Newly publicized Dutch archives force families to confront accusations of Nazi collaboration

A massive trove of historic World War II documents has been unveiled, and it strikes at the heart of a generational issue in the Netherlands. On Jan. 2, the Dutch Central Archives of the Special Jurisdiction was publicly opened under the country's national archive rules. This archive contains information about 425,000 Dutch people who were accused of collaborating with the Nazis during the second world war.

These archives have been available to researchers for the past 70 years, but this marks the first time that members of the public can view their contents. It is estimated that the full portfolio of the Central Archives will be digitally accessible by 2027, according to the archive's website; for now, those wishing to see the documents must visit the physical archive in The Hague. Some descendants of those accused of Nazi collaboration say they are wary of what this public access might mean.

What do these archives contain?

The archive's pages measure about 2.3 miles long and are the "largest and most frequently consulted World War II archives in the Netherlands," said a press report. The pages contain "files about individuals suspected of collaboration with the German occupiers" during World War II, as well as information on "victims, resistance activities, hiding operations and much more."

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The 32 million documents include information on Dutch people who were both tried as Nazi collaborators and those who were only suspected of such. This is what largely separates the Dutch archives from similar databases in other European countries. The "entire archive has been preserved, including people who were not convicted, only accused," Tom de Smet, the director of Archives, Services and Innovation at the Dutch National Archives, said to The New York Times. Once the files are digitized online, people will be "able to type in the name of a victim and discover who was accused of betraying them."

How are the Dutch responding?

Some descendants of the accused, as well as the Dutch government, are reportedly concerned over the publication of family histories, especially for those who were only accused. According to the Central Archives, only about a fifth of the people accused of collaboration were ever charged in court.

It is "a bit uncomfortable," Connie, whose family is in the archive, said to The Guardian. She does not "know what could come out of it eventually, if people Google our surname." But others believe that publicizing the archives will help the Netherlands heal from its connection with the Holocaust. The country is "only now coming to terms with" its role in the genocide, said The Guardian.

It is "part of the repression by the Dutch of their memories of collaboration, after we had punished our military and political collaborators," Johannes Houwink ten Cate, an emeritus professor of Holocaust studies at Amsterdam University, said to The Guardian. It is easy to "understand the children and grandchildren of collaborators now fear possible consequences, but my personal experience is that their feelings come to rest once they have seen the files. Making this open is an important step."

Officials are also taking steps to "digitize the files more carefully and slowly, because this is very sensitive for relatives of collaborators," according to Dutch newspaper Trouw. The archive will digitize the most well-known files first, including "more serious cases such as the betrayal of several people in hiding or the murder of resistance fighters, which made the newspapers." Archivists "arrived at this after discussions with the ethical council, which includes relatives of both collaborators and war victims," Edwin Klijn, the leader of the project, said to Trouw.