Summary
The Netherlands has released a digital archive of 425,000 suspected Nazi collaborators from World War II, following the expiration of a law prohibiting its publication.
The list, compiled by the Huygens Institute’s “War in Court” project, documents the investigations of mostly Dutch individuals, with only 20% ever tried.
This revelation sheds light on the scale of Dutch complicity during Nazi occupation.
While historians and educators hail it as a significant resource, some descendants of those named have expressed concern about potential backlash.
Access to more detailed records remains restricted to researchers.
I’m glad my own name didn’t make it to the list.Those terrible people!No one will ever know.You’d have to be dead for your name to show up on this list
I’d also have to be Dutch. And also not Jewish.
One of the many bizarre details about my life and the people around me: my dad’s best friend was a Jewish kid in Amsterdam when the Nazis invaded. He was actually in school with Anne Frank’s older sister. He spent the war hiding in an empty water tower. I never asked him about it though, I didn’t want to know how bad it was to be honest.
They also made some mistakes by accidentally including some victims! I read there was at least a few people on there who actually died in a camp.
It’s also worth pointing out that ‘suspected’ is quite a vague term. If a neighbour didn’t like you and tipped you as a collaborator, you might very well be on that list despite being perfectly clean.
Still, it’s a good thing they’re at least acknowledging this uncomfortable part of Dutch history. Some families will finally have some closure/answers as to what their (grand)parents did or didn’t do during the war.
This is a good example of why witch hunts inevitably include innocent people. Maybe you started rooting out fascists, but somebody will take advantage of a ravenous mob given the opportunity.
Which is why Nazis actively carrying signs, showing tattoos, or shouting Nazi shit are fair game. At that point it’s just proactive self defense.
“Suspected” as in not confirmed? I’m all for publishing the names of known collaborators, but just suspected collaborators sounds dangerous. I was alive during a regime where “suspected” was enough for an arrest and enhanced interrogation.
Well, “confirmed” probably involves a trial. And I’m assuming the majority of these people are dead by now.
I’m just imagining people being judged for having family on that list. Does the list include potentially innocent people? Or is it all guilty but they have to say “suspected” because the lack of trial?
People in countries around Germany aren’t really judging people for this. That stuff is of the past.
And no:
The archive contains the files of convicted criminals as well as the around 20,000 Dutch citizens deemed collaborators by signing up to serve in the German armed forces.
It also lists alleged members of the National Socialist Movement (NSB), the fascist political party founded by Anton Mussert, the Netherlands’ biggest Nazi-aligned political movement.
The archive also gives the names of people who were found to be innocent after investigation.
The online database only contains the names of suspects and doesn’t specify whether they were found guilty or what kind of collaboration with the Germans they were suspected of.
