Commission to File a Declaration of the Death of Missing Persons Commissie tot het Doen van Aangifte van Overlijden van Vermisten (Cie). Aangifte Overlijden Vermisten

Copyright Holder: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands) The Commission (Cie.) was established in 1949 by the Ministry of Justice and dissolved in 1962. After the WWII there were tens of thousands of (especially Jewish) Dutch people who were not officially determined that they had died. This involved all kinds of legal complications, such as inheritance issues. In order to solve these problems, in June 1949 the 'Act, containing provisions concerning the preparation of deeds of death of missing persons' came into force. This law stipulated that the Minister of Justice could have a death certificate drawn up at the registry office. The Ministry had to arrange for registration and investigation of the missing persons. That research had to minimize the chance that the missing persons would later turn up with all the complications of that. This task came to lie with the Commission to report the death of missing persons. The Commission investigated missing persons on its own initiative, but everyone could also report death to the Commission. In Amsterdam, a permanent civil servant of the municipality's civil registry was working on these declarations. The Commission then investigated the missing person. The Commission used the data from the Information Office of the Dutch Red Cross (NRK). The results of that research were published in the Dutch Government Gazette. If after three months there was no response, a deed of death could be drawn up and the person registered in the 'Central register of deeds of death of missing persons.' From the beginning of the fifties the work of the Commission decreased and the agency was cut back. In September 1962 the Commission was dissolved. Occasional cases were dealt with by Ministry officials. Correspondence, reports, circulars concerning the methods of work and details of deportations, witness statements, reports of death of missing (most Jewish persons), and various documentation about the German concentration camps. In addition to a "Central Register of Deeds of Death of Missing Persons", there are further registered accesses and card systems. The VP files (Missing Persons) are located in the archive Justice/Missing Persons (Archive Inventory: 2.09.34.020.) Accreted records consist of individual cards indicating the names of missing persons, with a note on possible repatriation, circa 1946, two parts. Presumably created by the International Red Cross.