Nazi informant removed from Dutch WWII List of the Fallen

When members of the Dutch Senate and Parliament lay down flowers at the Honor List of the Fallen 1940-1945 on Thursday, there will be one less name on the list. The institute for war, Holocaust and genocide studies NIOD removed the name of Jacob Adriaan Detmar from the list after it was discovered that he worked as an informant for German police and intelligence service SD, NOS reports.

Detmar's name was "formally" removed from the list in January. It could not physically be crossed out as the paper is too fragile. The Honor List of the Fallen is a national monument that contains the names of 18 thousand soldiers and resistance fighters who died in the struggle against German and Japanese invaders between 1940 and 1946.

Jacob Adriaan Detmar (1916-1945) worked as an officer in the Marechaussee - a policing force that works as part of the Dutch armed forces. He was executed by Nazi's just before liberation for desertion. NOS questioned NIOD about Detmar's inclusion on the list, as there is no information about his work for the resistance. After investigation, NIOD concluded that he does not belong on the list. Detmar proved to be a traitor who hunted Jews, resistance fighters and people in hiding on behalf of the SD, according to NOS. At least three of the people he betrayed to the SD did not survive the war.

According to NIOD, there has been three cases over the past eight years in which a name was removed from the Honor List. The institute attributes the errors to the way in which the list was established - relatives were able to nominate people to be included in the list and the information was not always carefully checked.