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Tag: archives

  • CABR Files Now Searchable – But Still Only Viewable Onsite in The Hague

    CABR Files Now Searchable – But Still Only Viewable Onsite in The Hague

    Important news for anyone researching Dutch wartime history: the Central Archives for Special Criminal Jurisdiction (CABR) are now digitally searchable through the Nationaal Archief’s online catalogue. While the complete files themselves remain accessible only onsite in The Hague, this new searchable index opens up major possibilities for genealogists, historians, and descendants seeking answers about World War II and its aftermath.

    I first wrote about accessing the CABR files onsite in 2020. These archives contain process dossiers relating to investigations and prosecutions of approximately 300,000 individuals suspected of collaboration with Nazi Germany during the occupation. However, the CABR files also hold much broader information.

    What Does the CABR Contain?

    The CABR dossiers include not only data on investigated persons but also information about (Jewish) victims, members of the resistance, and wartime events. Previously, this information was difficult to locate because the archive was organised only by the names of those investigated. As a result, references to victims or other parties appeared only inside dossiers indexed under others’ names.

    Now that the CABR is fully digitally searchable, descendants of war victims and investigated individuals alike can discover:

    • What happened to family members who were betrayed or otherwise affected during the war?
    • Additional details about their ancestor’s involvement or mentions in multiple dossiers.
    • Broader historical context, from resistance activities to the consequences of collaboration.

    How Is the CABR Organised?

    According to the Nationaal Archief’s detailed search help page:

    • The CABR archive comprises case files (‘strafdossiers’) from the postwar Bijzondere Rechtspleging (Special Jurisdiction), which prosecuted suspected collaborators between 1945 and the early 1950s.
    • Each dossier focuses on an individual case but may reference numerous other persons and events.
    • The files include depositions, verdicts, correspondence, and related documents.
    • Indexing was historically done by the name of the suspect or investigated person only, not by the names of victims or witnesses.

    What Has Changed?

    Thanks to a recent digitisation and metadata project:

    • The Nationaal Archief’s online catalogue now allows searching by person’s name, including names of suspects, victims, resistance members, and others mentioned.
    • This search determines whether a dossier exists associated with a given name.
    • However, the full CABR files remain physically available only at the Nationaal Archief’s reading room in The Hague, accessible through five designated computers.
    • Digital copies of files cannot be downloaded or viewed remotely at this time due to privacy and sensitivity concerns.

    Practical Tips for Researchers

    • Search the online catalogue first: Before visiting, check whether your person of interest appears in the CABR index.
    • Plan your visit: Since file consultation is onsite-only and computer access is limited, scheduling ahead is recommended.
    • Respect privacy restrictions: Some files are subject to confidentiality or legal restrictions, meaning access may be limited or delayed.
    • Use the search aid: The Nationaal Archief provides guides and help pages to assist with searching and interpreting results — see CABR Zoekhulp.

    Sensitivity and Context

    CABR files reveal difficult truths. Being named in a dossier doesn’t automatically mean guilt; many were acquitted or wrongly accused. Some files involve painful family or community conflicts.

    Approach these documents with care and historical understanding.

    Summary

    • CABR dossiers cover suspects, victims, resistance members, and wartime events.
    • Search names online via the Nationaal Archief catalogue.
    • Full files are only accessible onsite at the Nationaal Archief in The Hague (5 computers available).
    • Consult the official search aids and plan visits carefully.
    • Handle findings with sensitivity and respect for complex histories.

    This enhanced accessibility is a major step for Dutch and international genealogical research, opening new doors to understanding family histories affected by the war.

    If you want help navigating the CABR or interpreting what you find, feel free to contact me.

    🌐 Nationaal Archief CABR Announcement (2025):
    https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/nieuws/het-cabr-digitaal-doorzoeken-in-het-nationaal-archief

    🔍 Search CABR Dossiers in the Online Catalogue:
    https://oorlogvoorderechter.nl/

    📘 CABR Search Aid (Zoekhulp):
    https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/zoekhulpen/centraal-archief-bijzondere-rechtspleging-cabr

    📝 My earlier blog post on the CABR (2020):
    https://www.gershon-lehrer.be/blog/2020/03/02/cabr-files-in-hague/

    illustrative
  • CABR files in Hague

    CABR files in Hague

    The original article first appeared in AVOTAYNU, the International Review of Jewish Genealogy, Vol. XXXV, no. 2, Summer 2019.

    End May 2018 I made contact, through MyHeritage (which is a very valuable tool for at least first contacts if not more), with descendants of one of my great-grandmother’s siblings from the Strauss family.

    During one of our conversations via e-mail, the resistance work of a mutual relative during the second world war in The Netherlands came up. I knew through one of my uncles notes that his name was Edgar Kan, he fought in the Dutch resistance and he was born in 1928, Edgar was my maternal grandmother’s cousin. My new-found cousin wanted to know more about the resistance work, and how Edgar came to be murdered.

    Useful session at the Famillement conference:
    I was lucky to have joined a conference in the same week as

    (more…)

  • Passenger lists from the Holland-America Line (HAL) at the Rotterdam City Archives

    Between 1900 and 1969 millions of people traveled and emigrated with the ships of the Holland-America Line.

    The Holland-America Line (HAL), originally a Dutch transatlantic cruise company, offered full trips, but emigrants also made use of the HAL. Many Dutch people do have relatives who have migrated to the United States or Canada. There is a good chance that they have used the HAL services.

