Welcome to CEGESOMA
The Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society (Cegesoma) is a federal research institution on wars and conflicts of the twentieth century and their impact on Belgium. Founded in 1969, it collects archives, documentation, carries out research and organises academic and public events. This documentation is searchable through the online catalogue on this website and can be consulted in the public reading room of Centre's historic Art Deco building at the Square de l'Aviation in Brussels.
Academic Workshop on Digital Humanities: call for expert-participantsOn 17 June 2013, CEGESOMA organises the second in its series of Academic Workshops (in co-organisation with the IAP Research Network 'Justice and Populations', EHRI and DARIAH-VL). You can find the programme here. The workshop will stimulate critical reflection among a small group of (international) experts on the possibilities and challenges of the use of Virtuel Research Environments (VRE) for the historical researcher.Read more... |
Censored press from both World Wars available in the reading roomThe clandestine press which was published in Belgium in the periods 1914-1918 and 1940-1944 has for some time been online available via the website The Belgian War Press developed by CEGESOMA. This is not the case for the censored press. The legislation concerning the copyright does not allow online consultation of this type of press. However, the newspapers which appeared under German censorship are accessible in the main reading room of CEGESOMA (Square de l'Aviation) via terminals. The necessary lists and background articles can be found on the website The Belgian War Press.
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Periodical publications of CEGESOMA available onlineThe complete series of the old CEGESOMA-journal (the Bijdragen/Cahiers) are now available on this website. The 18 first issues of our scientific journal, which was published between 1970 and 1985 under the title Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis van de Tweede Wereldoorlog/Cahiers d'histoire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale and from issue N° 9 as Cahiers/Bijdragen, are accessible here. |
Transitional Justice: workshop report Cape Town available onlineOn 7-8 March 2013, The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation organized a workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, on the subject of justice and accountability after war and dictatorship. This workshop was the direct result of the larger Transitional Justice project coordinated between 2011-2012 by CEGESOMA and funded the Belgian ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the Cape Town workshop, Luc Huyse presented this project's final report. He also wrote the workshop-report, which is available here as freely downloadable pdf-file (Workshop Report).
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The attitude of the Belgian judiciary and police towards the resistance 1940-1950A doctoral project in Cegesoma in the context of the new PAI “Justice and Populations”
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National Reports published on EHRI website A new tool for researchers is now available on the renewed website of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure: EHRI's national reports. The national reports are first and foremost a tool in the identification and investigation work of EHRI. Because the field of Holocaust studies relies on a huge variety of archives, one of EHRI's most important tasks is to create an inventory of Holocaust-related archival institutions and collections in order to share information about them and help provide access to the research community. The 47 reports provide EHRI's identification work with a structured framework. Read more... |
Investigation into the assassination of Julien Lahaut and the funding of the second phase
On 21 February 2013, the State Secretary of the Belgian federal Science Policy, Philippe Courard, announced the funding of the second phase of the scientific inquiry into the murder of Julien Lahaut. Member of Parliament Lahaut was assassinated in 1950. At the time, he was President of the Belgian Communist Party. This inquiry has been entrusted by the Belgian Senate to Cegesoma (Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society). Read more... |
Consultation of documents kept in the Belgrade depotSome changes From 1 March 2013, these documents will be available in the reading room of the Square de l'Aviation from Tuesday 9 a.m. if they have been ordered before Monday morning 8 a.m., and from Friday 9 a.m. if the reservation has been made before Thursday morning 8 a.m. |
The policy of the lesser evil during the Second World War obliged the Belgian magistrates and police officers to cooperate with the occupier. By maintaining the country's own institutions, the authorities hoped to be able to protect the interests of the population in the occupied country. In doing this, public servants and magistrates were faced with a delicate issue: at what moment did the disadvantages of collaborating with the occupier outweigh the advantages? 
Press release of Cegesoma
