Files on 300,000 suspected WWII collaborators to be published in 2025
The Dutch National Archive will publish the files on 300,000 people suspected of collaborating with the Germans after the Second World War in 2025. The process of digitizing the files in the Central Archives of the Special Administration of Justice started on Thursday, the National Archive announced.
Immediately after Liberation Day, the judiciary started to try these suspects. About 20 percent of them were convicted, and 1,900 people received prison sentences of 10 years or more. From 2025, people will be able to consult their files online.
Currently, the files are only public to a limited extent under the Archives Act, to protect the privacy of involved persons who may still be alive. People who want to view the files can do so in a study hall if they can prove that the involved person has died or they have the person’s permission. No copies are allowed.
The public access restrictions will expire in 2025 under the assumption that most of the involved people will be dead by then. The National Archive started digitizing files on Thursday, using new techniques - including AI to recognize and digitize handwriting - to do so quickly. Those involved in the War before the Judge project expect to scan about 152,000 pages per week.
The project will run until 2027, with the first files becoming available online in 2025.
The publication of this archive will have significant consequences for collaborators’ surviving relatives, Edwin Klijn, leader of the War before the Judge project, said to NOS. “You mustn’t just apply technical and legal frameworks, but it is also important to ask yourself what is ethical. That is why we also consult with the next of kin. We consciously involve them in this process,” he said. “Examples of information that fall under ethical criteria are psychiatric reports and testimonies given during police investigations.”
Like many victims of the Second World War, perpetrators often held their silence for a very long time. Many children grew up knowing little to nothing about their parents’ past, one such child said to NOS. Jeroen Saris now chairs the Recognition Work Group, which aids WWII collaborators’ children, grandchildren, and other relatives.
“When I was 18, I found out through a newspaper article that my father had worked with the Germans. He had never told me anything. It was not until three years ago that I was ready to look at his file,” Saris said to the broadcaster. “For the family collaborators, almost everything is sensitive.”
“That doesn’t mean we oppose making the archive public, it is also a legal obligation, but it will release a lot, especially for the children of NSB members,” Saris continued. “The second and third generations have a bit more distance, but the first generation experienced the consequences, the bullying, the exclusion, the stigma, up close. They are afraid of a recurrence when the archive opens, that old wounds reopen. There are also relatives who, to this day do not want to know what their relatives have done. That information will soon be out in the open.”
