
80 years after the Holocaust, a significant archive documenting 425,000 Dutch individuals accused of collaborating with the Nazis during World War II will become accessible later this week.
On Thursday, the Central Archives of the Special Jurisdiction Courts (CABR), established after the Netherlands' liberation to prosecute collaborators, will be opened under the rules of the National Archive, reported The Guardian.
Until now, this archive – one of the most visited war records in the Netherlands – was accessible only to researchers, direct descendants, and others directly involved. Starting Thursday, the physical archive will be open to all visitors.
Additionally, for the first three months of 2025, researchers and descendants of both victims and alleged collaborators will have on-site digital access to a quarter of the database at the National Archive in The Hague.
The move has stirred mixed emotions among families, but others in the Netherlands see transparency as essential for confronting the country’s wartime past, including the economic and bureaucratic collaboration with the Nazis.
During the Holocaust, three-quarters of the Dutch Jewish population – over 102,000 people – were murdered, aided by collaboration from state institutions, the police, and sections of the Dutch population.
The Netherlands is only recently reckoning with this history. The country has opened a national Holocaust museum, issued a public apology, and funded studies on the role of institutions and companies during the Nazi occupation.
While online publication has been delayed, Culture Minister Eppo Bruins has stated the archive should not be searchable via platforms like Google. Eventually, it is hoped that the extensive collection of 30 million pages – including witness reports, diaries, membership cards for the Dutch fascist party, medical records, court judgments, pardon pleas, and photographs – will be searchable.