Dutch slave descendants offered thousands to help change names

THE Dutch city of Utrecht has offered to refund costs of several thousands of euros each to descendants of enslaved people who want to change colonial-era surnames imposed on them by former owners on plantations.

Yesterday, it became the third Dutch city, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, to offer an apology for its role in profiting from slavery.

Sharon Dijksma, Utrecht’s mayor, pledged an unlimited amount in compensation for the costs involved in the complicated process of name changing.

In America and Asia, the descendants of more than a million people enslaved by the Dutch were forced to take new surnames. These were not allowed to be too typically Dutch, and were judged by a committee based on Napoleonic law.

For example, the surname Vriesde reflected that of the slave “owner” De Vries, while Madretsma was Amsterdam spelt backwards.

Some people were named after plantations, while others were given Dutch-sounding nonsense names such as Berghout, Lepelblad and Wijntak.

Under Dutch law, changing a surname is “bureaucratic, time-consuming and expensive”, according to Ms Dijksma. It requires a court case to convince the justice ministry that the name is an “impediment” to daily life.

The cost for the process can reach several thousand euros – at least €835 (£700) plus legal fees and the price of a “psychological investigation” to prove the name is causing harm. If the request is denied, the money is not refunded.

Last year, Utrecht city council voted to make it easier for Dutch people to change their surnames if they had a link with slavery in the past. But Ms Dijksma believes that covering the costs involved is a crucial extra step towards addressing the wrongs of the past and combating racial discrimination.

“This needs to happen on a national level, too,” she said.

It is not known how many people are believed to be eligible for the compensation; however, experts say the number is less important than the symbolism.

Linda Nooitmeer, chairman of Ninsee, the national slavery and heritage institute, said: “During slavery, people had a lot taken away: their names, rituals, language, religion, identity, everything that made them human.

“It is very important that descendants who want to change their names, who want to invent themselves again, have that possibility.”

Ms Dijksma also said she believed it was “important” to apologise for the city’s role in slavery, “not as an empty gesture but to look to the future”.

The Netherlands has so far refused to take a similar step in acknowledgement of its national history as a major slave trader.