Dutch name 400K+ supposed Nazi supporters
Another on the list of “government findings we’re not going to tell you for a very long time” . This time, it is the list of supposed collaborators in the Netherlands during the Nazi years, kept classified until this New Year.
The records, consisting of 32 million pages, include about 425,000 mostly Dutch people who were investigated for collaboration with German occupiers during World War II.
The law restricting public access expired yesterday (note – 12/31 – ed.).
Although the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) protects personal data, it does not apply to those who have died – the vast majority of those listed in the archive.
It should be noted that only about a fifth of those noted actually went to court, and most were accused of lesser offenses, like belonging to the Nazi Party. But it helps show an ugly truth, that there were collaborators in every occupied country.
Initially, scanned files are to made available online, giving users access to dossiers of suspects, their victims and witnesses.
However, following a warning from the Dutch Data Protection Authority, a decision was taken last month to postpone the full release and instead publish only the list of names. RTE
It’s understandable that confidential info can be buried in the dossiers, but in releasing ONLY the bare info the chance that someone with an extremely minor complaint (for all we know, something of the level of “that teacher only gave my precious a C instead of an A because they’re a Nazi” maybe?) against them could be stigmatized. It’s a tricky set of choices to make if you think about it.
But concerns are mounting that the move could reignite old tensions and stigmatise individuals linked to the dark history of Dutch collaboration.
The registry reveals personal details, including names and even addresses, as well as references to police and court cases against the individuals.
It also provides file numbers indicating what crimes the accused were charged with, though the contents of the files remain offline.
Critics have argued that publishing names without full context risks unfairly stigmatising families and communities.
According to a survey by public broadcaster NOS, one in five Dutch citizens would prefer not to see descendants of collaborators in public office, such as mayors or parliamentarians.
The study also revealed that many children and grandchildren of alleged collaborators continue to suffer from the weight of their family history. The Telegraph
On the one hand, I sympathize with the families who certainly don’t want to be penalized today for something their great-grandfather may have done. (How many people, without checking, can even NAME all their great grandparents?) But, the partial release is almost a “damned if you do \ damned if you don’t” of kind of action.
There is, however, one certainty in the whole mess: George Soros’ name should not appear. He’s Hungarian.
Category: WWII
Governments always want to control its Citizens by those hungry for power. My great grand father was a German soldier during WW1 and my wife’s great grandfather was an American soldier in the same war. “Freedom is not free but paid for with the blood of soldiers.”
“… without full context…” And that, to me, is the key. YMMV It was a war and human nature is to do what is needed to survive. The Allied Armies were in a race to capture as many Knotzie scientists as they could toward the end and our own grubermint collaborated with them to advance our space programs, among other things. Thusly many descendants of those folks are now grubermint officials. Do we go after those, too?
Personally, I say give it a rest. The war is over, the “Good Guys(?)” won(?). Just about everyone that actually fought in that war or “collaborated” with an “enemy” are dead and gone. And no, you cannot blame their descendants for what they did or didn’t do. Now…if their descendants are doing nefarious type activities of the same type, that means no one learned the lessons of how to be a decent human being.
A new movie staring Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep called:
“Sins of the Father…Mother…Grand Father…Grand Mother…Great Grands and all assorted cousins” to be released in Copenhagen this summer. Its sure to be a blockbuster…
The only reason you need to open up old wounds is for leverage against their living ancestors.
…all assorted cousins, including those removed. And everyone’s dog ‘
Hey, I just saw a little dog, surfacing like a nuclear sub…looks guilty to me…
I’m suprissed that Her biden didn’t try and make a deal with the netherlands and sqash the list to maybe hide any of his relatives names or members relatives of his party. today is like the fall of the 1945 1000 year 3rd Reich, and today is the fall of the now defunct 1000 year 4th Reich 2025.
“…for all we know, something of the level of “that teacher only gave my precious a C instead of an A because they’re a Nazi” maybe?”
And for that reason, I think this release is totally irresponsible.
Who would have thought that the Dutch had that many liberals back then?
“On the one hand, I sympathize with the families who certainly don’t want to be penalized today for something their great-grandfather may have done.”
Yes. I have a decent amount of German in my family line. It’s possible some of my ancestors decided to drink the poison of Der fükker. Though my family also has a little bit of French too (collaborators?). Anyway, I’ll quote Sgt. Buster Kilrain as to my feelings on being judged on the tainted past of one’s family: “I’ll be treated as I deserve! Not as my father deserved.”
(1:15 of video for above cited quote)
I seem to recall reading something about when the Iron Curtain fell and Germany reunited. Many of the STASI records were made public and it turned out that about a third of the East German population were informers.
Totalitarians love to turn their subjects into informers. When I was in East Berlin in uniform, the people I encountered acted like they were terrified to talk to us. If you think your neighbor might denounce you, you will likely be very compliant or appear to be so.
The film Narvik tries to make a case for a collaborator in Norway during the invasion there but it falls apart under examination. Good film if you get the chance to catch it.
Sisu is also a good movie! A bunch of BS and not historically accurate, but A LOT of gratuitous violence!!
2 of my requirements for quality entertainment, is 1. Nudity and 2. Violence.
Strictly for the artistic value, of course!!
Great Uncle and Grandfather (field-graders on opposing sides of WW2) got into it at my parents’ wedding reception. Unka “Fritz” (relatively clean in the war but unrecovered) talked some wartime sh*t. Grandpa (‘Merica!) popped him one for it. Fritz let it go.