A guard who can’t keep his hands to himself and abuses the bad Dutchmen at Camp Vught. NSB members returning to Holland and not safe even with the nuns. It’s Open Day and so the old archives are reopened. People can also search for extraordinary stories from the past at the Brabant Historical Information Center (BHIC).
Written by
Luuk Glaap
At the beginning of each year, archives of events that happened 75 years ago are made public in the Brabant Historical Information Center (BHIC) in Den Bosch. This year there are 7,500 files from 1948.
“Don’t worry, they humiliated us for five years.”
According to the BHIC, the years following World War II are dedicated to repairing damage to homes. Refugees and NSB members in need of shelter are also returning. Even if the archives show that no one is waiting for them. Even the Mother Superior of the Monastery of Our Lady of Lourdes in Rijevoort does not want to have an NSB family. For this reason she urges the mayor to remove the family from the monastery.
After the war, people who had probably committed crimes were detained at Camp Vught. One of the documents claims that prisoners were abused by guard Pieter L.
BHIC employee Marilou Nillesen: “He would let people come up to him and hit them with sticks. Or he would put out his cigarette in a prisoner’s eye. ‘Wipe it out, they humiliated us for five years,’ it was L . . he told his employees. These are really sad stories. We even suspect that someone died because of him.”
Pieter L. called the statements of witnesses at the time “pure fantasy”. The court sentenced him to three months’ suspended prison sentence and a fine of 300 forints.
“Even though it’s often made up on Neflix, this is all real.”
Nillesen explains why the term 75 years was chosen: “After that period, we assume that the people involved are usually no longer there. We understand that it may be painful or distressing for the children or grandchildren, but this is what happened. And we can’t help but change it.”
Anyone can now view all these files. “If you’re really looking for how things were at that time, it’s really worth it. Even though Netflix makes it up a lot, this is all real,” Nillessen points out.
Interested parties can read which files have been made public on the BHIC website. They can then make an appointment to view the entire file here at the BHIC in Den Bosch.
2024-01-02 20:00:52
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