Welcome to the CEGES-SOMA
The Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society (Ceges-Soma) is a federal research institution on wars and conflits 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.
Important noticeOn Thursday 17 May (Ascension Day) and on Friday 18 May 2012, the Centre wil be closed.
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Symposium Transitional Justice: final programme brochureOn 23 and 24 May 2012, SOMA-CEGES organizes the closing symposium of the transitional justice project. This international symposium will take place in the Egmontpalace. For specific questions, please contact dr. Nico Wouters. You can find the brochure with all practical information and the final version of the programme here.
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New depot for the collections of the CEGES/SOMAConsequences for the service in the reading room
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Bastogne Revisited: An Iconic American Battle Gets a Second Look
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International conference on "Police and Holocaust"CEGES-SOMA coordinates an international conference on the involvement of police services in occupied Europe with regard to the extermination of the Jews during WW II. The conference date is 25 June 2012, in the Lamot Center in Mechelen/Malines. It will be the academic opening conference in the framework of the Belgian presidency of the Task force on International cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research. The conference takes place under the umbrella of the Eucowas network, and is co-organized by the Institut für Geschichte of the Alpen Adria University of Klagenfurt (Austria). The conference is financed by the Foreign Policy division of the Flemish Department of Foreign Affairs. For specific questions, please contact dr. Nico Wouters. You will find the programme with all relevant information here.
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German taxes on the compensation of Belgian survivors of the forced labour programme. Some background information
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In Memoriam Natan Ramet On Wednesday afternoon 4 April 2012, Natan Ramet, one of the last Auschwitz survivors and a well-known name in memory education, died at the age of 86. After the death of David Susskind and Georges Schnek, the Jewish community loses three prominent contemporaries in a short time. Read more... |
Enquête sur la perception de la collaboration et de la résistance en Belgique
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29 May 2012 will be an important date in the history of the Ceges/Soma because for the first time, the institution will dispose of a second depot which will provide twice its actual storing space. The occupation of the second depot will also involve a thorough reorganisation of the collections. Everything possible has been done to minimise the consequences with regard to the service to the readers. Nevertheless, the access to some types of documents will become temporarily more difficult (see further in text). Moreover, the reading room will be closed for two short periods: from Tuesday 29 May to Friday 1 June and from Monday 18 June to Wednesday 20 June. 
Using New Military Sources from US Archives and Often Neglected Belgian Civilian Sources, this project, supported by the CEGES/SOMA and funded by the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, aims at the publication of a study in English which leaves behind the standard view of the Battle of the Bulge widespread in Anglo-Saxon society.
In the autumn of 2011, news appeared in the press concerning German tax demands issued to Belgian survivors of the forced labour programme or their widows. The ombuds service of the Ministry of Pensions claimed that their department could not help the aged pensioners, advising them to lodge a notice of objection in German to the German tax authorities. The tax demand was introduced because, after the independence of the Baltic States, thousands of former military collaborators claimed military pension benefits from Germany. That this measure would also affect the victims of forced labour had escaped the attention of the German authorities. Recently, Alvin De Coninck, son of a resistance fighter, has tackled the dossier. He has recapitulated his conclusions so far. 
La question des représentations de la collaboration et de la résistance est, pour la Belgique, un sujet complexe. 
