Date: 1944
Size: 11 x 15.5 inches
About the poster: The poster says :
Police Ordinance
The Acting Governor of the Province of Brabant,
Having regard to his police ordinances dated September 29 and October 10, 1944, ordering the registration of Belgian or foreign subjects over the age of 16 who belong or have belonged to groups that engaged in activities contrary to the Constitution and laws of the Belgian people;
Having regard to Article 128 of the provincial law and Article 1 of the law of June 5, 1934;
ORDERS:
SOLE ARTICLE. – Article 4 of his ordinance of October 10, 1944 is amended as follows:
“Concerning the Voluntary Labor Service for Wallonia, only Belgian or foreign subjects over the age of 16 who participated in it after April 30, 1944, must report.”
Brussels, October 12, 1944
J. HERINCKX
Printed by E. Guyot Printing Co., rue Pachéco, Brussels (Managing Director: Paul Algrain, 16 avenue de la Jonction, Brussels)."
This document was issued shortly after Belgium's liberation from German occupation during World War II (which occurred in September 1944). During the occupation, some Belgians collaborated with the Nazis, including by joining groups such as the Service Volontaire du Travail pour la Wallonie (SVTW), the Voluntary Labor Service for Wallonia — which supported the German war effort, often by sending laborers to work in Germany.
After the liberation, Belgian authorities began identifying and prosecuting collaborators. This ordinance is part of that effort: it mandates that only those who joined the SVTW after April 30, 1944 (seen as a particularly compromising period, when Germany was clearly losing the war) must report themselves. This suggests an attempt to focus on more recent and deliberate acts of collaboration, rather than earlier or potentially coerced involvement.
The poster is linen backed and in great condition ! Ready to frame.