The digital portal War Resources Limburg has been launched. That means access to sources about the Second World War from all Limburg archives, but also national archives.
From the Resistance Museum in Amsterdam to the National Archives in The Hague; when it comes to Limburg, it’s in there. And that’s the first time.
Digital form
In the context of 75 years of liberation, the idea arose a few years ago to make an overview of all archives and sources about the Second World War in Limburg. It soon became clear that this needed a digital form. It was then decided to transfer this to the digital platform War Resources. That is a national organization with a central database of war sources, in this case filtering on Limburg.
Two birds with one stone
“This way we kill two birds with one stone,” says project leader Ruud Straatman of the (R)HCL. “On the one hand, we make something sustainable, because the website can be maintained. At the same time, the searcher can also find things from non-Limburg archives such as in Amsterdam, Utrecht or the National Archives in The Hague,” says Straatman.
Cooperation
Straatman leads the project for the digitization of Limburg sources, but the website is in collaboration with all other Limburg archives, such as in Roermond, Weert, Venlo and Gennep. The archive of the Military Authority should eventually also end up in the portal of War Resources and contains sources that describe the first form of central authority in the Netherlands just after the liberation in Limburg in 1944, when the Dutch government was still in London.
Jail
Archivist Frans Roebroeks of the Limburg Regional Historic Center is concerned with this and states that the practices of the military authorities took place on every street corner. “If you look in Maastricht, for example, there was an old barracks on the Grote Looiersgracht, which now houses the University Library. It was temporarily used as a prison.” The prison on Minderbroedersberg was already full of NSB members and so-called traitors.
appalling conditions
The new storage area could accommodate about 600 men, but after a month it already housed 1,700 prisoners. According to him, that was not good for living conditions. “Arid conditions, hardly any food or hygiene with a lot of abuse of the camp guards were the order of the day. In fact, feuds were fought, settlements due to dissatisfaction or frustration between groups or people during the war,” says Roebroeks. The witness statements in which the practices on the Looiersgracht are described must be added to the database.
Deeper and better knowledge
“By making these archives available, we get a much better and deeper knowledge about all aspects of life in Limburg during and after WWII”, the two archivists say. “If you read a historical book about this period, you can easily search further on terms from the book and you will get more information. The history gets a connection with real personal stories and tangible sources. neighbourhood.”