Archives as Democracy's Safeguard
In this column, I argue that proper archives are essential for democracy, drawing on her family's WWII resistance history and recent examples of silenced wartime stories. I emphasize that archives serve two crucial functions: preserving family histories and acting as governmental oversight.
The revised Dutch Archive Law aims to make digital communications (emails, messages) properly accessible. Archives are vulnerable to political interference, see Trump's firing of the National Archives director after classified document exposure, and his administration's "anti-woke" purging of historical records containing terms like "LGBTI" and "women."
While not expecting similar extremism in the Netherlands, I caution against gradual erosion of archival oversight through administrative restructuring. Archives deserve recognition not just as historical repositories, but as democracy's defenders and accountability mechanisms.