Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis - Volume 138, Nummer 2, 2025

From ‘fallen women’ to ‘good housewives’: The resocialization of female collaborators in post-occupation Netherlands, 1946-1951

The extensive re-education programs that followed the internment of Dutch collaborators have received scant historical attention. Over a period of five years after their arrest, around 90,000 so-called political delinquents became eligible for conditional release. Instead of being tried, they were released under the condition that they would be subjected to intrusive resocialization programs by the Dutch state. The re-education of women was influenced by an issue considered less relevant for men: these women had to be trusted with raising the next generation of Dutch citizens. Based on archival material from the institution responsible for resocialization, Stichting Toezicht Politieke Delinquenten, this article describes this interference in the private lives of female collaborators after their release. It shows how they were expected to behave in order to be accepted back into Dutch society, and challenges the persisting myth that women were principally sexual collaborators.

Disability History: a review essay

In this essay the authors discuss the main trends in disability history in the last five years, and review a selection of relevant publications. After a short introduction to the field and to the Dutch context, they show first how disability historians have conceptualised disability as a social construct. Second, they argue that recent disability histories from below have been enriched by intersectional and transnational approaches. Historians increasingly study the intersection of disability with, for instance, race, and look beyond national borders. Moreover, disability historians increasingly question and historicize Anglo-American models of disability. The authors consider these trends as positive contributions to the field. They conclude by arguing that disability history could be further enriched by intersections with other disciplines, by methodological differentiation, and with a broader application of the concept of disability as an analytical tool. The authors advocate for disability to be added to every historian’s toolbox.