vzw Het Ondergedoken Kind, Brussel. Collection

The founders of vzw Het Ondergedoken Kind held their founding meeting on 6 October 1991. The idea to create this association for Jewish children hidden in Belgium during the war was launched at the first international gathering of hidden children in New York on 26 and 27 May 1991. The existing Amicale des Anciens de Jamoigne, the association for Jewish children hidden at the Château de Jamoigne during the war, subsequently ceased to be an independent organisation and became part of vzw Het Ondergedoken Kind. Vzw Het Ondergedoken Kind published its by-laws in the Belgian official Journal (Belgisch Staatsblad - Moniteur belge) on 25 March 1993. The organisation is led from the start by an administrative committee, presided subsequently by Sophie Rechtman-Granos (1991-2002, 2003-2006), Charles Racimora (2002-2003), David Rossler (2006-2009), Jerry Rubin (2009-2012), Regina Suchowolski-Sluszny (2012-2015), Marka Szyfer (2015-2018) en Marcel Frydman (2018-…). The association at its peak represented 1.350 members, who gather yearly during the General Assembly in Brussels. As of 1998 the quarterly ‘EC Infos’ functions as the membership magazine. The main goals of vzw Het Ondergedoken Kind are: stimulating solidarity and trauma processing among its members, providing members with historical information on hiding and the Holocaust, honouring Belgian rescuers, stimulating remembrance education and fighting anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and Holocaust denial, working together with other organisations with the same goals, and defending the political and financial rights of formerly hidden children as war victims. Vzw Het Ondergedoken Kind is still an active association, continuing its work. The archive of vzw Het Ondergedoken Kind - L'Enfant caché asbl consists of: (1) institutional files and series on the creation of the association, on the administrative committee, on the yearly general assembly and on the membership administration, as well as (2) files and series on the organisation of activities. This second section includes both general files and files on activities organised to reach the goals of the association. The archive of vzw Het Ondergedoken Kind - L'Enfant caché asbl also contains several files created by the Amicale des Anciens de Jamoigne, the association of Jewish children hidden at the Château de Jamoigne during the war, on activities organised by the Amicale before the creation of vzw Het Ondergedoken Kind.