Opening of the International Tracing Service's Holocaust-Era Archives in Bad Arolsen, Germany

^Pr^ep^ar^{ed f}^o^r^M^e^m^b^ers^an^d^Com^mⁱ^t^t^ees^of^C^ong^r^e^ss

On November 28, 2007, the International Tracing Service (ITS) opened its vast archives of
materials on victims of Germany’s National-Socialist (Nazi) regime to the public, granting direct
access to the archives for the first time since their establishment shortly after World War II.
Access to information in the archives was previously limited to victims of Nazi crimes and their
descendants, and as recently as 2006, ITS had a recorded backlog of over 400,000 requests for
information. As part of its May 2006 agreement to open the archives, the 11-nation International
Commission overseeing ITS agreed to provide a digital copy of the collections to designated
research institutions in Commission member states. To date, digital copies of the archives’ Central
Name Index of about 17.5 million names, and of some 13 million records documenting
deportations to Nazi concentration camps, have been transferred to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum. Museum officials expect these documents to be accessible to the public by early 2008,
and hope that all the ITS archives will be digitized and transferred to the museum by late 2010.
Access to the archives has been an issue of ongoing interest to many Members of Congress. This
report will be updated as events warrant.

Backgr ound ............................................................................................................................... 1
Recent Developments and Outstanding Issues..........................................................................2
Digitization, File Transfer, and Access Issues....................................................................3
ITS Request Backlog..........................................................................................................3
ITS Leadership....................................................................................................................4
ICHEIC and Outstanding Insurance Claims.......................................................................4
Issues for Congress...................................................................................................................5
Author Contact Information............................................................................................................6

Following the end of the Second World War, the allied powers established the International
Tracing Service (ITS) in 1947 “for the purpose of tracing missing persons and collecting,
classifying, preserving and rendering accessible to Governments and interested individuals the
documents relating to Germans and non-Germans who were interned in National-Socialist
concentration camps or to non-Germans who were displaced as a result of the Second World ¹
War.” Since its inception, ITS has assembled archives of some 50 million Holocaust- and post-
war-era documents in Bad Arolsen, Germany relating to approximately 17.5 million civilian
victims of Germany’s National Socialist (Nazi) regime. Experts estimate that roughly one quarter ²
of the materials relate to Jews persecuted by the regime.
After the 1954 repeal of the Occupation Contents of the Bad Arolsen Archives
Statute in Germany, an international ^{Records pertaining to an}^{estimated 17.5 million people}
commission of nine member states (Belgium, ^{are archived in t}^hree^{broad collections:}
the Federal Republic of Germany, France, ^Incar^ceration/C^oncentration^{Camp C}^ollection
Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the ³^{Nazi records documenting t}^{he ca}^{pture, deportation, and}
United Kingdom, and the United States) ^transfe^{r of individuals to and bet}^{ween conce}^{ntration and}
charged the ITS with continuing its mission as ^{death camps.}
a missing persons tracing service and ^{At least 17 million pages}
caretaker of the archives in Bad Arolsen under
the neutral auspices of the International ^{Wartime / Forced-La}^bor^Col^lection
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In the ^{Nazi records relating to individuals sent to forced and}
so-called Bonn Accords of 1955, the ^{slave labor camps.}
International Commission established the ^{At least 6 million page}^s
oversight and administrative structure under ^Post-^{War / Migration}^Collection
which ITS continues to function today: a
Swiss delegate of the ICRC, accountable both ^{Records from the afte}^rmath^{of th}^{e war—primarily}^{interviews of displaced person}^{s a}^{nd lists and information}
to the ICRC and the eleven-member ^{on survivors a}^{nd missing pe}^rsons.
International Commission, oversees ITS’s
day-to-day operations and reports to the ^{At least 14 million pages}
Commission at its annual meetings; Germany ^Source:^In^{formation provided b}^y^Inter^{national Tracing}
has provided and continues to provide ITS’s ^{Service, March}²⁰^07.

