Brussels – At a ceremony today marking the 70th anniversary of the start of the deportations of Jews from Belgium during World War II, Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo apologized for his country’s participation in the deportation of Belgian Jews to Nazi death camps. Di Rupo also urged the Belgian senate to consider approving a resolution acknowledging Belgium’s role in the deportations.
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AFP (http://bit.ly/TFA2yu) quotes Di Rupo as saying, ““By assisting in the Nazi policies of extermination, the authorities of the time and the Belgian state failed in their duties. They were complicit in the most abominable crime. I want to now… express the regret and shame that collaboration brought upon us.” The first group of Jews was deported on September 9, 1942.
There were approximately 56,000 Jews residing in Belgium at the start of the war. Only 1,200 Jews survived.