The Royal Dutch Archive will grant access to its files in the coming days, 80 years after the Holocaust, and is expected to shed light on the identity of hundreds of thousands of Dutch citizens who cooperated with the Nazis and among other crimes, led to the capture of Jews.
The decision to open the archive to the public has evoked mixed emotions. On the one hand, there is a recognition of the need for transparency and responsibility, but on the other hand, there is concern for the privacy of the families of those implicated.
On Thursday, the central archive of the special courts established by the Netherlands to bring Nazi collaborators to justice will open. According to the archive's regulation, the information until now has been accessible only to researchers, people involved and their descendants.
Dutch families will now be able to learn about the history of their members during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Some 425,000 Dutch citizens were accused of collaborating with the Nazis during the war. In the first three months of 2025, researchers and family members will have digital access to a quarter of the information, contained in the archive, through the website of the National Archive in the Hague.
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President Issac Herzog at the opening of the Holocaust museum in Amsterdam
(Photo: GPO)
The authorities in the Netherlands have assumed responsibility for the years of occupation, including the crimes committed against Jewish citizens and collaboration with the Nazi occupiers. More than 75% of the Jewish population – some 102,000 people, were murdered by the Nazis, with the help of the antisemitic authorities, the police and parts of the population.
The country has been undergoing an extensive and deep process of review of its dark past which includes the public apology by King Willem-Alexander for the treatment of Jews, the opening of the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam and the financing of historical research into the collaboration of Dutch royal institutions and companies with the Nazis.