Belgian society in the 1930s was considerably influenced by Catholicism: there was a large network of Catholic primary and secondary schools as well as universities. The Belgian welfare system was also almost exclusively organised by the churches, particularly the Catholic Church.
During the German occupation from May 1940 onwards, the Catholic Church’s enormous influence on the population even increased, as people expected guidance and leadership from it for their lives during the occupation.
In 1938 the Archbishop of Mechelen, Cardinal van Roey, had already proclaimed that the National Socialist ideology was not compatible with Catholic values. However, soon after the capitulation of the Belgian army, the same bishop acknowledged the authority of the German military administration although only as long as it did not take issue with the Catholic Church. At the same time, he condemned collaboration with the Germans and repeatedly protested to the military administration about the treatment of the Jewish population. The military administration was well aware of the Catholic Church’s influence, and it endeavoured to maintain a good relationship with it.
When a third of Belgium’s Jewish population was deported and murdered between July and September 1942, the Catholic Church did not intervene in public. Only individual letters of protest were written to the military administration. The fact that about half of Belgium’s Jewish population survived the German occupation was due to the courage of individuals who hid men, women and above all children from the German persecutors. Among them were many lay Catholics and clergymen who took great personal risks to help. A post-war investigation came to the conclusion that one in every five priests in Belgium was involved in rescue operations.
Bishop Kerkhof of Liège was the only bishop directly involved in the rescue of Jewish men, women and children when asked to do so by the Jewish resistance. For example, Jewish children were taken anonymously into church summer holiday camps. Other bishops knew more or less directly about the rescue activities of priests, nuns and monks in their dioceses, many of whom collaborated with the Comité de Défense des Juifs (Jewish Defense Committee, CDJ).
As an overall organisation, the Catholic Church of Belgium never publicly or vociferously opposed the persecution, deportation and murder of the Jews. However, the welfare institutions, the homes for children, the sick and the elderly as well as the school and boarding school system in monasteries provided the institutional framework of assistance that made it possible for the many Catholic laymen and dignitaries to rescue Jewish men, women and, above all, children. ÄW