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Map of the Week – World War I map
This week’s map dates from World War I and is part of a larger series showing military activity. This particular map shows the activity until 7 October 1914. The Netherlands was neutral during World War I, as shown by the green color on the map. The map shows how close the activity got, with a […]
Map of the Week – Nautical Chart of the Zeeland and Holland Coast
This week we are looking at a nautical chart made by Pieter Goos from an atlas published between 1666 and 1683. It shows the access routes to the South Holland and Zeeland rivers and cities. The chart was intended for sailors to set their course. It is oriented with the north on the left, as […]
Source – Central Archive for Special Jurisdiction (CABR)
After World War II, about 425,000 people in the Netherlands were investigated by the Special Jurisdiction for collaboration with the Germans. The records of these investigations and court records are kept in the Central Archive for Special Jurisdiction (“Centraal Archief Bijzondere Rechtspleging,” or CABR for short). An index is available online. Investigation, Prosecution, and Trials […]
Records that became public on 1 January 2025
Happy New Year everybody! Many government 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 2025. Exceptions may exist for records that involve people that could still be alive. Just because records are public does not mean […]
Map of the Week – Factories and Businesses in Enschede, 1930
This week we’re looking at a map of factories and businesses in Enschede in 1930. Before 1839, the textile industry of the Netherlands was mostly concentrated in the southern Netherlands. When Belgium split off in 1839, this offered new opportunities for textile manufacturers in the (northern) Netherlands since import tarriffs made Belgian goods more expensive […]
Quick tip – Popular First Names Per Location
The Corpus of Given Names in the Netherlands is a website by the Meertens Institute for research and documentation of the Dutch language and culture. It has a database of almost half a million Dutch first names, taken from civil registration records. The website has Lists of Popular Names. For each municipality or province, you […]
Dutch term – Koninklijk Besluit
A Koninklijk Besluit is a royal decree. Read the article about Royal Decrees to learn how to use them as a source to find out more about your ancestors’ lives.
