The search in the online platform is intuitive – each search provides results in two categories:
- Names: This is the main place to find information on individuals – it is possible to search by family name or first name, but also by prisoner number and place of birth. We hope to allow more search options in the future. It is important to remember that the name search only searches digitally indexed collections and is not complete. Central parts of the archive have not been indexed yet.
- Topics: The “topic” search is the search within archival descriptions and it enables users to search for places, terms, and names. This search can be used to find information on broader issues – this search mode is the best way to access the parts of the archive which are not yet indexed as well as to explore the vast archival holdings on the basis of themes rather than names. We have added a theme-based index as well as some other filter options in order to make the search easier, these tools will be refined and augmented by geo-references in the future.