Starting today, you can search a list of names of people suspected of collaboration with the German occupiers in World War II. The project War for the Judge published that list this morning. It is a collaboration between the National Archives and the NIOD, among others.
The suspects are all listed in the Central Archives for Special Legal Procedure (CABR). From this year onwards, that complete archive would actually become completely public and digitally searchable for everyone, but that will not happen for the time being. From now on it can be seen whether a suspect appears in that CABR.
There are many. After the war, 425,000 people were suspected of collaboration. This concerns war criminals such as Camp Westerbork commander Albert Gemmeker, but also Dutch Waffen-SS members (approximately 20,000) and NSB members. Yet it also contains names of people who turned out to be innocent after investigation.
The vast majority of people studied have never been convicted; 228,000 cases have been dismissed, 71,000 cases are incomplete, for example because someone had already died.
When you click on the name you will not yet know what exactly is in the file. Typically it says: “Person X has been investigated for collaboration.” Sometimes it is stated that the case was handled by a special public prosecutor. There is also usually an inventory number underneath. Based on that number, you can request the file from the National Archives in The Hague to physically view it. That is probably possible sometime this quarter under certain conditions. For example, you are not allowed to take photos or make copies of files, but you are allowed to copy parts with a pencil.
Due to expected crowds, Minister Eppo Bruins (NSC) is investigating whether the digitized archive can also be viewed at regional archives, via a kind of terminal of the National Archives. The Drenthe Archives says it is aware of the minister’s wish, but has not yet received an official request to do so.
Actually, the intention was that all files could now be searched digitally from your own home, so that you know more than just a name. The Dutch Data Protection Authority expressed concerns about possible problems with the privacy of people in the archive, as a result of which the digital disclosure has been postponed for the time being.