One Letter Can Be of Great Importance
Understanding Documents of Concentration camp
Inmates Through the ITS e-Guide
Christiane Weber
The documents from concentration camp inmates, which are conveyed at the International Tracing Service (ITS), can tell a lot about the fate of the humans behind the cards and forms. However, extensive background knowledge is required to understand them in their full context. With the e-Guide, the ITS offers a key to 'open up' the documents. The free online tool in German and English facilitates users to comprehend the 30 most common documents which were filled out in concentration camps, e.g. Prisoner Registration Cards, personal effects cards, post control cards and sick bay cards (see fig. 1). In co-operation with memorials, international scholars and numerous other experts, the ITS is now making this knowledge available at https://eguide.its-arolsen.org.
What does a “3/1 45” on a labor assignment card stand for? Who filled in which space on the prisoner registration form? Why does it matter whether Pantine or Holländer is checked on a clothing storage room card? And what did it mean for the person if a certain scribble is found on his or her sick bay card? When working at a memorial site or in educational programs teaching about the Holocaust one often faces questions like these. But even while working with the historical documents on an academic level quite a lot of questions arise which can delay or – in the worst case – even prevent further insight.