A Dictionary of Dutchness

NIOD

The NIOD or Nederlands Instituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (institute for war documentation) was officially set up a few days after the liberation of the Netherlands in May 1945 although the idea to create a national archive of documents relating to the Nazi occupation of the country was conceived a year earlier. Public appeals were made asking for diaries, correspondence and photos. Anne Frank referred to the call for documentation in her diary entry on 29 March 1944, with a wry comment that her own diary would be in great demand.