Ministerie van Justitie. Commissariaat-generaal van de gerechtelijke politie / Ministère de la Justice. Commissariat-général de la police judiciaire

The gerechtelijke politie (GPP) / police judiciaire (PJP) (‘judicial police’) was created in 1919. Although propositions to create an autonomous judicial police had been made since the late 19th century, the project only gained widespread political support after the First World War, with the high crime rate during the Occupation having certainly played a role. The judicial police was under the authority and supervision of the procureurs-generaal, and was led by the procureurs des Konings of the different jurisdictions. The Commissariat Général / Commissariaat-Generaal (General Commissioner’s Office) was set up in 1936; it was in charge of the national coordination of the different brigades and of centralising information. Its missions ranged from infiltration and observation to gathering information from police informers – in other words, primarily repression of criminal offences and detection of violations of the law. The judicial police of Brussels was by far the largest department (almost half of the total corps) and often operated in jurisdictions other than its own, due to the central role of the capital, the presence of particular forms of crime and the policy of centralisation of information from foreign and national agencies in Brussels. During the Second World War, the corps continued to function under the authority of secretary-general Gaston Schuind; due to the structurally understaffed police services of the occupier, Belgian judicial police officers were regularly called in. The corps was reinforced after the Liberation, out of fear of the left-wing of the resistance. The service remained virtually unchanged until the police reforms of 2001, when it was replaced by the Federal Police. The service had mainly repressive tasks: it investigated criminal activity, gathered evidence and brought offenders before the courts. In addition, it also monitored all kinds of political groups that potentially posed a threat to public security. 

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The extent of this archive is 25 linear meters. It contains various files related to robberies, crimes and other offences committed by foreigners in Belgium. Notable are the following files: nos. 325-327 “terrorism, miscellaneous documentation concerning notably Jewish activities in Belgium” (1948). 

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