Research project P4S/251/REDCAPOS (Research action P4S)
The project examines the impact of political dynamics in German concentration camps and during the Cold War in Belgium. Its scope aligns with the renewed interest in the WWII resistance and the Cold War in Belgium. Research on Belgian political prisoners dates back several decades. Often, the focus has been on personal memories, leaving little room for systematic archival research. Institutional aspects, such as postwar recognition statutes, have been studied more broadly, but without making systematic use of individual recognition files.
This is particularly true of what is described in the international literature as the “red kapos,” prisoner functionaries who could occupy key positions in concentration camps. These roles inevitably placed them in a “grey zone” between perpetrator and victim. Within the camp hierarchy, such positions gradually came into the hands of political prisoners. They could use them to give a more structural character to informal forms of mutual solidarity and acts of sabotage. In the context of the Cold War, however, communist “kapos” were accused of allowing party-political considerations to influence their actions.
Meanwhile, French and German historical research has shown that communist prisoners did indeed maintain links with party leadership from within captivity and clandestinity. This raises a series of questions about the preparations that may have been made in the camps for the postwar period. Across Europe, communist participation in government was often framed through ideological references to pre-war antifascism (Front Populaire) as well as to shared experiences in the camps. Remarkably, however, no Belgian research has addressed this issue. Yet between 1944 and 1947 Belgian communists participated in rapidly changing postwar governments. In 1947, the communist Minister of Reconstruction also outlined the recognition statute of “Political Prisoner.” In doing so, he relied, among others, on the National Confederation of Political Prisoners, founded at his initiative.
This brings us to another blind spot in Belgian historiography: the functioning of the various Belgian concentration camp committees of former political prisoners within the context of the Cold War. Many of these circles were founded and led by prominent communist cadres. Over time, they came to head similar international umbrella organizations. From the 1950s onward, this enabled them to actively shape the culture of remembrance surrounding the German camps. At their instigation, for example, several former camps were transformed into memorial sites (Gedenkstätten).
This research project consists of two parts. The first is a systematic analysis of the recognition files of “Political Prisoners” preserved in the archives of the War Victims Archive Service. The focus is on communist militants and cadres, whose data can be derived from the archives of the so-called “Political Control Commission” of the PCB, an internal body of party discipline that submitted questionnaires to returning members and cadres, explicitly assessing, among other things, their “attitudes in captivity.” This shows that the party, referring to its antifascist legacy, carefully guarded its reputation as the “party of the executed.” Information from both archival series will be cross-referenced with the recently inventoried “Diaries and Manuscripts” collection of CEGESOMA and with existing interviews with former political prisoners.
The second part of the research focuses on the aforementioned concentration camp committees as international political actors and meeting places during the Cold War that actively shaped a culture of remembrance.
