Ontslagen means “discharged.” It can mean that someone was fired from a job, but also that they were discharged from a facility like a prison or beggar’s colony. For example, there is the Geheim Register van Ontslagen Gevangenen, the Secret Register of Released Prisoners.
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Fired workers of the Boele ship wharf registering at the labor office, 1987. Credits: Rob Bogaerts, Anefo press office, collection Nationaal Archief (CC-0)