Netherlands Publishes Names of 425,000 Suspected Nazi Collaborators

The release, part of a digitization project, raises questions about privacy, transparency, and the nation's reckoning with its wartime past.

The Dutch National Archives published the names of 425,000 individuals investigated for Nazi collaboration during World War II, accessible online for the first time under the 'War in Court' project.
The archive, previously restricted for 70 years, includes personal details such as birth dates and places but does not specify guilt or the nature of accusations.
Concerns over privacy and potential stigmatization led to limitations on the online release, with full case files available only in person at the National Archives in The Hague.
The decision has sparked debate over balancing historical transparency with protecting descendants of both collaborators and victims from social repercussions.
The project aims to confront the Netherlands' complex wartime history, including the role of Dutch collaborators in the Holocaust, which resulted in the deaths of 75% of the country's Jewish population.