Sources
This database contains data sourced from a wide range of origins, both domestic and international. The most significant Belgian archives are housed at the Algemeen Rijksarchief, including the Studiecentrum Oorlog en Hedendaagse Maatschappij, CegeSoma, (National Archives of Belgium, including the Study Centre for War and Contemporary Society, CegeSoma) and the Federale Overheidsdienst Buitenlandse Zaken (the Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs).
Internationally, the Russian State Archives (GRASPI) in Moscow, where the original archives of the International Brigades are preserved, and the Centro Documental in Salamanca, where documents seized by Franco's troops during and after the Spanish Civil War are kept, are noteworthy.
Since the collection of this information began in the mid-1970s and continues to this day, more than half a century later, both the locations and institutional organization of the archives have occasionally undergone significant changes. These changes are indicated in this list of sources.
When a publication is cited as a source, we refer to the section Want to read more. In some cases, articles from newspapers or magazines have been used, and these are also mentioned.
This database has also been supplemented with information from interviews. The names of the interviewees are provided. Most of the recorded and occasionally transcribed interviews are housed at CegeSoma.
Naturally, the information contained in this database is subject to standard historical criticism.
Sources Overview
AAN: Polish State Archives of Contemporary Records, Warsaw
MSZ: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
ZBOWID: Polish Association of International Brigadiers
AMBZ: Archive of the Belgian Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs
Spanish Civil War Dossier, 11.170
List of Foreigners Allowed to Return to Belgium, 1939
AMSAB: Amsab-Institute of Social History, Ghent
Archive De Toekomst
ARA: National Archives of Belgium
Court of Appeals, Brussels
De Broqueville Papers
Archives CegeSoma
Fonds AVER (Amicale des Volontaires de l’Espagne Républicaine, Paris)
Fonds Jechiel Meyer Balken
Fonds Jean Fonteyne
BR: Population Registers of the cities of Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, and Schaerbeek
CDJC: Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine (Centre for Contemporary Jewish Documentation), Paris
Joods Historisch Instituut (Jewish Historical Institute), Warszawa
Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, list compiled by Ephraim Wuzek
See also: E. Wuzek, Sikhrones fun a Botvinist (Yiddish), Warsaw, Yidish Buch, 1964
KPB/PCB Archives: Communist Party of Belgium (today DACOB/CARCOB), Brussels
CPK Files (Central Political Control Commission)
IML (Institute for Marxism-Leninism), Moscow, microfilm of Belgians listed in the General Staff records of the Brigades in Albacete, dated May 28, 1938.
Lidkaart Vriendenkring (Membership Card of Vriendenkring), 1947
Archives of Célestin Frisée, membership cards of the Belgian "Circle of Friends of Volunteers for Republican Spain"
Lijst André De Smet (see Want to read more)
Lijst Buitenlandse Zaken, see AMBZ
Lijst David Diamant
Combattans Juifs dans l’armée républicaine espagnole. Paris, Editions Renouveau, 1979.
Lijst Szerman
List of Jewish International Brigadiers from Belgium compiled by Alter Szerman, 1979
Lijst uitgewezen vreemdelingen (Expelled Foreigners List)
Repertoire of foreigners expelled or deported from the Kingdom from 1931 to 1944, Ministry of Justice, Alien Police Administration, Belgian Official Gazette, 1944
OF Archives: Independence Front
The Personal files of the OF members are part of the archives kept at the National Museum of Resistance in Anderlecht
Ramon Salas
Ramon Salas Larrazabal, Historia del Ejército Popular de la República, Madrid, Ed. Nacional, 1973
SDS (Servicios Documentales), Salamanca
PS: Politico-Social
M: Militar
Today part of the Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica
This "documentation center" was created by Franco's political police to collect information on opponents. Seized Republican archives, including documents on the International Brigades, were gathered here
Sovdoc.rusarchives
RGASPI: Russian State Archives, section on Soviet-era Archives
Fonds 545: Archives of the International Brigades
A critical source for studying the International Brigades, specifically the archives of the Brigades' General Staff in Albacete, shipped to Moscow in 1938
University Archives
RUG (Ghent University): Enrollment records
ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles): Enrollment records
Université de Liège: Archives
VD Dossier: Alien Services of Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, and Schaerbeek
VG-DO: Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Bestuur der Oorlogsslachtoffers (Ministry of Health – Department of War Victims)
Today part of the National Archives under the name Dienst archief Oorlogsslachtoffers (War Victims Archive Service)
ODO: Search, Documentation, and Death Records Dossier
PG: Political Prisoner Status Dossier
BW: Civil Resistor Status Dossier
PW: Underground Press Resistor Status Dossier
WA Lists: Compiled by Ward Adriaens for his thesis (see Want to read more)
