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Collections

There are many oral history interviews being conducted. But it is very difficult to find existing interview collections and to know what you can gain from them. On this page you will find a (growing) overview of interview collections.

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Agricultural films and stories

For the research project 'Bewogen landschap' (Eventful Landscape), Stichting Multimediale Cultuur (SMC) Amsterdam is collecting stories of people who were involved in the modernisation project (1945-1985) of the Dutch countryside.

Oral History Project, 1940-present

a.o. interviews with former directors and artists

Life stories

Levensverhalen (Life stories) is a series of interviews with migrants that Fatusch Productions produced together with Imagine IC.

Moving Lesbians

5 lesbians who contributed greatly to the visibility and emancipation of lesbians in the Netherlands

Second World War

Women’s concentration camp

Experiences in the resistance movement and subsequent internment in camp Vught and camp Ravensbrück

Annexation

Possible annexation of German territories after World War II

CPN

On the history of the Communist Party

Indonesia policy

The PvdA's attitude towards Indonesia in the years after 1945

Past and Present – Driebergen

Memories of certain events, times and circumstances in Driebergen

Prominents

Prominent Persons Interview Project of the Documentation Centre Newest History

Unity Trade Union Centre (EVC) 1943-1948

In 1944, the foundations were laid for an entirely new trade union organisation, the Eenheidsvakbeweging (EVB) (Unity Trade Union Movement).

Dutch development policy Surinam

The Dutch development policy for Surinam since 1954

New Guinea policy

The position of the ARP with regard to the New Guinea issue in 1961-62

Labour Movement Twente

Labour movement and labour relations in the Twente textile industry, 1930-1960

Korean War

Experiences of Dutchmen in the Korean War (1950-1953), who were part of a contingent of United Nations forces

Twente textile strike

Twente Textile Strike 1931-32, textile industry Twente 1930s

Squatters’ Movement Groningen

Interviews with people who were active in the Groningen squatters' movement between 1977 and 1987

Oral History Simpelveld-Bocholtz

Residents talk about their lives

Film criticism 1923-45

Film criticism in relation to social developments

Second World War

Dutch film industry during World War II

"Were films made during the war?"

Second World War

Philips-commando

During the Second World War, at the request of the occupying forces, a Philips workshop was set up in Camp Vught, where products such as windup-torches and radios were manufactured.

CPN-film

The interviewees talk about their involvement in the production of films commissioned by the CPN and in the making of the party's television broadcasts since 1965, within the framework of the Broadcasting Zendtijd voor Politieke Partijen (ZPP).

Television journalism

The development of journalistic conventions within current affairs programmes on television in the 1960s, in particular VARA's ACHTER HET NIEUWS and KRO's BRANDPUNT.

Artists’ resistance

On the social and political position of artists before the war, in particular since 1933

Flood disaster 1953

The Zeeland flood disaster described from the point of view of the victims themselves

Workers’ Youth Central (AJC)

On the history of the Workers' Youth Central

Victoria Factory

Interviews with employees about their time at the Victoria biscuit and chocolate factory in Dordrecht

Women and trade union

Women and labour in the Dutch trade union history

Socialist upbringing

Oral-history project on socialist home upbringing

SDAP 1940-46

Former SDAP members talk about Dutch social democracy during the German occupation and the transition from the SDAP to the PvdA in 1946.

World federalism

Davidse, development economist and world federalist, speaks with Dutch, American and English representatives of the World Federalist Movement (WFB) about the movement in general and the local sections in particular.

Youth policy

Interviews with administrators, scientists and policymakers on youth policy. The emphasis is on the years 1945-55 and 1965-80. The concept of mass youth is central.

Henri Polak

The interviews were held as part of Bloemgarten's PhD research on Henri Polak (1868-1943), politician and one of the most prominent leaders of the Dutch labour movement.

Second World War

Camp of hope and despair

Witnesses of Westerbork, 1939-1945

Jacques Presser

126 interviews conducted for Nanda van der Zee's biography of Presser

Collection Zijlmans

Interviews on the Domestic Administration Corps
Around 1940, the Dutch East Indies Home Administration Corps (bb) consisted of some 600 civil servants who, together with Indonesian officials, administered the country. A quarter of the Dutchmen in the corps died during the war.

