De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) apologized on Friday for its involvement in the Dutch slavery past. DNB president Klaas Knot conveyed this in a speech at the celebration of Keti Koti in Amsterdam. On this day, July 1, the abolition of slavery is celebrated and commemorated.
According to Knot, there will be no financial compensation, but measures will be taken to “help reduce the impact of the slavery past in the present for those directly involved”. According to the central bank president, a decision on financial compensation is up to the Dutch government.
DNB’s interests in slavery
Earlier this year, research showed that directors of De Nederlandsche Bank had significant interests in slavery. The money with which DNB was founded was partly earned through slavery. Many administrators have defended the survival of the slave trade.
Former plantation owners, some of whom were also DNB directors, received financial compensation from DNB when slavery was abolished. Knot said: “On behalf of De Nederlandsche Bank, I apologize for this today. Apologies to all descendants of enslaved people in the Netherlands, in Suriname, on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, on Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. My apologies to all those who were reduced to their skin color by the personal choices of my predecessors.”
The central bank is making a total of ten million euros available for projects that help reduce the effects of the slavery past. For example for the future National Slavery Museum in Amsterdam. There will also be more openness about DNB’s past in the building on Frederiksplein in Amsterdam, the art collection must become more diverse and inclusive, and DNB also wants to focus more on diversity in recruitment and selection.
In February, DNB president Knot already said that the conclusions from the investigation had arrived “pretty solid”. “The extent to which my predecessors have worked to oppose the abolition of slavery,” had touched him “personally.” He then promised to come up with a further response later.
DNB says it can now see through conversations that were held with various organisations, scientists and descendants of enslaved people “how important it is to make excuses”. According to DNB, this is “essential for a salutary processing of the slavery past” and for “all people” who “bear the consequences”, such as the difficult to make up for arrears created by slavery.
The province of North Holland also apologized on Friday for its role in the slavery past. Commissioner of the King of the province, Arthur van Dijk, did this in the provincial house in Haarlem, at the opening of an exhibition about slavery. The province of North Holland is the first province in the Netherlands to offer an official apology. They are offered “to the descendants of enslaved people, people who still experience the injustice of then today.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of 2 July 2022