10 May 2007
Belgium’s prime minister Guy Verhofstadt has reiterated an apology made to the Jewish community for the deportation of Belgian Jews during the Nazi Holocaust. Speaking at a ceremony in Brussels to mark the 62nd anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Verhofstadt said that it was impossible to move forward without recognizing the role Belgian officials played in the murder of European Jewry. He told his country’s Jews that he was committed to "a future where this will never happen again."
The prime minister also said that the compensation process for Jewish Nazi victims would be completed during 2007. He said that the 5,640 requests for compensation introduced by Jewish victims between 2001 and 2006 would be dealt with in their entirety before the end of the year, and that "The amounts which remain after that will be transmitted to the Foundation of Judaism in Belgium," he added.
Verhofstadt had already issued an apology for WWII-era acts of Belgian state officials on the day a government-sponsored report was released. The report concluded that some senior Belgian officials had collaborated with the Nazi occupiers during World War II. "This report indicates that the authorities were too flexible. Worse, in several cases, they collaborated with the deportation and the continuation of the Jews of Belgium," the prime minister said. Verhofstadt also unveiled a memorial in honor of Belgians who worked to save Jews during the Holocaust.
