Nearly 200 testimonies from women detained after the Second World War reveal widespread sexual violence in Dutch internment camps. The accounts were collected for a parliamentary inquiry but were excluded from its final report.
Women detained in the Netherlands after the Second World War on suspicion of collaborating with the Nazis were subjected to widespread sexual violence, according to a new study of nearly 200 testimonies that remained largely overlooked in official archives for decades.
Historian Ewoud Kieft, from the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD), has systematically examined the accounts, which were collected as part of a parliamentary inquiry into the Dutch government’s conduct during and immediately after the war.
The testimonies describe rape, sexual assault, forced nudity and invasive internal examinations carried out without medical justification. Some women were also subjected to degrading treatment by guards, including being forced to parade naked in front of them.
Kieft estimates that thousands of women may have experienced sexual violence. Of around 200 internment camps operating after the liberation, testimonies identified abuse in approximately 40 to 50 facilities.
Testimonies excluded from official findings
Retired police inspector Johanna van Schilfgaarde spent 10 months interviewing women and forwarded their statements to Arnaud van Tuyll van Serooskerken, who led the parliamentary inquiry. However, the inquiry’s final report, submitted in 1950, stated that no evidence of rape had been found.
The testimonies were left unused in archives in The Hague, where they remained for decades.
Kieft said the accounts were detailed and frequently supported by independent evidence. In some cases, women denied having been assaulted themselves while describing attacks on other detainees, a pattern he believes may reflect fear of retaliation, social exclusion or not being believed.
Medical evidence also supported some accounts. A doctor detained at a camp in Nijmegen reported that guards regularly took women and girls away at night. He said two guards later sought treatment for gonorrhoea.
A culture of silence
Kieft said the findings shed light not only on a neglected chapter of Dutch history but also on the mechanisms that allow sexual violence to remain hidden. Many women feared speaking out because they worried about their safety and the potential consequences for their families and social standing.
He said there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the testimonies had been deliberately suppressed as part of a coordinated cover-up. Instead, he pointed to the possibility that indifference within the administration and a lack of concern about sexual violence contributed to their exclusion from the official findings.
The research also raises questions about accountability. Because the statements were gathered as part of a parliamentary inquiry intended to scrutinise government conduct, their omission meant that the allegations were not fully reflected in the final report.
Kieft said further research was needed to establish the full extent of the abuse and identify the individuals responsible. He added that the testimonies remain relevant today because stigma, shame and fear of retaliation continue to prevent many survivors of sexual violence from coming forward.
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