Between Aryanization and Deportation. Survival Strategies of the Jewish Community in Occupied Belgium during World War II

我们的项目旨在进一步研究西欧对犹太人的经济迫害（雅利安化）与大屠杀之间的相关性。尽管在过去的几十年里，人们对掠夺和归还的主题进行了广泛的研究，但迄今为止，还没有对两个核心问题进行历史研究：1。被剥夺了生计的犹太人想出了什么生存策略？2. 摧毁他们的生存手段是否增加了被驱逐到奥斯维辛的风险？我们的研究集中在被占领的比利时的情况。因此，我们还将对我们以前关于西欧大屠杀的长期工作采取后续行动。德国在比利时的军事管理当局只是部分地强制征用犹太人的财富。但其结果是将犹太人排除在比利时经济之外。居住在比利时的犹太人绝大多数是移民，大多是第一次世界大战后从东欧来的。他们建立了一个以小型家族企业为主的经济体系。这个经济被占领国摧毁了。1942年春天，在总共7700家注册的犹太公司中，有80%以上被关闭。清算主要集中在纺织、皮革和毛皮行业以及钻石行业。这种雅利安化的主要特点是它对社会下层的破坏性影响。它剥夺了至少三分之一的犹太社区的生计。犹太人公司的清算与被驱逐到奥斯维辛集中营密切相关，在比利时登记的犹太人中有42%成为大屠杀的受害者。面临强制清算的犹太人是否特别危险？公司的前所有者和雇员以及他们的家人对他们经济生存的毁灭作何反应？他们是如何谋生的？他们被逮捕和驱逐出境是因为他们没有经济手段逃到地下吗？或者犹太人的生存并不依赖于物质手段？该项目主要基于比利时国家档案馆新编目的文件，这些文件尚未被研究考虑。这些文件来自前br<s:1> sseler Treuhandgesellschaft (BTG)，它由德国在比利时的军事管理部门运作，在雅利安化中发挥了关键作用。对这些记录的分析有望大大拓宽我们对比利时犹太社区的经济和社会历史以及对犹太人迫害的经济方面的认识。

Our project aims to further examine the correlation between the economic persecution of Jews (Aryanization) and the Holocaust in Western Europe. Although the subjects of spoliation and restitution have been broadly researched in the last decades, there are as yet no historical studies on two central questions: 1. What survival strategies did the Jews develop, having been deprived of their livelihoods? 2. Did the destruction of their means of existence increase the risk of being deported to Auschwitz? Our research concentrates on the situation in occupied Belgium. We will thereby also follow up on our long-term previous work on the Holocaust in Western Europe. The German military administration in Belgium only partly enforced the expropriation of Jewish wealth. But it consequently aimed at excluding Jews from the Belgian economy. The vast majority of Jews living in Belgium were immigrants, mostly coming from Eastern Europe after World War I. They had built up an economy predominantly based on small family businesses. This economy was destroyed by the occupying power. In the spring of 1942, more than 80 % of the overall 7.700 registered Jewish companies had been shut down. The liquidization concentrated on the textile, leather and fur sectors as well as on diamonds. This kind of Aryanization was characterised above all by its devastating effect on the lower social classes. It deprived at least one third of the Jewish community of its livelihoods. The liquidization of Jewish companies was closely correlated to the deportation to Auschwitz. 42 % of the Jews registered in Belgium fell victim to the Holocaust. Were the Jews facing forced liquidization in particular danger? How did the former owners and employees of companies as well as their families react to the ruination of their economic existence? How did they make their living? Did they get arrested and deported because they lacked the financial means to escape into the underground? Or did the survival of the Jews not depend on material means? The project is primarily based on newly inventoried files in the State Archives in Belgium, which have not yet been considered by research. These are files from the former Brüsseler Treuhandgesellschaft (BTG), which was operated by the German military administration in Belgium and which played a key role in the Aryanization. The analysis of these records promises to considerably widen our knowledge of both the economic and social history of the Jewish community in Belgium as well as of the economic aspects of the persecution of the Jews.