This Thursday, the Netherlands will take a significant and controversial step in confronting its wartime past. After 80 years locked away, the central archives of the special jurisdiction courts (CABR) will open to the public, exposing the hidden history of 425,000 Dutch citizens accused of collaborating with Nazi Germany during its occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.
Unlocking the Secrets of the Past
Established in the aftermath of the war to bring alleged collaborators to justice, the CABR archive has long been the most visited war archive in the country. But access was heavily restricted, available only to researchers, those directly involved, and their descendants. Now, under national archive rules, the physical records in The Hague will open to the general public, offering an unprecedented glimpse into this dark chapter of Dutch history.
The archive is vast, containing some 30 million pages of witness reports, diaries, membership cards for the Dutch fascist party, medical records, court judgments, pardon pleas, and photographs. For the first three months of 2025, a quarter of this extraordinary database will also be accessible digitally on-site at the National Archive in The Hague.
Mixed Emotions and Privacy Concerns
For the descendants of those named in the archive, the prospect of secrets being exposed stirs up complex emotions. Connie, 74, whose grandfather was punished for collaborating with the Nazis, expressed discomfort, saying, “I don’t know what could come out of it eventually, if people Google our surname.” The Dutch Data Protection Authority has warned that putting the archive online could breach privacy laws, leading to a delay in digitization plans.
“This is part of the repression by the Dutch of their memories of collaboration, after we had punished our military and political collaborators. Making this open is an important step.”
– Johannes Houwink ten Cate, Emeritus Professor of Holocaust Studies, Amsterdam University
A Painful Reckoning
Yet many believe it is crucial for the Netherlands to openly confront its wartime history, including the role of Dutch institutions and citizens in enabling the murder of over 102,000 Jews – three-quarters of the country’s Jewish population. This is a past the nation is only beginning to grapple with, as evidenced by the recent opening of a national Holocaust museum and a public apology.
Martijn Eickhoff, director of the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, emphasized the historical value of the archive, but also acknowledged the wild accusations of the postwar period, when fewer than 15% of suspects were actually punished. He stressed the need for careful examination of the documents to avoid “collective hatred.”
The Specter of Modern-Day Atrocities
Eickhoff drew parallels to present-day efforts to preserve evidence of war crimes in Syria under Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Just as those records may one day bring a measure of justice and closure, the CABR archive has the potential to shed light on a painful past and open the door to healing, even as it raises difficult questions.
As the archive prepares to unveil its secrets, the Netherlands finds itself at a crossroads, caught between the desire for truth and the fear of old wounds reopened. While some may prefer the past remain buried, others argue that only by confronting history’s darkest moments can a nation truly move forward. The coming months will reveal where the Dutch people stand as they reckon with the specter of collaboration that has haunted them for 80 years.
