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In 1987, a Dutch citizen named Jan de Vaal (1922-2001) was awarded a FIAF Honorary Membership. He received this honour in his capacity as Director of the Nederlands Filmmuseum (now the EYE Film Institute), which he had led since 1947. Although the number of publications on the history of film archives has been growing, there has been little research regarding the NFM, let alone de Vaal himself. This is remarkable, since he not only played a pivotal role in Dutch film culture, but was also a significant personality in FIAF. This article focuses on the relationship between FIAF and the NFM in its very early stages, just after World War II. It is part of on-going research on de Vaal and the history of the NFM, which will culminate in the publication of a book in the spring of 2014.
The NFM began as the Dutch Historical Film Archive (NHFA) in 1946. One of the founders was Piet Meerburg, who had also founded the Kriterion cinema in Amsterdam, a place where students worked and the public could see "good" films. Along with Kriterion's programmer, Paul Kijzer, and David van Staveren, director of the Board of Film Censors, Meerburg discussed the idea of a film archive. Before the war there had been an attempt to create a Dutch film archive, but this hadn't fared well. The Dutch Central Film Archive (NCF) was founded in 1919 with the aim of collecting material of historic value: films about politicians and other public figures, and of important historical events. Due to a lack of finances, its very narrow aim, and a problematic relationship with the Dutch Cinema Federation (NBB), the NCF closed in 1933. The small collection became the property of the Dutch government as part of the national archives.1
With archives popping up all over Europe, it was about time for the Netherlands to join the movement. Jan de Vaal, who had just moved to Amsterdam, agreed. He had spent the war at the production company Multifilm, learning about the technical aspects of film.2 This had been a logical step for him, since he had been a lover of film from a very early age. De Vaal was born in Java, but his mother died giving birth...