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.
The names represent individuals who were investigated through a special legal system established near the end of World War II. More than 150,000 of them face some form of punishment.
The complete records of these investigations were previously only available by visiting the Dutch National Archives in The Hague.
The Huygens Institute, which helped digitize the archive, says this is a major obstacle for people wanting to research the Dutch occupation, which lasted from its invasion in 1940 to 1945.
“This archive contains important stories for current and future generations,” say the Huygens Institute.
From children who want to know what their father did in the war, to historians who explore the gray areas of collaboration.
The archive contains files on war criminals, about 20,000 Dutch people who enlisted in the German armed forces and alleged members of the National Socialist Movement (NSB) – the Dutch Nazi party.
But it also contains the names of people who have been found to be innocent.
This is because the archive consists of the files of the Special Jurisdiction, which has been investigating suspected collaborators since 1944.
The online database contains only the names of suspects – as well as their date and place of birth – which can only be searched using certain personal information.
It does not specify whether an individual person has been found guilty, nor what form of cooperation they are suspected of.
But it will tell users which file they should request to see that information if they visit the National Archives. Persons accessing physical files must declare a legitimate interest in viewing them.
There is some concern in the Netherlands about personal data relating to a sensitive period of history being freely available – which is why the information published online was initially limited.
“I’m afraid there will be very unpleasant reactions,” Rinke Smedinga, whose father was a member of the NSB and worked at the Westerbork camp from which people were deported to concentration camps, told the Dutch online publication DIT.
“You have to anticipate it. You shouldn’t just let it happen, as some sort of social experiment.”
Tom De Smet, director of the National Archives, told DIT that relatives of collaborators and victims of the occupation must be taken into account.
But he added: “Collaboration is still a big trauma. It is not talked about. We hope that when the archives are opened, the taboo will be broken.”
In a letter to parliament on December 19, Culture Minister Eppo Bruins wrote: “Openness of archives is key to dealing with the effects [the Netherlands’] difficult shared past and process it as a society.”
The amount of information available online would be limited due to privacy concerns, and those visiting the archive in person would not be allowed to copy. The Bruins have expressed a desire to change the law to allow more information to be made public.
The online database website says people who might be alive are not listed online.