Drenthe during the war

Testimonial of the resistance activities in Drenthe supplemented with some stories of collaborators

Diversity of the Amersfoort Memory

In the past 50 years, a large number of migrants have come to Amersfoort to build a new life for themselves. Archief Eemland set out to collect source material on migrants.

Second World War

The years of reconstruction 1945-1955

Series of extensive interviews with key persons from the world of music about the war years and the years of rebuilding musical life after the war.

Second World War

World War II in music

On the meaning of music in World War II

Second World War

Witnesses of Theresienstadt

Jews deported from the Netherlands 1943-1945

Second World War

Groningen during wartime

Interviews with 14 witnesses who tell about their experiences during the occupation and liberation of Groningen and its surroundings.

Second World War

In the light of liberation

Eight-part series by Charles van den Berg in which he talks to 8 people who personally experienced the Second World War.

Second World War

The Willy Lindwer Holocaust Video Archive

Since 1970, filmmaker Willy Lindwer has built up a film and video collection that focuses on the Holocaust.

Second World War

Long shadow of Sobibor

A unique historical collection consisting of open interviews conducted by Professor Selma Leydesdorff

Second World War

Daughters of collaborating parents

About the experiences of women whose parents were on the 'wrong' side during the years of German occupation.

Second World War

Dutch SS men

During the Second World War, between 22,000 and 25,000 Dutchmen served in Waffen-SS formations.

Second World War

Porgel & Porulan in the Resistance

Although little known, Jews were also active in the resistance during World War II. They were members of communist and social-democratic resistance groups, the Ordedienst and were involved in the February strike of 1941.

Dutch Missionaries (KMM)

The memories of Dutch missionaries

Second World War

Climb to Freedom

Engelandvaarders who used the southern routes

Second World War

The forgotten bombardment

American bombers from England go on a mission over the Netherlands with the port installations around Rotterdam as their target.

Hussars of Boreel

Experiences of Dutch conscripts in the Republic of Indonesia immediately after the transfer of sovereignty

KNMG – Physician during the years of occupation

During the German occupation, Dutch doctors were confronted with numerous ethical dilemmas.

Second World War

Merchant Navy Families in Wartime

In June 1940, compulsory shipping came into effect. From that moment on, the Dutch who sailed in our merchant fleet were part of the allied forces.

Second World War

Dutch ex-prisoners of Buchenwald camp

On the Ettersberg, a large wooded hill eight kilometres north of Weimar in Germany, the Nazis established the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1937. It quickly became one of the largest concentration camps of the Third Reich.

Second World War

Atlantikwall The Hague

Witness stories with residents of The Hague and Scheveningen about their memories of the Atlantic Wall

Second World War

Jewish children in camp Vught

One of the most tragic events in the history of World War II in the Netherlands.

Narrated (In)justice

This research project by Dr. Nicole Immler (2014-2016) explores compensation payments to (Jewish) victims of World War II in the Netherlands and how the policies of the late 1990s became a reference-point for current claims by post-colonial groups.

Impact of the Holocaust in their lives and families in terms of resilience, trauma and meaning

Trauma & Resilience

Trauma & Resilience: intergenerational holocaust research from an existential perspective

Historic fruit farming

Stories of life in and around the fruit orchard

country estates

Life on country estates

Stories about country estates and country houses in Gelderland

Second World War

The gay subculture in the big city, just before, during and just after World War II

Collectie Jan Carel Warffemius
Getuigenverhalen-project [Witness Testimony Project]

Second World War

Journey of the razzia

With the capture of 52,000 men, the Rotterdam razzia was the largest manhunt conducted by the German National Socialist regime. For the project Journey of the Razzia, a total of 76 interviews with witnesses were recorded, providing insight into what happened.

Beyond the textile

In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Lou Keune and colleagues interviewed dozens of textile workers, women and men.

Zuiderzee project

Collection of interviews about various subjects in Flevoland

Story bank Nijmegen 2010-2019

The Story Bank is a platform for people and organisations involved in oral history in and about Nijmegen.

