Houthalen municipality. Collection

Between December 1940 and February 1941 over 3000 foreigners living in Antwerp (mainly Jews) were expelled to the Belgian province of Limburg. On 18 January 1941, a convoy carrying 58 foreigners arrived in the Houthalen municipality. As of May 1941 the women and children were gradually allowed to return to Antwerp, while the men were first sent to labour camp Op den Holven in the Overpelt municipality before being released and sent to Brussels. In 1986, Lode Franssens (1929-2017), mayor of Houthalen from 1965 to 1970 and of Houthalen-Helchteren from 1983 to 1992, received a request from Herman Rottenberg to receive a certificate of residency for his time in Houthalen. Lode Franssens delivered the requested proof and also collected photocopies of several documents from his municipality on the topic. This collection contains: a letter from Jan Born, municipal clerk in Overpelt, to Lode Franssens, mayor of Houthalen-Helchteren, informing Franssens about the living conditions of Jewish forced labourers at the Op den Holven work camp in Overpelt in 1941, 1986 ; Photocopy made in 1986 of the pages of the Houthalen register of foreigners, containing information on Jewish inhabitants Herman and Marie Rottenberg- Kompa and their son Heinz, Hersz and Lea Leiner-Feit, Florimond De Pauw, and Chaja Penner ; A 1986 photocopy of a list of thirty-five female and underage foreigners (mainly Jews) that were forcefully relocated to the Houthalen municipality on 18 January 1941 and that were allowed to relocate to Antwerp 1st May 1941 ; a certificate of municipal registration in Houthalen in 1941, issued by mayor Lode Franssens to former inhabitant Heinz Rottenberg in 1986 ; a certificate of municipal registration in Schaerbeek, issued by the Schaerbeek municipality to former inhabitant Heinz Rottenberg in 1986. Contact Kazerne Dossin Research Centre: archives@kazernedossin.eu