The Dutch National Archives hold records on 425,000 people who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. What should be done with them? A list of names was already published earlier in 2025.
00:00Around 485,000 files are stored here, some containing well-kept family
00:08secrets. Each folder has a story to tell. These are all investigation files about
00:18the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II. Any Dutch citizen
00:23can search for information here. What did their parents or grandparents do during
00:27the war? Were they innocent or did they collaborate? Everybody wants to be proud of
00:33his father, and I can't. The Netherlands was occupied by Germany from 1940 to 1945.
00:45More than 100,000 Jews were deported. Three-quarters of the Dutch-Jewish population were murdered
00:51during the Second World War. Recently, the country has been taking a hard
00:57look at the scope of Dutch collusion during the Holocaust. The findings of Dutch investigators
01:03are housed here in the National Archives in The Hague. More than 150,000 prosecutions resulted
01:10in a fine or a prison sentence for defendants who collaborated with the Nazis.
01:17Jack Hamelinck has waited months to view the file on his father, Andries. He still knows
01:23nothing about his father's role during the occupation.
01:29During these 80 years, nobody from my family, my uncle and aunts, told me something that was
01:37about the war. They always kept their mouth shut. And, middle by middle, I find out that we
01:44did something wrong during the war. There are around 15 files on the Hamelinck family
01:50in the National Archives. Jack is working his way through his father's documents, one by one.
01:56Jack Hamelinck. My father makes a statement. I am, since 1941, a member of the Jeugdstorm. I was
02:10attracted to that movement because I am attracted to the militaristic nature of that movement. But,
02:18in 1942, in February, I withdrew as a member of the Jeugdstorm.
02:24The Jeugdstorm was the youth organization of the Dutch National Socialist Party, or NSB. According
02:32to witness statements, Hamelinck is said to have held National Socialist views until at
02:37least 1944.
02:39In 1944, following the liberation of the Southern Netherlands by the Allies, Andries Hamelinck was arrested and detained for three months, then placed under house arrest for almost a year.
02:46In 1944, the proceedings were later dropped in exchange for community service and the withdrawal of his voting rights for ten years.
02:53To this day, Nazi collaboration casts a shadow over Dutch society. Historians say that some descendants of the United States, and the
03:01of the United States, and the United States, and the United States, and the United States, fear the consequences if the truth were to come to light.
03:08We know, especially children, often suffered from the behavior of their parents. In the social context, especially in smaller villages, but also in cities, everybody knew who were to come to light.
03:15We know, especially children, often suffered from the behavior of their parents, especially in smaller villages, but also in cities, everybody knew who had been a member of a collaborating family.
03:28And that influences your career perspectives, your career perspectives, up to this day.
03:49According to a recent survey by the Dutch Centre for Psychotrauma, almost one-fifth of Dutch people believe that anyone
03:57related to a collaborator should still be barred from holding political office today.
04:04On to another family story.
04:07The story in our family was that she was raped by this German soldier.
04:12And my mother said, that is not true, because I found his photo, so that cannot be true.
04:17So, yeah, please find out what happened, really.
04:20In 2022, Michiel Skulling found evidence in the National Archives that his grandmother had had a relationship
04:26with a German SS soldier.
04:31Before 2025, family members or historians could view collaborator files on request.
04:38At the beginning of this year, that access was made a little easier.
04:42Now anyone can access the National Archives database directly and search for a name in the files.
04:48Scheduled public access to the entire file system was stopped at short notice for data protection reasons.
05:00Today, Skulling is involved in a foundation for family members of former collaborators.
05:05He believes restricting access to the files is a sensible move.
05:09As an organization, we said, okay, leave it like digitalized perfect, open is good, but not for eight billion people online.
05:19Access to the digitized files is also important for the collaborators' victims, says historian Martijn Eickhoff.
05:26The relevance is extremely big for the victims.
05:32Because for them, the idea that information about what happened to their grandparents or parents is somewhere in this archive
05:41and not available for them, and you cannot reach it, that is very painful.
05:49For people who discover their family members are in the files, a long period of uncertainty often ends.
05:55We know from experience that many people who have a family file, or a file of somebody who is a family member,
06:03when they finally did see the documentations, felt better afterwards.
06:09So it's a kind of reality check that you offer.
06:13At the beginning of next year, the Dutch government plans to present a bill that aims to strike a balance
06:19between data protection, access to government information, and cultural heritage.
06:24Jack Homelink is shaken after his visit to the National Archives.
06:31Now, he has to rethink his family story.
06:34I learned about my father that at first I don't know the man.
06:41You know, he told so little about his past.
06:45And I'm still a bit confused, you know, and disappointment. I'm disappointed.
06:56Still, Homelink believes that the Netherlands is on the right track to confronting its past.
07:02I think it has to come out in the open, clear the dirt.
07:15The Netherlands will be a person to craft a tree.
07:16You know, it's already a person who wants to untie him.
07:18I think it's quite interesting, you know, for me.
07:20Yeah.
07:22It's interesting.
07:23We can't see it.
07:25I can't believe it.
07:26You know, guys, you know, it's too much.
07:27You know, the'r book is essentially the Prairie.
07:28We can't see it.
07:29The river is so much of the boat.
07:30There's a guy who wants to escape.
07:31I know that's what we want, right?
07:32If I can see it, it's really a matter of everybody.
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