Herman Alphonse Bekaert was born on 28 janvier 1906 in Ghent and died on 16 august 1989 in Brussels. He is the son of Aimé Bekaert, pharmacist, and Gabrielle Vallez, sans profession.
After high school, he began studying law at the Free University of Brussels, which he finished in 1929 with distinction. He then completed a two-year internship in the office of Eugène Soudan. The 4 july 1931, he marries Irène Vermeulen in Brussels. They will have a child : Stéphane Aimé Louis Bekaert, born the 18 april 1932 in Ukkel.
Herman Bekaert became a magistrate at a very young age : he was appointed additional deputy Crown prosecutor at the Court of First Instance of Antwerp in 1931. From 1932 and until 1935, he becomes an effective substitute.
In 1935, he was appointed Director of Public Security by Eugène Soudan. Then, in 1937, he rose in the hierarchy by becoming deputy administrator of the Public Security alongside Robert de Foy. During this period, Hermann Bekaert will mainly deal with the problem of Jewish refugees. Indeed, German Jews emigrate en masse to Belgium. An Interministerial Commission was then created on 20 february 1936. The objective is to address the issue of foreign refugees. Within this committee, there is a whole series of actors, including the administrator of Public Security. In some cases, Hermann Bekaert replaced Robert de Foy, as during the session of 20 janvier 1939 during which the Commission decides to relax the agreements concluded in Geneva on 4 july 1936. These differentiated between Jews who had been forced to flee Germany and those who had left the country by choice.. The latter could therefore be refused refugee status and thus be forced to return to Germany.. At this session of 20 janvier 1939, we decide, given the situation, grant refugee status to more people. Indeed, German Jews are persecuted and pressured to leave Germany, especially for Belgium.
During his career at the Public Security, Hermann Bekaert is also part of the cabinet of various Ministers of Justice : Eugene Sudan (1936), Victor of Laveleye (1937) and Paul-Emile Janson (1939). As head of cabinet of Eugène Soudan, he participated in the drafting of important bills on the status of foreigners.
In 1940, Hermann Bekaert no longer holds the position of deputy administrator and he then rejoins the ranks of the judiciary as deputy public prosecutor at the Brussels Court of Appeal. The function of deputy administrator then remained vacant throughout the duration of the war.. It will be taken over by Ludovic Caeymaex at the end of the conflict.
During WWII, Hermann Bekaert resists through the underground press. He writes in the diary New Belgium under the pseudonym Judex. His position as deputy prosecutor at the Brussels Court of Appeal also allows him to come to the aid of the civil resistance group JP. He will also distribute funds to Jews living in hiding.. He will receive the American Freedom Medal for his action in the resistance.
Moreover, Hermann Bekaert is a professor of criminal law and criminal procedure at the Free University of Brussels in 1941 to 1976. It was closed during the war. Professors, including Hermann Bekaert, refuse to resume classes despite the order of the occupier. He then managed to ensure that his students could take courses at the Catholic University of Louvain..
After the war (1945), he became public prosecutor at the Court of Appeal of Ghent. He left this position in 1962 to devote himself to the drafting of a new code of criminal procedure.
Main works of Hermann Bekaert:
- BEKAERT, H., The expulsion of foreigners and the offense of breaking the ban. Application of the law of 12 february 1897 and royal decrees of 15 December 1930 and 14 august 1933, Louvain, 1934.
- BEKAERT, H., The status of foreigners in Belgium, Brussels, 1940.
- BEKAERT, H., The council of war code, Brussels, 1945.
Sources:
- Jean Dujardin, "Bekaert Hermann", in New National Biography, t. 8, Brussels, Royal Academy of Sciences, of Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium, 2005, p. 29-31.
- Rudi VAN DOORSLAER, dir., La Belgique docile. Belgian authorities and the persecution of Jews in Belgium during World War II, Brussels, 2007, p. 61-62 and p. 83.
- Frank CAESTECKER, « Inexorable, but also clement. Belgian immigration policy and the Jewish flight from Nazi Germany, March 1938-August 1939 », in History notebooks of the present time, n°13-14, 2004, p. 102 and 127.
- "Population register, Hermann Bekaert », Municipal archives of the city of Ghent.
- “Letter from the Free University of Brussels to the Commissioner of State concerning the resistance activity of Herman Bekaert during the Second World War, 2 july 1954 », Directorate General Victims of War, RC 36 438.
- “Report on the activity of the clandestine group J.P., 23 october 1944 », Directorate General Victims of War, RC 36 438.
Louise Derycke
Notice written as part of the Seminar on the History of the Contemporary Period of the Catholic University of Louvain (LHIST2280, teacher Emmanuel Debruyne).