Council of Ministers Agrees: War Archive to be Digitally Accessible as Soon as Possible

Minister Moes of Education, Culture and Science: “An online searchable CABR is important. And preferably as soon as possible. Many people are looking for information. Also elderly people who are still seeking answers about the fate of their loved ones during World War II. And not only for them; it is also essential that everyone can learn about World War II and conduct research on it. Especially now that fewer eyewitnesses are still alive, archive documents become more important to tell the story of World War II.”

The CABR is the largest and most consulted archive on World War II in the Netherlands. The archive contains files of individuals investigated after World War II because they were suspected of collaboration with the German occupier. It also contains much information about victims of World War II and the Holocaust. The goal of the project War for the Judge is to make this archive accessible to everyone via the internet after digitization, with context and fully searchable by text. The intention to place the archive online led to a formal warning from the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) because the legal basis was missing.

The amendment to the Archives Act provides a legal basis for making archives of great social importance accessible online, namely those concerning war, genocide, and crimes against humanity. For these archives, it is often not entirely excluded that special or criminal personal data of living persons are included. This must be taken into account. The bill therefore includes appropriate measures aimed at protecting personal data. For example, the bill requires a possibility to report if personal data of living persons are present in the online version of the archive.
All opinions received via an internet consultation and the advice of the AP, the Advisory Committee on Public Access and Information Management (ACOI), the General National Archivist, and the Advisory Committee on Regulatory Burden Assessment (AcTR) have been weighed and processed in the amendment. The Council of State judged that this proposal makes a balanced and careful consideration of fundamental rights, values, and interests.

Before the amendment comes into force, there is an emergency solution to already provide limited access to the digitized part of the CABR: from February 2, 2026, citizens and researchers can reserve a place in each province to digitally consult the war archive. Anyone with a research interest can conduct research under certain conditions in 11 Regional Historical Centers in the war archive. There will also be a provision aimed at scientific research at the NIOD in Amsterdam. Last year, a temporary provision was already opened at the National Archive in The Hague.

The great need for more information about World War II is also evident from new visitor figures published today by the National Archive. In 2025, 11,274 unique visitors reserved files from the CABR, more than 5 times as many as in 2024 (1,959). They requested a total of 55,546 files. In 2024, that was 11,269.

War for the Judge is a project of the National Archive, NIOD, Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, WO2NET, and the Huygens Institute, funded by VWS, OCW, and JenV.