Obj. ID: 58614  Memorial to Deported Jews of Belgium at Kasarne Dossin Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre in Mechelen, Belgium, 1948

“After WWII, the Dossin barracks was repossessed by the Belgian state. At the end of 1948, the Belgian army established a school in the barracks for the administration of the Army. In June 1950, a training centre of the Financial Services was added to the complex.

A commemorative plaque was attached to the façade of the Dossin barracks on 30 May 1948. Since 1956, an annual ceremony is held to commemorate the victims of racial deportation (Jews and Roma and Sinti). In 1986, a monument consisting of six pieces of railway tracks was inaugurated, symbolizing the six million Jews who were murdered. On 3 June 1995, a plaque was also installed for the victims from the Roma and Sinti community.

After the Centre for Administrative Service left in March 1975, the Dossin barracks fell into disrepair. The city considered demolishing the barracks but due to protests, the façade was put on the list of Listed Buildings. In 1977, ownership of the barracks was transferred from the state to the city of Mechelen, but only in 1980 it was decided to renovate the dilapidated building as an apartment complex. From now on, the barracks will be known as the ‘Habsburg Courtyard’, a reference to the Austrian rulers who built the complex and to the quietness within its walls.

Many people however thought it was inopportune to cast aside the history of the Dossin barracks as Sammellager. Therefore, the Vereniging van de Joodse Weggevoerden in België (VJWB) – Dochters en Zonen van de Deportatie (English: Association of Jewish Deportees in Belgium – Daughters and Sons of the Deportation) – and the Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België (CICB) (English: Central Israeli Consistory of Belgium) pressured the city and the Flemish Community to keep a space in the barracks free for establishing a museum. Mr Natan Ramet, himself a survivor of the camps, was appointed chairperson. On 7 May 1995, the Joods Museum van Deportatie en Verzet (JMDV) (English: Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance) was ceremoniously inaugurated by HRH King Albert II. On 11 November 1995, the museum was opened for the public.

With 30,000 visitors per year, the JMDV quickly burst at the seams. Starting in 2001, the Flemish government developed plans for a new and larger museum. Because purchasing the entire Dossin barracks was impossible, they opted for a new construction according to a design by bOb Van Reeth, which contains the new permanent collection. A commemoration hall was furnished in the right wing of the old barracks building.

Flemish Prime Minister Kris Peeters and Bart Somers, the Mayor of Mechelen, opened the first part of the site, the Memorial, on 4 September 2012. This place of commemoration is situated in the front wing of the old Dossin barracks. The new museum on the other side was opened a few months later.

Kris Peeters, the Prime Minister of Flanders, opened the new Kazerne Dossin – Memorial, Museum & Documentation Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights in the presence of HRH King Albert II on 26 November 2012. On 27 January 2020, the renovated Memorial opened its doors.

(https://kazernedossin.eu/en/what-we-do/historiek/)

The Kazerne Dossin is a listed building; the Kazerne Dossin Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre is funded by the Flemish Government.