Belgian historians have concluded that the country actively cooperated with Germany's Nazi regime during World War II in deporting Jews. The state even went beyond German demands at the time.
Belgium actively helped the occupying German forces round up and deport the country's Jewish population during the Second World War, according to historians from the Center for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society (Ceges) in Brussels.
"The Belgian state adopted a docile and cooperative attitude in some very diverse, but crucial domains providing collaboration unworthy of a democracy, with a policy that was disastrous for Belgian and foreign Jews," the historians said.
The report "Docile Belgium," commissioned by the Belgian parliament, said the state collaborated with the Nazis for "economic, as well as ideological and legal-administrative" reasons. It is the first time Belgium's cooperation with the Nazis has been presented in such detail.
Project leader Rudi Van Doorslaer said "a xenophobic and sometimes anti-Semitic culture of the ruling elite" in the 1930s had prepared Belgium psychologically for the persecution of the Jews. The "democratic deficit" in the years from 1930 to 1940 had also played a role, Doorslaer said.
"The step from passive to active collaboration was quickly taken," Doorslaer said as he read the report's conclusions to the parliament on Tuesday.
Belgian Jewish groups reacted positively to the study.
"This report is fundamental and it is a victory for enlightened democracy," said Philippe Markiewicz, head of the Coordination Committee of Belgian Jewish Organizations.
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