The research project
The Left Behind project aims to determine the impact of forced labour by Organisation Todt on the daily lives and survival chances of the Jewish workers from Antwerp and their families. The research team has implemented micro, macro and spatial analysis techniques, combining personal stories, analysis of large datasets and time and space elements into interactive maps. As such, Left Behind visualizes its findings for a wide audience.
At the same time, the team expects the mapping of data related to time and location to also have an increasing impact on and contribute to in depth academic analysis.
The research results indicate that the Organisation Todt slave labour of Jewish men from Antwerp and the impact it had on their own as well as their families’ fate is an important factor in explaining the higher deportation number in Antwerp as compared to other large cities in Belgium and the country’s general deportation rate.
Detailed research results of the micro, macro and spatial analysis incorporated in the Left Behind project can be found in the following publications of the research team:
- Vanden Daelen, Veerle & Dorien Styven, ‘Left Behind – A Project Opening up Little Known Holocaust Histories as Well as New Tools’, https://blog.ehri-project.eu/2021/09/29/left-behind/, published on 29 September 2021.
- Styven, Dorien & Veerle Vanden Daelen, ‘Left Behind: The impact of Organisation Todt forced labour in Northern France on the persecution of Jews in Antwerp’, in: 2021 Yearbook of Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes (DöW) (forthcoming)
- Styven, Dorien & Veerle Vanden Daelen, ‘Craving News from Dear Ones. The Impact of Organisation Todt Forced Labour on the Survival Chances of the Families of the Jewish Workers from Antwerp’, in: Frédéric Bonnesoeur and Christin Zühlke (eds.), Micro-Historical Perspectives on an Integrated History of the Holocaust, Center for Research on Antisemitism, Technical University Berlin (forthcoming)
Bibliography
For Left Behind, the research team consulted the following works:
Andreux, Jean-Émile. “Les Mazures, un camp de juifs en Ardennes françaises.” Tsafon: Revue d’études juives du Nord 46 (2003-2004): 117-147.
Andreux, Jean-Émile. “Mémorial des déportés du Judenlager des Mazures.” Tsafon: Revue d’études juives du Nord 3 hors-série (2007): 35-121.
Delmaire, Danielle. “Les camps des Juifs dans le Nord de la France (1942-1944).” Memor. Bulletin d’information 8 (1987): 47-65.
Delmaire, Danielle. “Table ronde. Les ‘camps de juifs’ dans le Boulonnais (1942-1944). Actes de la table ronde de Boulogne-sur-Mer, 24 septembre 1988”, Memor. Bulletin d’information 10(1) (1989): 9-31.
Desquesnes, Rémy. “L’Organisation Todt en France (1940-1944).” Histoire, économie et société 11-3 (1992), 535-550.
Gaida, Peter. “Les camps de travail de l’Organisation Todt en France, 1940-1944.” Les Cahiers de la MSH Ledoux 10 (2007): 235-256.
Godfroid, Anne. “A qui profite l’exploitation des travailleurs forcés juifs de Belgique dans le Nord de la France.” Bijdragen tot de Eigentijdse Geschiedenis 10 (2002): 107-127.
Grombeer, Jean-Pierre, and Robert Neys, prod. Faits divers. Les évadés du convoi 16. Documentary supported by RTBF, 1999.
Gysel, André, Brecht Schotte and Chris Vandewalle. Trein van de Hoop. Een verzetsdaad van het volk, 4 september 1944. Leuven: Davidsfonds, 2012.
Harvengt, André. “L’organisation Todt: la participation des travailleurs belges en Belgique et dans la nord de la France pendant la guerre 1940-1945.” Thesis, Ecole royale militaire Bruxelles, 1969.
Peretz, Joseph. The endless wait. A memoir. Toronto: Lugus Publications, 1996.
Rigaut, Rudy. “Les particularités de la zone côtière dans la persécution des Juifs dans le Nord et le Pas-de-Calais occupés (1940-1944).” Tsafon: Revue d’études juives du Nord 79 (2020): 39-74.
Saerens, Lieven. Vreemdelingen in een wereldstad: een geschiedenis van Antwerpen en zijn Joodse bevolking (1880-1944). Tielt: Lannoo, 2000.
Schram, Laurence. Dossin: Wachtkamer van Auschwitz. Tielt: Lannoo, 2018.
Seidler, F.W. “L’Organisation Todt.” Revue d’histoire de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale et des conflits contemporains, 134 (1984): 33-58.
Steinberg, Maxime. L’étoile et le fusil. La question juive 1940-1942. Brussels: Vie Ouvrière, 1983.
Steinberg, Maxime. L’étoile et le fusil. 1942. Les cent jours de la déportation des Juifs de Belgique. Brussels: Vie Ouvrière, 1984.
Styven, Dorien & Veerle Vanden Daelen, ‘Left Behind: The impact of Organisation Todt forced labour in Northern France on the persecution of Jews in Antwerp’, in: 2021 Yearbook of Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes (DöW) (forthcoming)
Styven, Dorien & Veerle Vanden Daelen, ‘Craving News from Dear Ones. The Impact of Organisation Todt Forced Labour on the Survival Chances of the Families of the Jewish Workers from Antwerp’, Frédéric Bonnesoeur and Christin Zühlke (eds.), Micro-Historical Perspectives on an Integrated History of the Holocaust, Center for Research on Antisemitism, Technical University Berlin, forthcoming
Vanden Daelen, Veerle, Laurence Schram and Dorien Styven. “ ‘De Antwerpse specificiteit’ Cijfers van de Jodendeportatie in perspectief.” Getuigen tussen geschiedenis en herinnering 131 (October 2020): 115-127.
Vanden Daelen, Veerle & Dorien Styven, ‘Left Behind – A Project Opening up Little Known Holocaust Histories as Well as New Tools’, https://blog.ehri-project.eu/2021/09/29/left-behind/, published on 29 September 2021.
Vandepontseele, Sophie. “De verplichte tewerkstelling van joden in België en Noord-Frankrijk.” In De curatoren van het getto. De Vereniging van de joden in België tijdens de nazi-bezetting, edited by Rudi Van Doorslaer and Jean-Philippe Schreiber, 149-181. Tielt: Lannoo, 2004.
Van Dingenen, Gunter. “De Organisation Todt tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog in België en Noord-Frankrijk.” Thesis, Ghent University, 1987.