17 million
documents online
The Arolsen Archives are the world’s most comprehensive archive on National Socialist persecution of individuals, although this was not their original purpose. The institution, which until recently was known as the International Tracing Service, was founded by the Allies during the war. It was charged with the task of finding missing people. The archive as it is today, comprising more than 30 million original and copied documents, is a byproduct of that task.
As its name implies, the Arolsen Archives are located in the provincial town of Bad Arolsen in rural north Hesse, Germany. The location was chosen due to its centrality between the four occupation zones in Germany, and because it was not destroyed by Allied bombings as were other nearby towns.
During its long history, the institution has been governed by many institutions, including the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, the International Refugee Organization (IRO), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Today it is headed by an International Commission with representatives from many countries which suffered at the hands of the Nazis, or in which large victim groups reside. For a long period of the institution’s history, it was off limits for researchers and the public, mainly due to a very strict interpretation of the institution’s mandate by two ICRC Directors. This period ended in 2012, when the ICRC relinquished its directorship of the institution. The Berlin agreements were signed in 2011, and the institution came under the supervision of a new International Commission committed to openness. This process culminated in the change of the institution’s name to “Arolsen Archives” and the mass publication of a growing number of documents online.
Since the creation of the new Arolsen Archives online platform, more than 400,000 users from dozens of countries have used it to search for names and topics, in addition to the almost 25,000 annual requests for information submitted to the Arolsen Archives Tracing department.
Documentation from Auschwitz at the Arolsen Archives
The Arolsen Archives hold a multitude of documents concerning individuals incarcerated in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. The documentation concerning these individuals is spread across the entire Arolsen Archives collection and includes original deportation lists from the German Reich to Auschwitz, individual documentation concerning prisoners transferred from Auschwitz to various concentrations camps, and innumerous tracing requests regarding the fate of victims and survivors of the camp.
The online archive of the Arolsen Archives is a rich source for research – for families as well as for scholars. Yet there are many challenges impeding the organization’s vision for full online accessibility.
Giora Zwilling, Deputy Head of Archives, Arolsen Archives
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