| Comments | In the region around Antwerp, Jew-hunters were frequently members of the Flemish SS. The SS Vlaanderen, established in 1940 under the initiative of the German SS, had ca. 3,200 members aged 17-35. Its goal was "the purification of exploiters of the people's power". Members learned about racial differences and the Jewish question. Describes their criminal acts, including hunting for Jews and rounding them up. The authorities in Antwerp, whose leaders were all Catholic, and the gendarmerie assisted in the hunt. From 1940 the Belgian military administration implemented anti-Jewish regulations and followed the rules of the Sipo-SD. The latter helped to establish an Anti-Jewish Central Comittee in 1941 with the goal of confiscation of archives, libraries, and art works of Jews. Belgian translators working with the Sipo-SD also hunted down Jews. At the end of the war, the Sipo-SD destroyed most of its archives; of the collaborators, two-thirds were apprehended and punished. |
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