Governmental Resources

War in Court – Digitising the Central Archive for Special Jurisdiction (CABR)

National Archives of the Netherlands

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Database

Levels and forms of education

Upper Secondary Education

Tertiary Education

Teacher Training

Museum Memorials and Exhibitions

Resource type

Primary Sources

Digital tools (e.g. video games, quizzes, etc.)

Historic approaches concerned

Intellectual History

Political History

Social History

Historic period

Second World War

Countries or areas concerned

Netherlands, Europe

Languages

Dutch, English

Description

The War in Court (Oorlog voor de Rechter) project is digitising the Central Archive for Special Jurisdiction (CABR), the largest war archive in the Netherlands. Containing files on around 300,000 people suspected of collaboration during the Second World War, the archive sheds light on questions of justice, reconciliation, and contested memory in post-war Europe. Led by the National Archives of the Netherlands with several partner institutions, the project is scanning and processing the CABR to make it searchable and accessible to educators, researchers, and the public by 2027. Artificial intelligence will enrich the material, link it to related sources, and provide critical historical context. Although full online access has been postponed due to privacy regulations, a searchable list of names is already available, and further accessibility is expected following new legislation. The project demonstrates how large-scale digitisation can transform historical research and education.

Keywords

War in Court

CABR

Digitisation