Verkaufsbücher: World War II Property Sales Records Linked to Dutch Land Registry

During the Second World War, buildings were sold by the Germans, the owners of which are mostly Jewish. The administration of these transactions is recorded in the Verkaufsbücher held by the National Archives. The records contain addresses and names of original owners, brokers, war buyers, and selling prices. In July 2019, a team from the National Archives and the Land Registry linked these transactions to the Kadaster's basic registration addresses and buildings (BAG) data, mapping the unlawful trades.

Use Cases

• Analyzing patterns of forced property sales based on recorded addresses and selling prices.
• Researching the networks of brokers and buyers involved in wartime transactions based on the names recorded.
• Mapping the geographic distribution of affected properties using the linked address and building data.
• Studying the economic impact on specific communities based on the recorded original owner demographics.

Strengths

• Records contain specific data points: addresses, names of owners, brokers, buyers, and selling prices.
• Data has been linked to authoritative Dutch land registry (BAG) data, providing geographic context.
• Dataset is published under a CC0-1.0 license, allowing for unrestricted reuse.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

National Archives of the Netherlands, linked with data from the Kadaster (Land Registry).

Collection Method

Archival records from the Verkaufsbücher were linked to the Kadaster's BAG registration in July 2019.

Time Range

Second World War period.

Freshness

Last updated date is unknown.

Geography

Likely the Netherlands, based on the involvement of the Dutch National Archives and Kadaster.