[en] The oxidation of polycrystalline samples of Ni/Pd-alloys at 600⁰C and 2 x 10^-5 Torr O₂ has been investigated by means of Auger electron spectroscopy and soft X-ray appearance potential spectroscopy. The clean surfaces are enriched by Pd; and with increasing Pd content the binding energy of the Ni 2p-core levels was found to decrease continuously by 0.7 eV. After completion of the oxidation identical overlayers were formed on all samples (except on pure Pd) which were identified to consist of NiO. Within the depth probed by the applied techniques (approximately < 20 A) the rate of oxidation was found to increase with increasing Pd content, which is in contrast to the behaviour to be expected for the growth of thick oxide layers after the formation of a coherent NiO overlayer. (orig.)