    Also, many Polish Jews traveled via Rotterdam to New York. Between 1880 and 1920, approximately one million Eastern Europeans traveled to America via Rotterdam. The Holland America Line had offices in Bulgaria, Latvia, and Russia where tickets could be purchased for the train to Rotterdam, the boat to America and again the train to every station in the New World. The list also shows that they booked their trip in their native country.

    These passenger lists (“passagiersstaten”) are handwritten lists with information about who made the crossing to the promised land with which ship and when. It was also recorded how much the passengers paid for the trip and in which class they traveled.

    These sources are one of the most consulted

    (more…)

  • Updated website for Antwerp City Archives (Felixarchief)

    The city archives of Antwerp (known as Felixarchief) has updated its website. On their website you can read, among others, the following about the update:

    Thanks to the new search function you can find a relevant search result faster and more efficiently. Filters allow you to define a relevant time period or limit a search to a few specific detail entries. […] Thanks to a new algorithm, results are not returned in a randomized order, they appear higher in the result as they become more relevant.

    In the search guides you can read briefly how you search in certain popular archive series and you will always find a direct link to the series.
    (Source: https://felixarchief.antwerpen.be/nieuwspagina/welkom-nieuwe-site, Retrieved on November 27th, 2018)

    Innovation is (always) fun, but it will certainly require some adjustment from the users because the new website is now, compared to the earlier version, completely overhauled.

    Visit their website through the following URL: https://felixarchief.antwerpen.be

  • Belgian Jewish Life in the different Belgian archives

    The Antwerp City archive is only one of the many archives which has useful files for researchers on Jewish topics

    Just as in other countries, Jews also left traces (and still are leaving traces) in Belgium: The oldest trace is a gravestone in the Flemish city Tienen (French: Tirlemont) of a girl who was known as Rebecca, daughter of Mozes. She passed away in the Jewish year 5016 which corresponds with the Gregorian calendar as 1255-1256.

    Other traces of Jewish life are to be found in:

    • documents: from the Middle Ages through the French Revolution up until now, documents by occupiers of the country (decrees and edicts for the general population or against the Jews specifically), documents by resistance fighters, documents by Governments, documents by the Jewish communities, etc.
    • biographies
    • chronicles like ‘Maagel Tov’ (see http://hebrewbooks.org/21838) by Rabbi Chaim Joseph David Azulai who was also known as the Chida (1724 – 1 March 1806) , whose travels took him also to Belgium
    • gravestones
    • photo’s
    • etc.

    I found it exciting to read about a project by some academics and the Belgian State Archives who have been working for some months on the compilation of a Guide to Archives related to Judaism and the Jewish population in Belgium in the 19th-20th century. The makers of the guide intend to (more…)

  • An introduction to the Belgian Statearchives and its immigration files

    The Public Safety Organization:
    In 1840 the Belgian state, which was founded in 1830, entrusted the Public Safety (in Dutch: Openbare Veiligheid, in French: Sûreté Publique, in German:Öffentlichen Sicherheit) which was an autonomous board under the Minister of Justice, to monitor the aliens on its territory.

    Note: Both Dutch, French and German are spoken in specific parts of Belgium as can be seen on the following map:

    In order to preserve public order, the Public Safety Organization had to remove undesired aliens from Belgium’s territory. In order to be able to implement this order, they had to rely on the support from the municipal authorities who had in their turn to report each registration of any alien in the register of the municipality as soon as possible to the Public Safety.

    This Public Safety organization would then decide whether the person could remain in the country. If this was the case, the Public Safety organization would keep a close eye on the alien citizen during his or her stay in Belgium. All authorities, including the army and the judiciary, were supposed to forward any document about the foreigner to the Public Safety Organization.

    How was the information collected:
    Most information was obviously gathered from aliens who voluntarily went to the municipalities to register. In addition, information was directly obtained by the police who found foreigners on Belgian territory and of foreigners that had to resort to the use of public services such as hospitals, etc.

    Some files were opened on aliens even though they never reached Belgian territory. The organization opened these files preventively for “subversive” and possible criminal foreigners in order to be prepared in case they would enter Belgian territory.

    When the foreigner in question passed away or (more…)

  • German historical street addresses

    A model of the Jewish Ghetto in the Jewish Museum in Frankurt

    I came today across an interesting post in one of the newsgroups I am subscribed to (gersig digest from May 08, 2011) regarding street addresses in Germany.
    Not all street addresses from the past stayed the same.

    I am sure that there are other places in Germany and abroad with about the same issue.

    (If you are looking for the online copies of the Berlin addressbooks, here is the link: http://adressbuch.zlb.de.)

    Subject: German historical street addresses – FACT FILE
    From: Andreas Schwab (andreas.schwab. .mcgill.ca)
    Date: Sun, 8 May 2011 09:41:24 -0400
    X-Message-Number: 1

    Many of us wish to visit the places where our ancestors lived and to take photographs of their houses. One has to consider, however, that very often, the street addresses have changed over the years. In Germany and Austria, there are two systems of numbering:
    1. The traditional German numbering, also known as horse-shoe numbering, starts at 1 on the right side of the street, with consecutive numbers on one side until the end of the street, continuing on the opposite side of the street in the opposite direction such that the highest number is opposite to the number 1.

    2. The European numbering starts with 1 at the left side and continues with odd numbers, and with 2 on the right side, then continuing with even numbers (this is the opposite of the American system where the odd numbers are on the right).

    Many, but (more…)