The Institute was founded on 8 May 1945 to write the history of the Second World War in the Netherlands and in the former Dutch East Indies through independent research. Since 1 January 1999 the Institute is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
On 9 December 2010 NIOD merged with the Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) and it now operates under the name NIOD, Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.