1940-1945.

Publication

Un maquis dans les cités (A maquis in the Cities)

In this posthumous publication, André Dartevelle uses his talent as a historian and journalist...

Publication

Ressources et usages des archives de la justice militaire (Resources and Uses of Military Justice Archives)

Military jurisdictions in peacetime were abolished in Belgium in January...

De wieg van de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Oorlogskinderen op de as Brussel-Berlijn.

Publication

De wieg van de Tweede Wereldoorlog (The Cradle of the Second World War)

In 2009 Gerlinda Swillen, as CegeSoma associate researcher, published ‘...

Publication

Mayoral Collaboration under Nazi Occupation in Belgium, the Netherlands and France 1938-46

This international comparison between Belgium, the Netherlands and the north of France ( Nord/...

Publication

Warfare & Welfare.

Wars are moments of acceleration in the development of social policy. After...

Publication

Hendrik De Man. Een man met een plan.

De Man was and remains a controversial figure: socialist and collaborator during the Second...

Publication

Drang naar het Oosten

In recent decades, many books and articles about Flemish volunteers on the Eastern Front have...

La valise oubliée. Enfants de guerre (1940-1945).

Publication

La valise oubliée (The Forgotten Suitcase)

Coming after the "children of the collaboration", made very fashionable by the Flemish television...

Publication

Leurs occupations. L’impact de la Seconde Guerre mondiale sur la littérature en Belgique

One can guess that following the example of the famous Sacha Guitry in Paris...

Publication

Van onze jongens geen nieuws

Young men on the warpath

When the German army...

Publication

Avenue Louise 347

In October 1994, when preparing his film about the Armed Partisans in the...

Publication

La résistance et les Européens du Nord. Het Verzet en Noord-Europa.

The specific nature of the contributions submitted and discussed in Brussels...

Publication

La guerre secrète des espions belges, 1940-1944

The fruit of the author's doctoral thesis, this book is fundamental to...

Vie et attitude des catholiques belges sous l’occupation

Publication

Entre la peste et le choléra

During the Second World War, the church, like the secretaries general, the...

Publication

Résistance sans frontières.

On 9 October 1943, nine members of the Belgian and Dutch resistance were shot in Rhijnauwen (...

Publication

The Palgrave Handbook of State-Sponsored History after 1945

With 45 chapters and no less than 50 authors, this is the first book to systematically consider...

Projet

Murders during the Liberation and the Belgian Judiciary: the Case of Brussels (2017)

Multiform violence against collaborators

Everywhere in Europe, governments and...