The names of around 425,000 people suspected of collaborating with the Nazis during the German occupation of the Netherlands have been published online for the first time.
These names represent individuals investigated through a special legal system established at the end of World War II. More than 150,000 of them have received some form of punishment.
The complete records of these investigations were previously only accessible by visiting the Dutch National Archives in The Hague.
The Huygens Institute, which helped digitize the archive, says this is a major barrier for those wanting to research the Dutch occupation, which lasted from 1940 until the invasion in 1945.
“This archive contains important stories for both current and future generations,” says the Huygens Institute.
“From children wanting to know what their fathers did in the war to historians studying the gray areas of cooperation.”
The archive contains files on war criminals, approximately 20,000 Dutch nationals who served in the German army, and alleged members of the National Socialist Movement (NSB), the Dutch Nazi party.
However, it also contains the names of people who were found to be innocent.
This is because the archive consists of files from special jurisdictions that have been investigating suspected collaborators since 1944.
The online database contains only the suspect’s name, date of birth, and place of birth, and can only be searched using specific personal information.
It did not say whether specific people were convicted or in what way they are suspected of collaborating.
However, when users visit the National Archives, they are told which files to request to view this information. Anyone accessing physical files must declare a legitimate interest in viewing them.
In the Netherlands, there were concerns about the freely available availability of personal information about sensitive periods in history, and information published online was initially restricted.
“I’m worried that there will be a very unpleasant reaction,” said Rinke Smedinga, whose father was an NSB member and worked at the Westerbork camp, where people are deported to concentration camps. told the publication DIT.
“We have to anticipate that. We shouldn’t just leave it as a kind of social experiment.”
Tom de Smet, director of the National Archives, told DIT that it was necessary to take into account the relatives of both collaborators and victims of the occupation.
But he added: “Collaboration is still very traumatic. It’s not talked about. I hope the taboo will be broken when the archives are made public.”
In a letter to Parliament on December 19, Culture Minister Eppo Bruins said: “Openness of archives is essential if we are to face the effects of (the Netherlands’) common difficult past and process it as a society.” It is extremely important.”
Given privacy concerns, the amount of information published online is limited and people who visit the archives in person cannot make copies, he said. The Bruins have expressed a desire to change the law to allow more information to be disclosed publicly.
Those who may still be alive are not listed online, according to the online database website.
