About NIOD

As a repository of reliable knowledge, NIOD contributes to social and political debate. The institute is a hub in the network of organisations that work on these topics in the Netherlands and abroad, and is an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

The institute was founded on 8 May 1945 to conduct independent research into the history of the Second World War in the Netherlands and the Netherlands East Indies. This remains one of NIOD’s objectives, but compared to those early days, the institute’s focus has broadened considerably.

Themes such as perpetration, memories and trauma, transitional justice, restoration of justice, regime change and violence related experiences are addressed in a number of research studies and reflect NIOD’s ambition: to conduct comparative and multidisciplinary research into the range of behaviours, ideas, views and practices that enable individuals and societies to commit and endure (mass) violence.

In the initial years, the institute’s main task was to gather material on the Netherlands and the Netherlands East Indies during the Second World War. Partly on the basis of this material, the first research studies were carried out and publications written. The collections, which continue to be built up to this day, still form an important foundation for the institute. NIOD aims to invest in the digitisation of existing collections and in the acquisition and accessibility of new collections.

NIOD’s two pillars – research and collections – reinforce one another. NIOD generates reliable knowledge that is grounded in scholarly research and its collections. It actively shares this knowledge with both academic experts and the wider public through services (archives, library and image database), academic teaching, digital research tools and science communication. In doing so, NIOD wants to contribute to increasing understanding of the place of mass violence in society both in the present day and in the (recent) past. As such, it is committed to academic freedom, the democratic order and the international rule of law.

Academic teaching by NIOD researchers plays a major role in the institute’s mission. It allows NIOD to help train a new generation of researchers in the field of war, Holocaust and genocide studies.

NIOD staff provide academic teaching through a Master’s programme and a specialisation at the University of Amsterdam: the Master’s in Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the Restitution Studies specialisation within the Heritage Studies Master’s programme.

NIOD aims to reflect the breadth of its scholarly expertise in specially appointed chairs at as many universities as possible, filled by senior NIOD researchers. The latter give lectures and supervise doctoral students on topics linked to their research.

The NIOD fellow programme offers national and international researchers the opportunity to be part of the Research department for a period of 3 to 6 months, during a sabbatical or funded by their own research grant. This is an important means of promoting international cooperation.

Research into the loss of possession of cultural goods as a result of the Nazi regime and colonial rule is one of NIOD’s research areas. NIOD undertakes this research both independently and on commission. An expert centre has been created for this purpose: the Expert Centre Restitution (ECR). The ECR carries out independent and impartial research on individual restitution claims of art looted during Nazi era, at the request of the Restitution Committee and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. In addition, the ECR independently conducts fundamental academic research, contributing both nationally and internationally to knowledge development in relation to looting, restitution and provenance research.

NIOD participates in a series of formal and informal networks, in order to contribute to national and international exchange of knowledge and inspiration. A prerequisite for participation in these networks is that they are aligned with NIOD’s social mission and stimulate scholarly research and collection management.

These include:

• ​The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI)
• ​The Colonial Collections Consortium
• ​The War in Court Consortium
• ​COMFAS (International Association of Comparative Fascist Studies)
• ​Veldberaad WO2
• ​Oorlogsbronnen
• ​The Oral History Network
• ​LIBER (Association of European Research Libraries)
• ​KVAN (Royal Association of the Archives Sector of the Netherlands)
• ​Network of European Restitution Committees on Nazi-looted Art