operating budget.
ITS officials traditionally administered the service based on an understanding that ITS was
established to act primarily as a tracing service for victims of Nazi war crimes. To this end, access
to information in the Bad Arolsen archives had been limited almost exclusively to civilian victims
of such crimes and their descendants. Although they were not granted direct access to the
archives, victims and their descendants have had the right to request information pertaining to
their individual cases. Before November 2007, materials in the archives were not available for ⁴
historical research.
¹
^“^A^g^r^e^e^m^e^{nt C}^ons^tit^utiⁿ^g^aⁿ^Iⁿ^te^rⁿ^a^tio^na^{l C}^o^m^m^is^sⁱ^{on f}^o^r^the^Iⁿ^te^rⁿ^a^tio^na^{l T}^r^a^cⁱ^ng^Se^r^v^ic^e^,^”^1955.^U^.^{S. Tr}^e^a^tie^s^an^d
^Othe^{r Inte}^rna^tio^nal^Agre^e^m^eⁿ^ts^{; T}^I^A^S³⁴⁷^{1, pp.}¹⁸^-³^7.
²^Iⁿ^te^r^v^ie^w^of^U^.^{S. H}^o^loc^a^u^s^t^Me^m^o^rⁱ^a^l^Mus^e^um^of^fⁱ^cⁱ^a^l^{, Ma}^r^c^{h 2}⁰⁰⁷^.
³^G^r^e^e^c^e^a^{nd Pola}ⁿ^d^w^e^r^e^la^te^r^a^dde^{d t}^o^t^h^e^Iⁿ^te^rⁿ^a^tⁱ^ona^l^C^o^m^m^is^sⁱ^on.
⁴^O^pⁱⁿⁱ^oⁿ^dif^f^e^r^s^{on the}^e^x^te^{nt t}^o^w^h^ic^{h the}¹⁹⁵⁵^B^oⁿⁿ^A^cco^rd^{s t}^h^emsel^v^e^s^lⁱ^mⁱ^t^ac^{cess t}^o^t^h^{e IT}^S^archⁱ^v^es.^In^w^h^at
^so^m^e^e^x^p^e^{rts cite as ev}^id^en^{ce th}^{at th}^{e A}^cco^rd^{s d}^oⁿ^o^{t ex}^p^licitly^{limit access, Be}^lg^ian^an^d^{Israeli o}^f^fⁱ^cⁱ^{als rep}^o^r^ted^l^y

ITS claims to have provided approximately 11 million written responses to individual requests for
information since its inception. However, before 2006, the tracing service was often criticized by
survivors, their families, and others who alleged that the service left hundreds of thousands of
requests unanswered and that it often provided inadequate or incomplete information to survivors
and their descendants. Criticism of ITS heightened in 2000 and 2001 as the service struggled to
handle a dramatic increase in requests from people seeking documentation for compensation from
funds made available by the German government to survivors of Nazi slave and forced labor
camps. Much of the criticism focused on perceived mismanagement and neglect on the part of
ITS’s long-time former director Charles-Claude Biedermann. Biedermann’s detractors contend
that his resistance represented the primary obstacle to improving the tracing service’s ⁵
responsiveness and providing greater access to archived materials. When, under strong public
and International Commission pressure, the ICRC agreed to replace Biedermann in 2006, ITS had
a recorded backlog of 425,000 requests for information. ICRC officials acknowledge that this ⁶
represented an unacceptable breach of the organization’s mission.
Beginning in the late 1990s, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (Holocaust Museum),
Holocaust survivor organizations, and others began to pressure International Commission
members to open the ITS archives to historical research. According to the State Department, the
United States and several other Commission member states advocated opening the archives as
early as 1998. However, then-ITS director Biedermann and a number of member states reportedly
blocked passage of the proposal, arguing that the release of such sensitive personal information
represented a violation of individual privacy rights.
In May 2006, after more than five years of debate, and in response to increasing public and
political pressure, the International Commission of the ITS unanimously agreed to amend the
1955 Bonn Accords to open the ITS archives to researchers and make digital copies of archived
materials available to designated institutions in Commission member states. To address
continuing concerns regarding individual privacy rights, the Commission agreed that access to
digital files would be guided by the respective privacy laws of those states. In November 2007,
France and Greece became the final two Commission member states to ratify the May 2006
agreement to open the archives, paving the way both for the digitization and transfer of archived
materials, and for historians and members of the public to visit the archives.
Observers and officials from ITS, the State Department, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum highlight several priorities and concerns relating to the future of the archives, including
ensuring prompt digitization and transfer of the files to research institutions in Commission
member states; designing and implementing a classification system to allow for more efficient
searches of archived and digitized documents; continuing to reduce the backlog of requests for
information from the archives, and training and hiring staff to better assist researchers in
navigating the archives; and, in the long term, contemplating reform of what many consider a
cumbersome administrative and oversight structure.
^co^pⁱ^ed^aⁿ^d^t^r^aⁿ^sp^o^r^t^e^d^reco^r^d^{s f}^r^o^m^t^h^{e arch}ⁱ^v^{es i}ⁿ^t^h^{e 19}⁵⁰^{s and}¹⁹⁶⁰^s^.^Iⁿ^t^e^rvi^e^w^o^f^U.^S^.^Ho^l^o^caust^M^e^m^o^ri^al
^Mus^e^um^of^fⁱ^cⁱ^a^l^{, Ma}^r^c^{h 20}^07.
⁵^In^t^e^rvi^e^w^s^o^f^U.^S^.^Ho^l^o^cau^st^M^e^m^o^ri^al^M^u^seu^m^rep^r^esen^t^a^tⁱ^v^{e an}^d^U.^S^.^S^t^at^{e Dep}^a^rt^m^eⁿ^t^o^f^fⁱ^ci^al^,^M^a^rch²⁰⁰⁷^.
⁶^Inte^rv^ie^w^s^o^f^{ICRC a}^{nd IT}^{S of}^fⁱ^cⁱ^a^l^s^,^Ma^rc^{h a}^{nd N}^o^v^e^m^b^e^r^2007.

