Happy New Year everybody! Many records become public after 20, 25, 50, 75, or 100 years. Here is an overview of some of the records that became public as of 1 January 2023. Exceptions may exist for records that involve people that could still be alive.
Just because records are public does not mean they are immediately available online. Some archives digitize the birth, marriage, and death records immediately, others do not. Some records will be online, some may be ordered via scanning on demand, and others can only be consulted on-site in the archives.
Civil registration records
- Birth records from 1922
- Marriage records from 1947
- Death records from 1972
These records are typically available at local or regional archives and in the archives in the provincial capitals.
Legal records
- Court records from 1947
- Notarial records from 1947
- Police records from 1947
These records are typically available at local or regional archives.
National government records
- Minutes of the council of ministers, 1997. This includes discussions about the Kyoto climate conference, the diplomatic relationship with Suriname, and the expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe.
- Records dealing with the aftermath of World War II, including files relating to investigations into collaborators in 1947 and records about treatment of collaborators in internment camps, “cleansing” of the civil service and public offices from collaborators, etc.
- Records relating to the Independence of Indonesia.
- Royal Decrees from 1947, which includes pensions, marriage dispensations, naturalizations, etc.
- Records from 1947 from the intelligence agencies.
These records are available at the National Archives in The Hague. See also the complete (Dutch) list of records that the National Archives made public.
Firemen eating ‘oliebollen,’ a traditional Dutch New Year’s treat, 1973. Credits: Nationaal Archief
About Yvette Hoitink
