Private bank InsingerGilissen to support investigation into its ties to slave trade

There will be an investigation into the slavery past of the private bank InsingerGilissen, which stems from one of the Netherlands' most successful and profitable companies in the slavery sector. The bank agreed to support a Ph.D. research focused on the development of the Isinger family’s business empire, NOS reports

“The archive documents show that the firm Insinger & Co. played an active role in the Dutch slavery past, including through the trade in colonial goods and investments and the management of plantations,” InsingerGilissen said. “We regret the role that the firm Insinger & Co. played as a trading house in an economy that was partly based on colonialism and slavery at the time and believe it is important that there is a clear picture of this part of history.”

Insinger & Co. was one of the most successful slavery firms in the Netherlands. When the Netherlands abolished slavery in 1863, the firm received the equivalent of over 3 million euros from the Dutch government for the buyout of over 1,200 enslaved people. After that, Insinger & Co. continued to invest in the slavery economy, investing in, operating, and earning from plantations and the trade of, for example, coffee, tea, sugar, and cocoa, according to the broadcaster.

On paper, InsingerGilissen, the Insinger Foundation, and family members bearing the Insinger name are no longer connected. The Insinger Foundation previously conducted research into the origin of the money with which it was established. It concluded that the foundation could not have existed without the profit from slavery.

The research supported by InsingerGilissen will fall under the chair Global Histories of Labour and Colonialism at Radboud University, supervised by Matthias van Rossum.

“We know that the predecessor of this bank had a lot to do with slavery, that is certain. Now it is interesting to find out what effect that had on the people it concerned,” Van Rossum told NOS.

“How did people live and how did they work around those colonial workplaces? There are many questions that deserve a lot of scientific attention. There is now a social need for that, to look at the human impact.”