babehshalom
03-27-2008, 04:32 PM
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3523792,00.html
Nazi records given to Holocaust groups
Red Cross' International Tracing Service turns over names of 3.5 million Jews displaced during WWII to Yad Vashem , US Holocaust Museum, Warsaw Institute of Remembrance
Associated Press Published: 03.26.08, 10:48 / Israel Jewish Scene
The names of some 3.5 million people displaced after World War II have been provided to Holocaust memorial groups and museums in the United States, Israel and Poland by a recently opened archive of Nazi-era documents.
The International Tracing Service of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday that it had handed over a third round of digitally copied documents to the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and the Warsaw-based National Institute of Remembrance.
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The archive, based in Bad Arolsen, Germany, said the transfer involved copies of index cards that feature the names of people who were freed from Nazi concentration and labor camps as well as prisoners of war.
The move came after a meeting March 18-19 of representatives of national organizations from the member nations of the International Commission, which oversees ITS.
"It is essential that we can share, thanks to the opening of the archives, our documentation on the fate suffered by the victims of the Nazi regime," said Reto Meister, the ITS director. "This will facilitate access to the information that is of such great value to the victims and their families, irrespective of whether they live in Europe, Israel or America."
Paul Shapiro, director of the center for advanced Holocaust studies at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, said the records on refugees displaced by the war are extensive. "It's an incredibly rich resource," he said.
Sixteen miles of papers
There are millions of index cards, documents and files in the ITS archive, some of which contain detailed family histories. The archive made its first distribution of copied documents late last year, to make access easier for family members, friends and now researchers.
For more than 60 years, the information was locked away in the secretive archive, which houses records scooped up by Allied troops from concentration camps, Nazi SS offices and postwar displaced-persons compounds.
It will take the ITS two more years to finish copying onto hard drives the 16 linear miles of papers that fill a half dozen buildings. So far, around 67 million images of documents have been transferred to the memorials and museums.
Sharing the files will allow survivors and victims' relatives to see true images of documents, transportation lists, Gestapo orders, camp registers, slave labor booklets, death books, that demonstrate their tortures and that may have determined whether they lived or died.
"We aim at providing easier access to the documents available at the Tracing Service for the victims and their families, and researchers alike," Meister said in a statement.
"For this it is essential that we create a close cooperation between all the institutes that plan on working with the documentation available at the ITS. This will allow us to share experiences, and what's more, share the tremendous time and effort that will be needed for this indexing and cataloguing work."
Nazi records given to Holocaust groups
Red Cross' International Tracing Service turns over names of 3.5 million Jews displaced during WWII to Yad Vashem , US Holocaust Museum, Warsaw Institute of Remembrance
Associated Press Published: 03.26.08, 10:48 / Israel Jewish Scene
The names of some 3.5 million people displaced after World War II have been provided to Holocaust memorial groups and museums in the United States, Israel and Poland by a recently opened archive of Nazi-era documents.
The International Tracing Service of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday that it had handed over a third round of digitally copied documents to the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and the Warsaw-based National Institute of Remembrance.
Never Forget
Israel, EU to hold Holocaust conference in 2008 / Ronny Sofer
Minister Herzog initiates conference to discuss recent findings on Holocaust, find ways to educate European youths on subject. 'Anti-Semitism and Islamic extremism in Europe are cause for concern,' he says
Full story
The archive, based in Bad Arolsen, Germany, said the transfer involved copies of index cards that feature the names of people who were freed from Nazi concentration and labor camps as well as prisoners of war.
The move came after a meeting March 18-19 of representatives of national organizations from the member nations of the International Commission, which oversees ITS.
"It is essential that we can share, thanks to the opening of the archives, our documentation on the fate suffered by the victims of the Nazi regime," said Reto Meister, the ITS director. "This will facilitate access to the information that is of such great value to the victims and their families, irrespective of whether they live in Europe, Israel or America."
Paul Shapiro, director of the center for advanced Holocaust studies at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, said the records on refugees displaced by the war are extensive. "It's an incredibly rich resource," he said.
Sixteen miles of papers
There are millions of index cards, documents and files in the ITS archive, some of which contain detailed family histories. The archive made its first distribution of copied documents late last year, to make access easier for family members, friends and now researchers.
For more than 60 years, the information was locked away in the secretive archive, which houses records scooped up by Allied troops from concentration camps, Nazi SS offices and postwar displaced-persons compounds.
It will take the ITS two more years to finish copying onto hard drives the 16 linear miles of papers that fill a half dozen buildings. So far, around 67 million images of documents have been transferred to the memorials and museums.
Sharing the files will allow survivors and victims' relatives to see true images of documents, transportation lists, Gestapo orders, camp registers, slave labor booklets, death books, that demonstrate their tortures and that may have determined whether they lived or died.
"We aim at providing easier access to the documents available at the Tracing Service for the victims and their families, and researchers alike," Meister said in a statement.
"For this it is essential that we create a close cooperation between all the institutes that plan on working with the documentation available at the ITS. This will allow us to share experiences, and what's more, share the tremendous time and effort that will be needed for this indexing and cataloguing work."