Interview collection Stichting Mondelinge Geschiedenis Indonesië

Oral history collection on 'the end of the colonial Dutch presence in Asia'.

Interviews in Conservation

The Interviews in Conservation Research project aims to provide an integrated approach to the use of oral history for research in art conservation in a responsible manner, using case studies from the Rijksmuseum and the Cultural Heritage Agency.

Second World War

Sobibor interviews 1983-1984

Thirteen interviews with survivors of the uprising that broke out in Sobibor extermination camp on October 14, 1943. In addition, interviews are shown with two Polish local residents and a survivor of the uprising at the Auschwitz-Birkenau crematorium.

Second World War

Camp Amersfoort

National Monument Camp Amersfoort has interviewed more than 100 former prisoners about their time in the camp during the Second World War. These extraordinary interviews provide an impressive glimpse into what life was like in Camp Amersfoort at the time.

Interview collection Dutch Veterans

The Interview Collection of Dutch Veterans (ICNV) of the Netherlands Veterans Institute (NLVi)

Second World War

Nine women escape from death march 1945

On the night of 14 April 1945, 5,000 women from Buchenwald camp were herded onto the road. Escorted by SS men, the prisoners had to travel long distances.

amsterdam, refugees, the hague, utrecht

Specially Unknown

A collection of life stories of refugees who came to the Netherlands in the past 40 years. The oral history project Ongekend Bijzonder recorded 248 life stories as part of contemporary history.

The viewer meets the professor being interviewed

Archive and Documentation Centre of the Dutch Behavioural Sciences

Outstanding scientists, who made history in their field, must be heard by future generations.

Second World War

Memories of my Amsterdam sister or brother

During the war years 1943-1944, about 123 Jewish children were smuggled out of Amsterdam and placed with families in North Limburg.

Counseling department of the armed forces

Interview collections of the Digital Humanistic Heritage

Second World War

Allied bombing of the Fokker factory in Amsterdam-Noord in July 1943

In July 1943, the Allies tried to drop bombs on the Fokker aircraft factory in Amsterdam-North, because it was involved in the German war industry.

Second World War

Experiences of Dutch citizens with quartered German soldiers

During the Second World War, Dutch citizens were forced to take German soldiers into their homes. Thus, families had to deal with 'the enemy' at close quarters.

Second World War

The Russian War, uprising by Georgian troops on Texel

On Schiermonnikoog it was war until 24 June 1945. And on Texel more than a thousand people died during the uprising of Georgian prisoners of war. The Wadden Islands each have their own special war history.

Second World War

German civilians in Camp Vught

Personal experiences of German citizens from the Selfkant area, who were forcibly evacuated from the front area to barracks in the evacuated Vught concentration camp in the Netherlands during the Battle of the Bulge.

Second World War

A church split in wartime

Project with 10 interviews with Reformed people who experienced the church split, the so-called Vrijmaking, in 1944. How did the Reformed community in Amersfoort experience a church split during wartime?

Second World War

The Jewish market in the Gaaspstraat in Amsterdam (1941-1943)

On the Gaaspstraat in Amsterdam-Zuid, there has been a playground since 1921. The place was claimed by the German occupiers in November 1941 as a market for Jews.

Second World War

Civilian workers in camp Vught

In 1942, the construction of Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch, as Camp Vught was officially called, started. During the Second World War, Camp Vught was the only SS concentration camp west of the German border.

Second World War

Farmers’ wives and farmers’ daughters in the Second World War

Boerinnen en boerendochters vormen een speciale groep oorlogsgetroffenen. Juist zij vervulden op de boerderij veel taken en waren er op een bijzondere manier mee verbonden.

Second World War

Officers and non-commissioned officers of the Aruba Militia and the Aruba Volunteer Corps

Before 1940, two oil refineries were established on Aruba, the 'Lago' and the 'Arend'. When World War II broke out, the allied armies were dependent on oil. Because of this, Aruba flourished economically, but it also became a possible target for Nazi Germany.

Second World War

Bombs and habits

Congregational nuns talk about their experiences during the years of German occupation.

