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oa The Dutch Vatican Mission
Its Remarkable History and its Contribution to the Catholic Resocialisation of Political Delinquents in the Netherlands, 1945-1950
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Trajecta, Volume 31, Issue 2, Dec 2022, p. 655 - 693
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- 01 Dec 2023
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Abstract
The contribution of the Dutch Roman Catholic Church in the resettlement policy of collaborators after the Second World War has generally been acknowledge, although the Catholic charity organisations which took part in this process, especially the so-called Dutch Vatican Mission (Nederlandse Vaticaan Missie, NVM) and her successor the Dutch Charity Mission (Nederlandse Caritas Missie, NCM) has hardly been subject to academic investigation. In this article the influence of both short-lived organisations (1945-1950) in the reconciliation-process of convicted and non-convicted collaborators is described, which makes it clear that the NVM and the NCM played a role in the spiritual, material and financial support of former political offenders who had to return into society. The Missions also appealed on their behalf to the government and the Dutch society to establish a more merciful and lenient policy. Finally, the NCM was abolished ingloriously due to internal Catholic competition, financial and administrative mismanagement, and an unclear profile.