German Holocaust archive puts millions of documents online

German Holocaust archive puts millions of documents online

In this May 8, 2008 file picture Gary Mokotoff, a Jewish genealogist from New Jersey, takes a look at name registers at the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, central Germany.  AP

BERLIN — The International Tracing Service in Germany has uploaded more than 13 million documents from Nazi concentration camps, including prisoner cards and death notices, to help Holocaust researchers and others investigate the fate of victims.

Established by the Western Allies in the final days of World War II and initially run by the Red Cross, the ITS also announced Tuesday it was changing its name to “Arolsen Archives – International Center on Nazi Persecution.”

The archive in Bad Arolsen says with help from Israel’s Yad Vashem, documents with information on more than 2.2 million people are now available online. Work is still being done to improve searchability.

Archive director Floriane Azoulay says with survivors dying out, “it is so important that the original documents can speak to coming generations.” /ee

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