Second World War

Fields of Margraten

The Americans liberated South Limburg in September 1944. To the astonishment of farmers, the first American soldiers were buried in their fields shortly afterwards. were buried in their fields.

Atria Oral History

Atria, oral history collections

The past told

250 interviews from the Volksbuurt Museum Utrecht

Speaking Humanism

Interview collections of the Digital Humanist Heritage

Second World War

NSB women in the war

As a political organisation, the NSB also had great appeal for women.

Narrated Past

Interview collections of the Digital Humanistic Heritage

Storia de nhas Pais

Oral history project Storia de nhas Pais ('The land of my parents') initiated by Stichting Rotterdam Vertelt (SRV) and the study of the project by Leiden researchers from Night Spaces: Culture, Migration and Integration in Europe (NITE).

Second World War

Eyewitnesses of the Scholtenhuis

For many inhabitants of the city of Groningen, the Scholtenhuis was a notorious building during the war. The building on the east side of the Grote Markt served as the headquarters of the Sicherheitsdienst, the German intelligence service.

Everything was locked

Child labour girls Good Shepherd

Second World War

Repatriated wives of Moluccan KNIL soldiers

Testimonies of wives of Moluccan KNIL soldiers, who came to the Netherlands between 1951 and 1953.

Second World War

Re-education of young political offenders children’s homes 1944-1951

Second World War

Four Resistance Women. Just Do It and Stand Up Proudly

Why did they revolt against the German occupier and what consequences did this have for their lives?

Second World War

Mandatory sailing for Queen and Country

In June 1940, compulsory shipping came into force. From that moment on, the Dutch who sailed in our merchant fleet were part of the allied forces.

Second World War

Rape and Comfort

They are euphemistically called 'comfort women': young Indonesian girls who were systematically raped by soldiers of the Japanese occupying army in World War II.

Second World War

Schiedam children on the go

During and after the war, many children from Schiedam were taken in elsewhere to recuperate or recover from illness.

Second World War

Schiedam “pale-faces”

Shortly after the Second World War, children were sent to another part of the country or abroad to recuperate.

Second World War

Living and working together in the Bakkum Sperrgebiet

During the German occupation, the Castricum dune area and the village of Bakkum were declared a Sperrgebiet and therefore not accessible to ordinary citizens.

Second World War

Return trip to Sachsenhausen

The project "Return ticket Sachsenhausen" deals with the deportation of prisoners from Camp Vught to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

It has been told, the book can be closed.

1953, the story

The stories of and after 1 February 1953, by victims, relief workers and others directly involved in the flood disaster that left so many scars on Texel, in Zeeland, North Brabant and South Holland.

Second World War

Witnesses’ Stories

The Getuigenverhalen website keeps the stories and personal testimonies about the Second World War alive.

Breda tells

Breda people about living, working and life in Breda then and now.

The Belgian Communist Party and the Spanish Civil War

Fleeing from Venray

Second World War

Nijkerk as a refuge during WWII

In September 1944, Nijkerk was confronted with a large stream of refugees from the Arnhem area.

Fascism in Spain and Belgium

Second World War

Anna’s silent struggle: deaf in war

The project 'Anna's silent struggle: deaf in the war' has recorded 10 interviews with some Jewish deaf Dutch people who survived the war.

Javanese in diaspora

Until 1939, approximately 33,000 Javanese in Suriname transferred. After their contract period, the majority settled in Suriname.

@Flanders, Second World War

Buchenwald

Testimonies of former deportees to Buchenwald

The Catholic Church and the Catholic Worker Youth

How t was

Hou t was is an oral history project in which Groningers tell about their lives in the past.
Fascinating life stories and histories come to life this way.

@Flanders, Second World War

Occupied Belgium

Collaboration and resistance in occupied Belgium

The war children

The clandestine warfare

Trade unionism in times of war

Flemish collaboration

Communism

The children of Save

German maids in the Netherlands

Interviews and telephone conversations for research on German maids in the years 1920-1950 in the Netherlands 1986-1991

Broadcasting during the Second World War

125 years of Strowboard in Nieuweschans

Conversations on the occasion of the book "25 years The Factory: cardboard in Nieuweschans".

