RG 84: Belgium

State Department and Foreign Affairs Records

Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State (RG 84)

Belgium

German forces invaded Belgium on May 10, 1940.  By the end of the month King Leopold had negotiated a surrender of his Army.  He would remain in Belgium until June 1944, when he was deported to Germany.  Many Belgians fled to the United Kingdom in 1940 and formed a government-in-exile in London.  

Once occupied by the Germans in late May 1940, the cantons of Eupen, Malmedy, and St. Vith, which had been transferred from Germany to Belgium in 1919 were incorporated into the Reich. The remainder of Belgium, together with the French Departments of the Nord and Pas-de-Calais, were governed by a German military administration headed by General von Falkenhaussen and the president of the military administration Eggert Reeder.  In July 1944 the military administration was turned over to a civil administration headed by Reich Commissioner Grohe.

During the occupation German manipulation of clearings, depreciation of Belgian currency, and use of occupation costs were the most important weapons of German economic penetration of the Belgian economy.  In the wake of occupation, several of the big Berlin banks, such as the Dresdner Bank and the Deutsche Bank, established representatives' offices in Brussels, some of which were incorporated later as subsidiaries.  These banks, which were exempted from Belgian banking supervision, specialized in financing trade between Belgium and Germany.  As Continental Europe came under Axis control, a shift in ownership took place-the German banks acquiring from the Societe Generale de Belgique and the Banque de Bruxelles interests in Czechoslovak, Yugoslav, Rumanian, and Luxemburg banks.  In addition, by the end of 1941, 35 German insurance firms as well as all the large reinsurance undertakings had established branches in Belgium, taking over the business of the British firms.

The Germans also purchased interests in strategic industries, and acquired further holdings in the vast international combines formerly owned by the Belgians.  There were also significant increases in the capital of German firms, such as Henkel and Siemens, in Belgium.   In October 1940, the German began imposing anti-Jewish measures and on May 31, 1941 imposed economic measures, that resulted in the "Aryanization" of Jewish property.  In the spring of 1942, decrees were enacted that compelled Jews into force-labor for Organization Todt.  In all, some 175,000 Belgians (including nearly 40,000 Belgian POWs) were forced into labor service for the Reich.  Early in 1942 Jews began being deported, mostly to Auschwitz, where some 25,000 were sent by mid-1944.  During German occupation it is estimated that 40,000 of the estimated pre-Final Solution 65,000 Jewish population were exterminated.

Most of Belgium's territory was liberated by the Allies in early September 1944. (Note 61)

Records of the Brussels Embassy

General Records 1936-1940, 1944-1952, 1954 (Entry 2108)
Boxes 1-167

1940

1944

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950-1952

Classified General Records 1940, 1944-1952 (Entry 2109A)
Boxes 1-55

1944

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

Top Secret General Records 1945-1952, 1954 (Entry 2110)
Boxes 1-7

London-American Mission to the Belgian Government in Exile

General Records 1941-1944 (Entry 2113)
Boxes 1-10

1944