The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) wants clarification from the National Archives about how a ‘suspect list’ was published at the beginning of this month with names of Dutch people who came into contact with the law after the war on suspicion of collaboration with the Germans. The online register contains 420,000 names.
The supervisor will visit the archive next week and will then ask whether it has been investigated in advance whether there are still living people in the register. In addition, the AP wants to know whether there are sufficient guarantees that only people with a demonstrable interest are given access to the underlying criminal files. There is criticism that this control is inadequate.
The AP states that it was not informed or consulted in advance about how the list was released, even though it is an archive with very sensitive information, because it could still contain living people. According to an AP spokesperson, the regulator was prepared to provide advice on the publication of the list, but “the National Archives did not ask for this.”
The so-called Central Archive for Special Justice (CABR) was created after the liberation to try collaborators. Ultimately, more than 420,000 people were investigated, of whom 66,000 were heard and later convicted in tribunals or courts. The National Archives released the list so that relatives can check whether relatives are included in the index. For the time being, viewing a personal file is only possible physically and upon request.
A few days after publication, the AP had “some questions about the list”, for example whether a risk analysis had been carried out in advance. In addition, the AP wants clarity about who can view the files and how this is done. Last week, the National Archives, which could not be reached for comment on Thursday evening, already deleted 25,000 names from the register because no criminal file was (yet) linked to them.
According to the supervisor, the National Archives stated in advance that not everyone would simply have access to the data, but in practice it does not appear to be very difficult to uncover the information. Anyone who looks up a name can request a file. This can then be viewed in a reading room in the National Archives itself. Visitors may not copy the information or record it in any other way, but they must demonstrate that they have an interest, for example as a family member, journalist or scientist.
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420,000 criminal files
At the beginning of January, the National Archives published an index with names of Dutch people suspected of having collaborated with the Nazi regime. War criminals are also on the list, which is based on information from 420,000 criminal files from the Second World War. Shortly after publication of the list, it appears that the ‘suspect index’ also contains names of people who are mentioned in the file, but not as (main) suspects, for example Jewish victims who have only made a statement.
The National Archives acknowledged that errors may have been made, while at the same time emphasizing that there was no question of a ‘collobation list’, but an index of names who were under investigation, which may also have been stopped prematurely.
Shortly after the publication of the list, there was already criticism, partly because names of victims may also have been included and such names are quite easy to find. The archive has been quite popular in recent days: the reading room where the files can be physically viewed is full until the end of February. The idea is that the files will later also be digital, but can be consulted on location.
Initially, the criminal files would have been available online, but in December the government prevented this at the instigation of the Dutch Data Protection Authority. The regulator then stated that the privacy of living people could be compromised if the list were published. The AP ordered at the time that visitors had to be able to demonstrate an interest in gaining access to the criminal files, but now has concerns about whether this is sufficiently checked.
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With the cooperation of Jos Verlaan.