Stolen archives returned to Aletta after 63 years
During the Second World War, German occupation forces stole a substantial amount of material from Dutch museums, archives and private collections and took it back to Germany. Some of the stolen material was recovered by American troops during the liberation of Europe in 1945 and was either returned to the country it had come from or taken back to the United States.
But the fate of much of the
looted collections was unknown for decades. Forty-seven years later – in 1992 –
NRC Handelsblad journalist Marc Jansen discovered a so-called Special Archive in
Moscow where literally kilometers of archives were housed. It turned out that
the Russians had also found many archives and works of art during their
liberation offensive in 1945 and had taken the material back to the Soviet
Union. Beginning in 1992, the Dutch State Archivist, the Dutch embassy in
Moscow, and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs worked diligently to recover
the material and have it returned to the Netherlands. In May 2003, the stolen
archives were finally returned to their rightful owners.
Archives from the IAV – the predecessor of the IIAV – was among the material found in the Special Archive. Below you can read a short history of the stolen IAV material. You can click on the various years to follow the journey that the archives made.
Click here to see what material has been returned?
A number of articles and publications have been written about the stolen archives, though most of them have been published in Dutch. One article, however, is available in English:
Francisca de Haan wrote the article ‘A “Truly International” Archive for the Women’s Movement (IAV, Now IIAV): From its Foundation in Amsterdam in 1935 to the Return of its Looted Archives in 2003’. This article appeared in the Journal of Women’s History 16 (2004) no. 4.
This article is available online © Journal of Women’s History. Reproduced with permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Archives from the IAV – the predecessor of the IIAV – was among the material found in the Special Archive. Below you can read a short history of the stolen IAV material. You can click on the various years to follow the journey that the archives made.
Click here to see what material has been returned?
A number of articles and publications have been written about the stolen archives, though most of them have been published in Dutch. One article, however, is available in English:
Francisca de Haan wrote the article ‘A “Truly International” Archive for the Women’s Movement (IAV, Now IIAV): From its Foundation in Amsterdam in 1935 to the Return of its Looted Archives in 2003’. This article appeared in the Journal of Women’s History 16 (2004) no. 4.
This article is available online © Journal of Women’s History. Reproduced with permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press.