Second World War

Testimonies of Dutch women who had a relationship with a German man

The Voice of Leiden

Oral history project in Leiden since 2014

Second World War

Witnesses to the history of Anne Frank

Women of the CPN

Women of the Communist Party in the Netherlands

Papuans in Diaspora

Second World War

Collection Diederichs

Interviews with women who themselves had a relationship and/or whose family member had a relationship with a German soldier during the war.

Second World War

Two Thousand Witnesses Tell Their Stories

the stories of Dutch survivors

Back in a Bite

9 interviews with first generation migrant women in the Netherlands.

The Moluccan perspective in wartime

With this project, the Moluccan Historical Museum focuses on the experiences of older Moluccans during the Second World War and its aftermath.

Second-wave feminism, women

Black, migrant and refugee women

In the context of: Moving Women's History - Second feminist wave.

Bystander Memories

Second World War

Fleeing from Overloon

Collection of interviews VNO-NCW

Interview project with former board members of VNO-NCW commissioned by the International Institute of Social History (IISG).

Interview collections Humanistic Heritage

Three interview collections of the Digital Humanist Heritage:
* Verleden verteld
* Sprekend Humanisme
* Humanistisch geestelijke verzorging bij Defensie

Second World War

NSB men in Westerbork

After liberation, the former German transit camp Westerbork functioned as an internment camp for NSB people.

Second World War

Indonesian and Indo resistance in the Netherlands

@Flanders, Second World War

The last witnesses

During the Second World War, millions of people lost their lives in German concentration camps. There were survivors, but they are slowly dying out.

@Flanders, Second World War

Johannes Blum Collection

This collection consists of over 1,100 testimonies (over 1,200 recordings) conducted by Johannes Blum, researcher and interviewer at Les Compagnons de la Mémoire.

Their work, their life – 1900-1950

Testimonies from the Ghent textile world 1900-1950

Their work, their life – 1950 – 2010

Testimonies from the Ghent textile world 1950-2010

Ghent guests

The story of the first generation of Moroccans in Ghent

The Founders

Various generations of migrants bear witness to a rich past. De Grondleggers tells the story of three generations of Turks in East Flanders.

My military service

In 1993, the last Belgian conscripts were discharged. The months of compulsory military service for many young men came to an end. How did previous generations experience life as a soldier, away from their familiar home? How did recruitment and training go? And what was it like in the soldiers' dormitories?

Interviews about the Belgian graphic industry

Interviews with employees (printers, typesetters, bookbinders) and business owners, active in the printing industry in Belgium.

Impressions. Ghent’s printing industry in the spotlight

Interviews with people active in the Ghent printing industry

@Flanders, Second-wave feminism

Oral history of the second feminist wave in Flanders

@Flanders, Second World War

Antwerp Jewish Historical Archive – Archives of Sylvain Brachfeld

Jewish families in Antwerp in the 1970s interviewed by Mr Brachfeld

Holiday colonies on the Belgian coast (1886-1980)

Did you used to go to a holiday colony? Then you remember the noisy dining halls, the homesickness at bedtime, the sand in your sandwiches, the communal showers, the cards home with "We have arrived well".

Diamond

Interviews conducted within the framework of the project A World of Diamond: Diamond Workers in Belgium, The Netherlands and France (1895-2000)

Going out in Ghent

The relaxation life in Ghent before World War II.

About the flowers and the bees

Sex education in and around the socialist milieu

Vooruit: 100/30

Interviews with visitors' experiences and own activities in Feestlokaal Vooruit

I live in a Monument

Residents' stories from Conforta, Arena and Unitas in Deurne (Antwerp)

Lunch time

Testimonies about the lunch break at work

Workers’ and students’ movement before and after 1968

Fieldwork: refugee experiences

@Flanders, Second World War

Collections day WWII, 2019

WWII Testimonies in Antwerp

@Flanders, Second World War

Testimonies Holocaust WWII, Crea 16

About the Holocaust and persecution of Jews.

Gevaert developed

About working at Agfa Gevaert in Mortsel

Oral history of the mining region

Testimonies to the past of the Belgian Limburg Mining Area