Posted on 08/31/2006 3:46:21 PM PDT by spkpls4
The Belgian authorities have destroyed archives and records relating to the persecution and deportation of Jews in Belgium in the 1930s and 1940s. Some of this happened as recently as the late 1990s. This was revealed during hearings in the Belgian Senate last Spring. Though the Senate report dates from 4 May the Belgian press has not yet mentioned the affair. The Senate report says that “documents about the period 1930-1950 have been destroyed on a massive scale.”
The systematic destructions of the records of police and judiciary from the 1930s and ’40s happened chiefly in Brussels and Wallonia, the French-speaking south of Belgium. The Senate report states that in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking north of the country, archives have been saved thanks to conscientious archivists. “This policy – of having competent archivists manage dead archives – contrasts with the disastrous situation at the offices of the public prosecutors in Brussels and Wallonia.”
While the records about the persecution of the Antwerp Jewry have been kept intact, documents about the fate of the Jews in Brussels and in French-speaking cities with large pre-war Jewish communities, such as Charleroi and Liège, were purposely destroyed. In Charleroi all the archives relating to the 1930s and the war years have vanished. In Brussels the judicial archives are present “until the early 1930s, while there is (almost) nothing left of the period thereafter,” the report says, adding that “Reference is often made to the 1944 fire of the Palais de Justice to explain this lack of archives [...] However, there is no doubt that large parts of the Brussels judicial wartime archives were destroyed after 1944.”
(Excerpt) Read more at brusselsjournal.com ...
"if you think Belgian beer sucks, you really don't know beer."
hahahahahha
Methinks stories about the French resistance in WWII were exaggerated.
"actually is a blend of beers rather than the normal single batch without unmalted (roasted) barley that stouts use"
Maybe a throwback to the original concept of a porter.
in fact the language on the bottle specifically states that that was the original form of porter. I never could find any more info on that particular bottled beer (the brewery website is useless) but from taste I am pretty sure it is a blend, and there is a sour beer in it.
Never had Meantime. Had Fullers London Porter, which is good enough to me.
Left Hand Brewing Co makes Black Jack Porter, which I enjoy.
Truthfully I don't know much about how particular styles of beer are brewed, I just experiment and find what styles I enjoy.
Pilsners, IPAs and most lagers don't seem to do much for me. One exception is Grolsh's Blond Lager. Very clean tasting.
I do have one opinion that never changes:
Friends don't let friends drink lite beer.
"Many Belgians allegedly helped the Nazis identify 25,257 non-Belgian Jews for deportation; 28 convoys were dispatched to concentration camps between 1942 and 1944, and only 1,207 Jews survived. Antwerp policemen allegedly helped the Germans and an SS regiment of native Flemish reservists carry out raids and arrest Jews."
I like their Pomme Frites with mayo.
The Flemmish people fought bravely during WWII. They were a buffer for French Belgium againt the Germans.
The waffles are pretty good,too. The frittes (french fries) are better though.
I've got a few of those in the 'fridge, too.
Eurotrash coverup ping. Too bad the thread's been taken off track by all the beer discussion and graphics.
This is a perfect example of why I rarely bother to read entire threads anymore.
Anti-Semitism is all the rage now; shame on Belgian authorities.
Nevermind - just BEING from there is bad enough.
one of many . . .
The beer is great. What do you drink Bud piss?
I have some homebrewing aquaintances who periodically take beer-tours of Europe. At a brewery they visited in Belgium the old woman who was their host insisted the Nazis weren't all that bad... and she told a story of how Hitler had visited that town. A german soldier had been caught stealing a Belgian woman's purse. Hitler personally executed the thief shootting him in the town square, proclaiming that such behavior would not be tolerated by his army in Belgium.
My beer-friends were horrified by the tale (and the woman's attitude) but there wasn't much they could say. I am sure there were MANY Nazi sympathizers in Belgium, as there were all over Europe. And, there would be today too.
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