ITS management considers the digitization and transfer, and effective classification of archived
materials to be top priorities for the coming years. Some 17.9 million digital images making up
the archives’ Incarceration/Concentration Camp Collection and a so-called Central Names Index
of about 17.5 million names which appear in the archives have been transferred to the Holocaust
Museum thus far. Members of the public will be able to access these files with the assistance of
museum staff beginning in January 2008. ITS officials expect their so-called Wartime or Forced
Labor Collection to be digitized, transferred and accessible at the Holocaust Museum by mid-
2008, and the Post-war or Migration Collection by late 2009. A collection of correspondence
between ITS and survivors and others requesting information is expected to be available in
digitized form by early 2011.
Some Holocaust survivors and observers have raised concerns about the Holocaust Museum’s
ability and intention to make digitized materials from Bad Arolsen as accessible as possible to
survivors and their heirs. In particular, critics have questioned a decision not to make the Bad
Arolsen records directly available on the Internet, arguing that many survivors who are unable to
travel to Washington, DC, or Bad Arolsen deserve the opportunity to search the digitized records ⁷
online. ITS, Holocaust Museum and State Department officials contend that navigating the
millions of documents in the collection requires the assistance of trained archivists, and note that
an index of the 20,000 individual collections making up the transferred materials is available on
the Museum’s website. Members of the public will be able to browse this list online and contact ⁸
the Museum for help in finding individual records.
Although State Department and Holocaust Museum officials express confidence in ITS’s file
digitization process, they emphasize that digitizing, transferring, and organizing the records in a
searchable manner has required and will continue to require additional resources. In particular,
they note that as the focus of inquiries shifts from tracing individual victims of the Holocaust to
conducting historical research, ITS and the museum will need to employ trained archivists and
information specialists both to reclassify and to help search the collection. While the German
government has agreed to cover costs relating to file digitization, the Holocaust Museum is
seeking funds to pay for file transfer and to cover staffing, software, and hardware costs
associated with organizing and making the millions of records as accessible to the public as
possible. In all, the Museum estimates that these costs will total about $6.5 million over the
coming five years.
In 2006, the ICRC replaced long-time ITS director Biedermann and initiated efforts to
significantly reduce a 425,000 request backlog. ITS aims to eliminate the backlog by mid-2008.
Although most observers commend current ITS director Reto Meister for his efforts both to
reduce the backlog, and make the archives more accessible, some question the methods by which
the backlog has been so substantially reduced. Specifically, they contend that many of the ⁹
requests have been discarded, a significant portion likely due to the deaths of requesters. ITS has
⁷
^E^d^wⁱⁿ^Bl^ack,^“S^u^r^vi^vo^{rs b}^l^ast^m^u^seu^m^o^v^{er arch}ⁱ^v^e,^{” J}^T^A^Wⁱ^{re S}^e^rvi^ce,^M^a^y¹⁵^,²⁰⁰⁷^.
⁸^Inte^rv^ie^w^of^Holoc^a^u^{st Muse}^um^re^pre^s^eⁿ^ta^tiv^e^,^Oc^tobe^{r 2}⁰⁰⁷^.
⁹^Iⁿ^te^r^v^ie^w^of^U^.^{S. H}^o^loc^a^u^s^t^Me^m^o^rⁱ^a^l^Mus^e^um^r^e^pr^e^s^eⁿ^ta^tiv^e^,^M^a^r^c^{h 20}^07.

