Summary
The Netherlands has released a digital archive of 425,000 suspected Nazi collaborators from World War II, following the expiration of a law prohibiting its publication.
The list, compiled by the Huygens Institute’s “War in Court” project, documents the investigations of mostly Dutch individuals, with only 20% ever tried.
This revelation sheds light on the scale of Dutch complicity during Nazi occupation.
While historians and educators hail it as a significant resource, some descendants of those named have expressed concern about potential backlash.
Access to more detailed records remains restricted to researchers.
You’d have to be dead for your name to show up on this list
I’d also have to be Dutch. And also not Jewish.
One of the many bizarre details about my life and the people around me: my dad’s best friend was a Jewish kid in Amsterdam when the Nazis invaded. He was actually in school with Anne Frank’s older sister. He spent the war hiding in an empty water tower. I never asked him about it though, I didn’t want to know how bad it was to be honest.