- National Archives of the Netherlands
The history of the National Archive dates back to 1802. As the national memory institution, the National Archive is custodian not only for the archives of the national government but also the archives of some social organisations and individuals of national importance. Furthermore, the National Archive has a large collection of photographs and historical maps.
Records Management and Collecting Policies
The numerous archives originate from three different groups, namely: the central government, the County of Holland (and the regional and provincial administrations in South Holland), and private organisations and individuals.
Archival and Other Holdings
The Nationaal Archief (Dutch National Archives) is the ‘national memory’ of the Netherlands. Nearly a thousand years of Dutch history is stored at the Nationaal Archief, containing 125 kilometres of archive material. The archive collection consists of printed and handwritten douments, including 300,000 maps and drawings and about 14 million photographs. Moreover, the library holds around 60,000 reference works.
The Nationaal Archief holds many archives relating to World War II, such as archives of the Dutch Ministry of Defence in London while in exile and the archives of the Militair Gezag (military authority) that operated in the Netherlands after the war. There are also many archives relating to post-war ‘cleansing’ (zuivering), such as the cleansing of the civil service but also the courts of special criminal jurisdiction.
More information can be found here
The Nationaal Archief's reading room is closed on Monday, Saturday and Sunday. The reading room is open on Tuesdays from 10am to 9pm and from Wednesday to Friday from 10am to 5pm.
Conditions of Access
The reading room of the Nationaal Archief is accessible for free to all visitors. However, a visitors pass is recquired when entering the reading room. These passes can be requested at the information desk on presentation of a valid passport.
Several building projects take place in the vicinity of the Nationaal Archief. It is currently difficult to reach the Nationaal Archief by car. There are however underground parking garages nearby the Nationaal Archief.
[Dutch National Archives] (http://en.nationaalarchief.nl/) website consulted on 04/11/2014
Pierre-Alain Tallier (dir.), Gertjan Desmet & Pascale Falek-Alhadeff, Bronnen voor de geschiedenis van de Joden en het Jodendom in België, 19de-21ste eeuw, Brussel, ARA-AGR/Avant-Propos, 2016, 1328 p.