The State Archives of Eupen, the Historical Association ‘Zwischen Venn und Schneifel’, and the Centre for East Belgian History organise an annual collection day. On 30 March 2019, this day was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Eupen-Malmedy-Sankt Vith and Kelmis region belonging to the Kingdom of Belgium.
The aim of the annual collection day is to raise awareness of historical objects and to encourage people to hand over historically relevant documents to the State Archives. To this end, documents are sought on various themes or types of sources. However, objects from other areas are also welcome.
For example, during the 2019 Collection Day, an unused gas mask from 1943 was found (see picture). These were distributed in many villages at the end of the war. But there were also other documents that were not directly related to the centenary of Belgium.
Small treasures such as the textbook of a pupil of the municipal weaving school in Eupen (handwritten and with many samples) and an invitation to a celebration in honour of Governor Baltia in 1923 were also submitted. In the future, these will add to our picture of the annexation to Belgium.
A number of visitors also came to seek advice. Of course, the State Archives in Eupen and the Historical Association ‘Zwischen Venn und Schneifel’ in Sankt Vith provided further information on the storage, archiving, and inventory of the sources, so that citizens will continue to be able to place numerous sources in the safe hands of the State Archives.
Belgian Radio interviewed Els Herrebout, director of the State Archives in Eupen, and Carlo Lejeune, then director of the Centre for East Belgian History, on the occasion of the collection day (in German).