Russia to hand over archive documents to the Netherlands

Russia is set to hand over nine sets of archives of Dutch origin that were taken out of the Netherlands as a result of the Second World War.

RIA Novosti learnt in the department of government information that Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov had signed the resolution transferring the materials to the Dutch government.

The resolution was adopted in accordance with the federal law "On cultural valuables transferred to the Soviet Union as a result of the Second World War and situated on the territory of the Russian Federation." The department of government information pointed out that the Dutch side had officially confirmed its obligations to create no less favorable conditions to return lost Russian cultural valuables to the Russian Federation if they are found in the Netherlands.

The archive documents include materials about Masonic lodges (a collection of 395 cases), the joint archive "Jewish Religious Organisations and Establishments of Holland" (more than 1,000 cases), "Pacifist Organisations of Holland," the Dutch mission of intellectual co-operation (The Hague), the international archive of the women's movement (Amsterdam), the joint archive "Religious-Mystical and Theological Societies of Holland" (178 cases) and also documents from the Dutch Universum bank and the Dutch Commercial Bank.