The colonial ‘secret’ classification controlled internal circulation, not public access

Evidence

Mailrapporten were classified as “geheim” (secret, usually marked with an X) or remained unmarked. Since the Minister of Colonies archives were only open to the public in 1918, at the tail end of the period discussed in these chapters, the question of “secret” was never about public access. Geheim marked rather the care taken to limit circulation of such documents within the colonial administration itself and, as I note in chapter 2, many matters were not “secret” at all. The designation “secret” was an administrative label. Appended documents might be marked “vertrouwelijk” (confidential) by a lower-level official as a warning and assessment, less often as an official category. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 88

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the geheim/vertrouwelijk distinction — an internal information-control vocabulary rather than public secrecy.