Commission to File a Declaration of the Death of Missing Persons Commissie tot het Doen van Aangifte van Overlijden van Vermisten (Cie). Aangifte Overlijden Vermisten

Identifier
irn592687
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2017.460.1
  • RG-41.020
Dates
1 Jan 1949 - 31 Dec 1962
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Dutch
  • German
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

101,919 digital images, JPEG

Creator(s)

Biographical History

The Commission (Cie.) was established in 1949 by the Ministry of Justice and dissolved in 1962. After the WWII there were tens of thousands of (especially Jewish) Dutch people who were not officially determined that they had died. This involved all kinds of legal complications, such as inheritance issues. In order to solve these problems, in June 1949 the 'Act, containing provisions concerning the preparation of deeds of death of missing persons' came into force. This law stipulated that the Minister of Justice could have a death certificate drawn up at the registry office. The Ministry had to arrange for registration and investigation of the missing persons. That research had to minimize the chance that the missing persons would later turn up with all the complications of that. This task came to lie with the Commission to report the death of missing persons. The Commission investigated missing persons on its own initiative, but everyone could also report death to the Commission. In Amsterdam, a permanent civil servant of the municipality's civil registry was working on these declarations. The Commission then investigated the missing person. The Commission used the data from the Information Office of the Dutch Red Cross (NRK). The results of that research were published in the Dutch Government Gazette. If after three months there was no response, a deed of death could be drawn up and the person registered in the 'Central register of deeds of death of missing persons.' From the beginning of the fifties the work of the Commission decreased and the agency was cut back. In September 1962 the Commission was dissolved. Occasional cases were dealt with by Ministry officials.

Archival History

Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

Acquisition

Source of acquisition is the National Archives of Netherlands [Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)], Archival Number: 2.09.34.01. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the filmed collection via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum International Archives Project Division in December 2017.

Scope and Content

Correspondence, reports, circulars concerning the methods of work and details of deportations, witness statements, reports of death of missing (most Jewish persons), and various documentation about the German concentration camps. In addition to a "Central Register of Deeds of Death of Missing Persons", there are further registered accesses and card systems. The VP files (Missing Persons) are located in the archive Justice/Missing Persons (Archive Inventory: 2.09.34.020.) Accreted records consist of individual cards indicating the names of missing persons, with a note on possible repatriation, circa 1946, two parts. Presumably created by the International Red Cross.

System of Arrangement

Arranged in three series: 1. General records: Dossiers concerning missing persons, 1948-1977. Missing Persons cards organized alphabetically (Number 1-592); 2. Specific records with subseries: Collecting data, Witnesses, Deportation transports, Declaration of death. Files of missing persons, in respect of which the Committee did not consider any good grounds to proceed with the declaration of death, 1948-1977 (Entry Number 593-613); 3. Documentation: Additions on the files concerning missing persons. Card system, registers, reports and booklets on the transport (Alphabetical list of Jews in the Netherlands", compiled by the Central Registration Office for Jews). Note: The archive contains also information about persons who went missing during the war years, but also as a result of the flood of 1953.

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Copyright Holder: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.