Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis, LVI, 2026, 2

In their English-language article, Lucas Van Oost and Benoît Henriet of VUB examine whether the Belgian state’s takeover of the Congo Free State in 1908 really marked an immediate break, paving the way for a more humane colonial policy. In his French-language article, Christian Via Balole (Université Catholique de Bukavu, UCLouvain) provides an in-depth analysis of how Belgium applied the so-called “colonial clause” of the Convention concerning Forced Labour in the Congo between 1930 and 1960. For the third article, in Dutch, Anne Bekers reworked her master’s thesis at Ghent University on the organisation of aid to people in hiding in the city of Antwerp. In the fourth article, in French, Sophie Wittemans (curator of the Palace of the Nation and PhD researcher at ULiège) examines the commemorative exhibition on the First World War at the Palace of the Nation. In this cultural-historical study, Wittemans explores how parliamentary art created an original perspective on the recent history of the occupation