Among the some 350 Nazi war criminals listed in the Dutch investigation register as missing, only some 10 to 20 are Dutch nationals. The others are Germans and Belgians. This was stated by Prof. Benjamin Sijes of The Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation in a radio interview.
In response to a question whether the post-war de-Nazification courts in The Netherlands had failed, he observed that, after all, these courts had sentenced 66,000 persons or one out of every 90 Dutch nationals who were 20 years and older at the time.
In another television documentary it was pointed out that for the past 20 years The Netherlands Ministry of Justice has not conducted an active policy regarding the investigation of missing war criminals and has only reacted to tips received from others.
Prof. August D. Belinfante, who is completing research on the Dutch de-Nazification after the war, admitted that the more lenient policy regarding former Nazis coincided more or less with the succession to the throne of Queen Juliana in 1948. Her mother, the late Queen Wilhelmina who had ruled during the German occupation of The Netherlands when she was in exile in London, had taken a very strong stand against Nazis.
Her daughter, Queen Juliana, had wanted to be more merciful and in certain cases had refused to sign death sentences. In particular, the Roman Catholic Minister of Justice, the late Anton Struycken, had advocated a policy of mercy. A total of 145 death sentences had been pronounced, of which only 40 had been executed, mostly during the first years of the war.
Meanwhile, the Central Organization of Dutch Former Resistance Groups has scheduled a meeting with Dutch Minister of Justice Jacob de Ruiter on August 23 in order to urge him to conduct more active policies with regard to the search for missing Dutch war criminals. The organization said that speed in this matter is required because by the end of 1979 West Germany will declare war crimes past the statute of limitations. It was suggested that the Dutch Justice Ministry submit a list of wanted Dutch war criminals to West German authorities.
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