The more than 450,000 war files on Dutch people who were suspected of collaboration with the German occupier after the war may still be published digitally. The Council of State on Monday proposed a bill that makes digital publication of the Central Archive for Special Judicial Procedure (CABR) possible. positively assessed. Last December, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) blocked digital publication at the last minute because it would be contrary to privacy legislation. According to the AP, this would especially be the case if criminal files from the CABR archives were published digitally that included living suspects.
A careful and balanced consideration of fundamental rights, values and interests that are at stake
Former minister Eppo Bruins (Education, Culture and Science, NSC) then sent a bill (amendment of the Archives Act 1995) to the Council of State in which digital publication, including still living ‘suspects’, is still possible when it comes to archives about very serious events such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Then the public interest in digital publication outweighs the privacy protection of living people. The Council of State calls the way in which this is arranged in the bill “a careful and balanced consideration of fundamental rights, values and interests that are at stake.”
Conditions
The Council of State does recommend that further conditions be included in the law regarding the way in which such ‘restricted public’ archives can be published digitally. This can be done, for example, by describing those conditions per archive in a General Administrative Order (AMvB). The archivist can take into account the age of the archives, the reason why it is socially relevant to publish those archives digitally and the possible consequences for people mentioned. According to the Council of State, this cannot be left solely to the archivist involved, but must be regulated in this bill. The Council of State therefore advises to first amend the bill before the government sends it to the House of Representatives.
The CABR archive was scheduled to go online last January. The millions of pages in the archive would be gradually digitized and fully published in 2027. It is the most consulted war archive in the Netherlands. Digital publication is a collaborative project of the National Archives, the War Sources Network, the Huygens Institute and NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Due to the AP’s blockade, that digital publication has come to a standstill. Last year, the National Archives published the names of the approximately 425,000 people who appear as ‘suspects’ in those files. Living persons were then removed from the name index, also due to privacy legislation.
Since the beginning of this year, researchers and relatives have been able to contact the National Archives for file research. The number of places where this is possible will be expanded early next year, at Regional Historical Centers throughout the country. Only once the amendment to the law has been approved by the Senate and House of Representatives can further digital publication of that CABR archive proceed.
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