Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob school, Antwerp. Collection

Jesode Hatora in Antwerp is the oldest Jewish religious boy school in Belgium, founded around 1894, by Hersch Krengel. The school had probably started as a cheder, around 1885, where during a few hours a week boys attending public schools in Antwerp attended religion class. From 1894 Jesode Hatora was an institute offering a complete educational and religious learning program. In 1920 the school was officially recognised by the Belgian Ministry of Education, but it remained a boys school. In 1936 a department for girls, Beth Jacob, was founded, which in its turn was recognized by the Belgian government in 1937. In the second half of the 1930s Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob were flooded by children of Jewish refugees from nazi-Germany and Austria. The number of students rose to almost 1,000. Due to the invasion in May 1940, Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob briefly closed their doors. At the reopening a few weeks later, only 500 students remained. The others had fled Belgium. In December 1941, when Jewish children of school age were forbidden to attend non-Jewish schools, the number of students rose again. Also, Jewish teachers who were expelled from non-Jewish schools in October 1940 were appointed at Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob. The school was closed after the anti-Jewish raids in Antwerp in August 1942. In August 1945 Jesode Hatora reopened, teaching 17 pupils. The school became one of the beacons of the rebuilding of Jewish life in Antwerp Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob kept growing as the number of pupils grew to over 1,000 in 1964. Until today, the institute remains a pillar of Jewish education in Belgium.

Some prewar files of the Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob school, which were kept in the building, survived the Second World War. However, large parts of the archives were destroyed by the occupying forces. The prewar series were continued after the reopening of the school, from August 1945 until 1982. A part of the documents in the collection were generated by city officials whom examined whether the school followed the stipulations set out by the Belgian government and municipal authorities. Kazerne Dossin received permission to digitise and to catalogue the remaining Jesode Hatora archives in 2013. A complete set of digital copies and the originals, in acid-free wrapping, were afterwards returned to Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob.

Jesode Hatora and Beth Jacob school, Antwerp