International Tracing Service

The International Tracing Service is an organization dedicated to finding missing persons, typically lost to family and friends as a result of war or political unrest during World War II. Its headquarters are in Bad Arolsen in Germany, it operates under the legal authority of the Bonn Agreement, is under the administrative umbrella of the International Committee of the Red Cross, is funded by the government of Germany, and its documents are now open to public access.

History

In 1943, the international section of the British Red Cross was asked by the Headquarters of the Allied Forces to set up a registration and tracing service for missing persons. The organization was formalized under the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces and named the "Central Tracing Bureau" on February 15, 1944. As the war unfolded, the bureau was moved from London to Versailles, then to Frankfurt am Main, and finally to Bad Arolsen, which was considered a central location among the areas of Allied occupation.

On July 1, 1947 the International Refugee Organization took over administration of the bureau, and on January 1, 1948 the name was changed to its current International Tracing Service. In April 1951, administrative responsibilities for the service were placed under the Allied High Commission for Germany. When the status of occupation of Germany was repealed in 1954, the service found its current home with the ICRC.

After some discussion, in 1990 the Federal Republic of Germany renewed its continuing commitment to funding the operations of the ITS.

The documents in the ITS archives were opened to public access on April 30, 2008 [ [http://www.its-arolsen.org/en/press/press_releases/index.html?expand=714&cHash=a7dfe709a7 "A new leaf has been turned over at the Tracing Service: Press release (April 30, 2008)] ] .

Organization

The organization is governed by an international commission with representatives from Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, and the United States. The daily operations are managed by a director appointed by the ICRC, who must be a Swiss citizen. There are about 370 staff employed by the ITS.

Operations

Since its inception, the service has collected files on 17.5 million people, collected in 50 million reference files. The archive has 26,000 meters of shelf space, 225,000 meters of microfilm and more than 100,000 micro files. Work is underway to digitize the files, both for purposes of easier search and for preserving the historical record.

The center has responded to 11 million requests since the 1940s. It has about a two-year backlog in requests, processing more than 200,000 inquiries a year. These files are not open to general researchers but searches may be made of them in connection with specific individuals. Since 1996, files not relating to individuals - background files on camps and so on - have been opened to researchers and an electronic register of the individual files is being prepared as a preliminary to opening them too.

On 30 April 2008 the ITS archives were made broadly available to the general public [ [http://www.its-arolsen.org/en/press/press_releases/index.html?expand=714&cHash=a7dfe709a7 "A new leaf has been turned over at the Tracing Service: Press release" (April 30, 2008)] ] The ITS records may be consulted in person, or by mail, telephone, fax or e-mail; addresses and contact numbers are available on the ITS website [http://www.its-arolsen.org/en/contact_information/index.html] . The mailing address is:

:International Tracing Service (ITS):Große Allee 5 - 9:34454 Bad Arolsen:Germany

Controversy

The ITS has been criticized in recent years for refusing to open its archives to the public. The ITS, backed by the German government, have cited German archival law to support their position. The laws mandate a 100-year-gap between releasing records in order to protect privacy. However, their critics argue that the ITS was created by the ICRC and remains under its authority, and as such is not subject to German law. One accusation raised against Germany and the ITS by critics is that they continue to keep the archive closed out of a desire to repress information about the Holocaust. Critics cite the fact that all eleven governments sitting on the International Commission of the ITS endorsed the [http://www.holocaustforum.gov.se/pdfandforms/deklarat..pdf Stockholm International Forum Declaration of January 2000] , which included a call for the opening of various Holocaust-era archives. However, since the Declaration was made, there has been little practical change in the operations of the ITS, despite repeated negotiations between the ITS, ICRC, and various Jewish and Holocaust survivor advocacy groups. A critical press release from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum written in March 2006 charged that "'In practice, however, the ITS and the ICRC have consistently refused to cooperate with the International Commission board and have kept the archive closed.'" [ [http://www.ushmm.org/museum/press/archives/detail.php?category=07-general&content=2006-03-07 Museum | Press Room | Press Room Archive ] ] In early 2006, several newspaper articles also raised questions about the quality of the ITS' management and the underlying reasons for the existing backlog. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/24/AR2006032401684.html A Holocaust Denial - washingtonpost.com ] ] [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/story/0,,1714413,00.html "Closed archive leads to Holocaust denial claim: Special reports", Guardian Unlimited] ] [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/17/AR2006041701369.html Tensions Rise In Long Feud Over Access To Nazi Archive ] ]

In May 2006, the International Commission for the ITS decided to open the archives and documents for researchers use, and to transfer, upon request, one copy of the ITS archives and documents to each one of its member states. This will take place once all 11 countries ratify the new ITS Protocol.

On November, 28th, 2007 it was announced that Greece, as the last of the member countries, filed its ratification papers with the German Foreign Ministry. Once the country currently holding the chair of the commission, Poland, formally informed the ICRC of this the archives were opened to the public [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/28/nazi.archive.ap/index.html Nazi archives finally made public - CNN.com] ] . It has now been announced that the documents in the archive are open to public access [ [http://www.its-arolsen.org/en/press/press_releases/index.html?expand=714&cHash=a7dfe709a7 "A new leaf has been turned over at the Tracing Service: Press release (April 30, 2008)] ] .

External links

* [http://www.its-arolsen.org/en/homepage/index.html ITS home page]
* [http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList410/6F29AC44757F8DF9C125701400533F44 ICRC overview]
* [http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2274705n 60 Minutes Episode on the Topic]
* [http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/BadArolsenArticles.php Bad Arolsen Investigative Series on the Topic]

References