425,000 suspected Nazi collaborators’ names published

The names of nearly 425,000 people suspected of having collaborated with the Nazis during the German occupation of the Netherlands have been published online for the first time.

The names represent people who were searched through special laws enacted at the end of World War II. Of those, more than 150,000 faced some form of punishment.

The full text of this study was previously available by visiting the Dutch National Archives in The Hague.

The Huygens Institute, which helped to preserve the archives, says this is a major obstacle for people who want to explore the history of the Netherlands, which lasted from 1940 to 1945.

“This story has important issues for current and future generations,” the Huygens Institute says.

“From children who want to know what their father did in the war, to historians who investigate the gray matter of the alliance.”

The archives contain files on war criminals, about 20,000 Dutch people who joined the German army, and alleged members of the National Socialist Movement (NSB) – the Dutch Nazi party.

But it also contains the names of people who were found innocent.

This is because the archives contain files from the Special Jurisdiction, which since 1944 investigated the suspects.

The online database contains only the names of suspects – as well as their date and place of birth – which can be searched using personal information.

It does not say whether a person was found guilty, or what kind of agreement was assumed.

But it will tell users which file they can request to see if they go to the National Archives. People who access physical files must declare their interest in viewing them.

There have been concerns in the Netherlands about personal information related to the critical period of history that is freely available – making the information published on the Internet very limited.

“I’m afraid something bad will happen,” Rinke Smedinga, whose father was a member of the NSB and worked at Camp Westerbork, where people were deported to concentration camps, told Dutch online publication DIT.

“You have to expect that. You don’t just let it happen, as a kind of human experiment.”

Tom De Smet, director of the National Archives, told the DIT that the relatives of all those involved and those affected by the operation should be considered.

But he added: “Cooperation is still a big problem.” It is not said.

In a letter to parliament on December 19, Culture Minister Eppo Bruins wrote: “The opening of the past is very important in dealing with the problems of [the Netherlands’] problems that were previously shared and solved as a group.”

The amount of information that can be found online may be restricted due to privacy concerns, and those visiting the archives will not be allowed to make copies. The Bruins have said they want to change the law to allow more information to be made public.

The online database website says people who may still be alive are not listed online.