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.
“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.
Of those in the database, only a fifth ever appeared in court, with most cases concerning more minor offenses such as membership in the Nazi party, Reuters reported.
A lot more were suspected than actually confirmed, yeah. Having your name on the list might seem like confirmation for some which is, geez.
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.
I’m glad my own name didn’t make it to the list. Those terrible people! No one will ever know.
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.
When the KGB’s list of informants was released after the USSR collapsed, on thing that was evident was that the spies were trying very hard to make it look to their bosses like they had more influence than they really had. That included claiming as assets people who were proven not to be, and even a few dead people. I imagine that the same is true for Nazi spies.
Must…not… Aaargh can’t not!
I wouldn’t have thought that In The Netherlands was such a common name!
The survey found that 23% of Dutch millennials and Gen Zers believe the Holocaust is a myth or the number of Jews killed during WWII has been greatly exaggerated.
Guess these morons are everywhere.
That’s what happens when you use the jews as cannonfodders in the middle east while leaving gipsies to fend for themselves. People start to question the double standards.
Why didn’t the gypsy get their own country? They got holocausted as well but nobody gives a shit and they’re still on the street. There is no museum dedicated to the gypsy genocide. No remembrance day. Nothing.
Double standard.
Yes there are morons but not in these proportions. The research has been under scrutiny, if you want to read more about it here is a Dutch article about it. https://www.rtl.nl/rtl-nieuws/artikel/5361474/holocaust-waarheid-nederlanders-geschiedenis-niod-tweede-wereldoorlog