said it is committed to responding to new requests within an eight-week period and appears to be
complying with its policy.
As ITS’s mission shifts from tracing individuals to facilitating historical research, experts could
increasingly question the archives’ unique and oft-criticized administrative and oversight
structure. Specifically, some have argued that the ICRC—an organization dedicated to providing
humanitarian assistance—may not be the most appropriate entity to administer a historical
archive. Others contend that requiring the unanimous consent of an 11-member Commission for
most significant management decisions has impeded and could continue to impede effective day-
to-day management of the archives. Nonetheless, both the ICRC and the U.S. State Department
appear committed to supporting ITS’s current oversight structure, at least through 2012, when the
contents of the archives are expected to have been digitized and transferred to the Holocaust
Memorial Museum. ICRC officials have signaled a desire to discuss the organization’s continuing
role in managing the archives after the file transfer, but also acknowledge that difficult questions
as to the ownership of the archives and their location in Germany could complicate any decisions ¹⁰
regarding a change in leadership.

ITS representatives perceive the service’s mission as having evolved over time from tracing
victims and their families to providing information for a wide variety of purposes including
documentation for claims on World War II-era insurance policies. In 1998, following a series of
high-profile class-action lawsuits against insurance companies alleged never to have honored
millions of such policies, an international commission, the International Commission on
Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC), was established to honor unpaid Holocaust-era
insurance policies. ICHEIC ended its claims process in March 2007, having facilitated the
payment of $306.25 million to approximately 48,000 of what it had determined to be about ¹²
90,000 eligible claimants. Throughout its existence, ICHEIC was criticized, including by some
Members of Congress, for long delays in its claims process, for honoring only a small portion of
legitimate claims, and for conducting its activities with a general lack of transparency and ¹³
accountability. ICHEIC supporters and members of the Administration contend that the ICHEIC
process, which included publication of a total of about 520,000 policyholder names, was fair and ¹⁴
comprehensive, especially given the unprecedented legal and historical complexities of the task.
¹⁰
^Conv^e^r^s^a^tions^w^{ith ICRC}^of^fⁱ^cⁱ^a^l^s^,^N^o^v^e^m^b^e^r^2007.
¹¹^T^h^{is sectio}ⁿ^discu^{sses Ho}^lo^cau^st^{-era in}^su^ran^{ce issu}^{es on}^ly^insof^a^r^a^s^the^y^re^l^a^te^{to the}^opeⁿⁱ^ng^of^th^e^IT^{S a}^r^c^h^iv^e^s^.
^{For m}^o^re^inf^o^rm^a^{tion on}^ICHEIC^a^{nd g}^e^ne^ra^{l ins}^u^ra^nc^eⁱ^ssue^s^se^e^the^{ICHEIC w}^e^bsite^a^t^http^://w^ww^.ic^h^eⁱ^c^.^org^/;
^Mich^{ael Baz}^y^{ler, “Ho}^l^o^cau^{st Ju}^st^{ice: T}^h^{e Battle f}^o^{r Res}^titu^tioⁿⁱⁿ^{America’s Co}^u^r^{ts.” Ne}^w^Yo^rk^{: NYU P}^r^ess.²⁰⁰³^;
^an^d^P^r^o^ceedⁱⁿ^{gs o}^f^th^{e 19}⁹⁸^W^a^shⁱⁿ^gton^C^oⁿ^f^eren^{ce o}ⁿ^Ho^l^o^cau^st^{-era Assets,}^av^ailab^l^{e at h}^ttp^:^//www^.^s^tate.^g^o^v^/www/
^regi^oⁿ^s^/^e^u^r^/^h^o^l^o^cau^st^/^h^eac.^h^t^m^l^.
¹²^Se^e^I^C^H^E^I^C^’^s^fⁱ^na^{l r}^e^por^{t, “}^Fⁱⁿ^dⁱ^ng^C^l^aⁱ^m^a^nts^a^nd^P^a^yⁱ^ng^T^h^em^:^T^h^e^C^r^e^a^{tion a}ⁿ^d^W^o^r^k^ing^s^of^the^Iⁿ^te^rⁿ^a^tio^na^l
^Com^m^{ission on H}^o^loc^a^u^st^Era^In^sura^nc^e^Claⁱ^m^s^.”^Av^a^ila^ble^a^t^htt^p^://w^ww^.ic^h^eⁱ^c^.^org^/^.
¹³^{For e}^x^a^m^ple^,^som^e^Me^m^b^e^r^{s of}^Cong^re^{ss a}^{nd e}^x^pe^{rt w}^itne^sse^{s c}^r^itic^iz^e^d^{ICHEIC d}^u^ring^se^v^e^ra^{l c}^ong^re^ssiona^l
^h^eariⁿ^{gs o}ⁿ^ICHE^IC^an^{d Ho}^l^o^caust^{-era i}ⁿ^su^ran^{ce i}^ssu^{es h}^e^l^d^b^y^t^h^{e Ho}^u^s^{e Co}^m^mⁱ^t^t^{ee o}ⁿ^G^o^vern^meⁿ^t^Ref^o^rm^f^r^o^m
²⁰⁰^1-²⁰^03.^For^m^o^r^e^inf^o^r^m^a^tion^,^s^e^e^http:^//ov^e^r^s^ig^ht.h^ous^e^.^g^o^v^/^inv^e^s^tig^a^tions^.a^s^p^?ⁱ^d=²³⁷^.
¹⁴^Ex^pe^r^t^s^e^s^tim^a^t^e^tha^t^be^tw^e^eⁿ⁸⁰^0,0^{00 a}^nd⁹⁰^0,⁰⁰^{0 i}ⁿ^s^u^r^a^nc^e^p^o^li^cⁱ^e^s^w^e^r^e^s^o^{ld to J}^e^w^s^f^r^o^m¹⁹²⁰^-¹⁹^45.^Se^e
^http:^//www^.a^jr.org^.uk^/insura^nc^e^.

ICHEIC reports that its work was the result of extensive research and collaboration with a
number of insurance companies and with a wide variety of national and Holocaust archives.
ICHEIC did not seek access to materials in Bad Arolsen. ICHEIC and ITS representatives
contend that searches of the archives indicate that the records contain little if any definitive
information that could help resolve outstanding claims or lead to new insurance claims. ITS also
iterates that the archives have been and remain open to requests for documentation from
Holocaust victims and their families.
The February 2007 settlement of a lawsuit brought by Holocaust survivors against Italian
insurance giant Assicurazioni Generali (Generali) highlights disagreement with ICHEIC and
ITS’s statements regarding the potential usefulness of ITS records to new or existing insurance
claims. In the settlement, Generali agreed to continue to accept claims from individuals providing
documentation from the ITS archives until August 2008. The primary reason cited for the
extension is to allow potential claimants to take advantage of the expected opening of the ¹⁵
archives. How much information the archives contain relating to insurance policies remains
unclear. However, all but a small number of insurance-related lawsuits have been settled, and
ICHEIC is no longer accepting claims.
According to Holocaust survivors, their advocates and Administration and ITS officials,
congressional action was instrumental in drawing international attention to the archives’ closure,
and to opening them to historical research. After the May 2006 agreement to open the archives,
both the House and Senate passed resolutions urging International Commission member states to ¹⁶
expedite approval of the agreement. Several Members have also expressed an interest in
ensuring the timely digitization and transfer of ITS collections, and in exploring the possibility
that opening the archives could reveal documentation to substantiate additional claims on World-
War II era insurance policies.
On March 28, 2007, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen introduced H.R. 1746 requiring the
disclosure of Holocaust-era policies by insurers and establishing a federal cause of action for ^th^th^th
claims arising out of a covered policy. Similar bills were introduced in the 107, 108, and 109
Congresses. Although H.R. 1746 would have no direct effect on the Bad Arolsen archives, some
assert that improved access to the archives may reveal documentation relating to unpaid
Holocaust-era insurance policies. On the other hand, while the evidence is by no means
conclusive, ITS officials and some historians indicate it is unlikely that the archives contain ¹⁷
definitive evidence of such policies.
¹⁵
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