Document Classification
The sources of information are documents from
» Wartime and the
The documents are therefore sorted into these two categories.
Wartime Documents
The Wartime Documents section stores records on forced labourers who were brought to work on Third Reich territory during the Second World War.
In this department the locations of workplaces mentioned on the tracing request are determined, and the archives are checked for matching documents on the basis of existing index cards and on the basis of information in the electronic archives.
On completion of this search, members of our staff evaluate the results by preparing a chronological list of all pieces of information found in the archives relating to the sought person.
Tracing requests can be made in German, English, French, Italian, Polish or Russian, and the results of the ITS search can be returned in the same language. Information is provided free of charge and is usually available within eight weeks.
Documents relating to Forced Labourers
The documents relating to forced labourers during wartime fall into the following categories:
- Foreign workers who came to Germany voluntarily in response to Reich recruitment;
- Foreign workers mobilized by German employment offices to work in the occupied zones;
- Non-German citizens who were forcibly transported by the German authorities in Eastern Europe to satisfy labour requirements in Germany.
In December 1945 and January 1946, the Commander-in-Chief of the Occupation Forces in the western zones of Germany (American, British and French forces) issued an order (order § 163) to the German authorities to secure all information pertaining to United Nations military and civilian personnel and all other foreign citizens, German Jews and stateless persons residing in these zones after September 2, 1939 or who had been brought there by force.
Similar records exist in those parts of the Soviet zone that were occupied at the time by US troops.
The collection includes the following records:
- Records of foreign citizens present at the time of compilation
- Records of deceased foreign citizens
- Burial site notices
- Marriage certificates of foreign citizens
- Birth certificates of foreign citizens
- Records of foreign citizens residing temporarily or permanently in towns or communities during the war
- Personal effects left behind by foreign citizens
- Foreign citizens’ medical records
- Legal or other official records on foreign citizens
- Records of foreign citizens kept by medical insurance companies, pension funds and employment offices.
Post-War Documents
The Post-War Documents section holds records relating to displaced persons who were attended to by international aid agencies on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and England after the war.
The location of the whereabouts of the sought person (e.g. DP camps) given on the tracing request is checked, and the index card or electronic catalogue is scanned for matching documents.
A member of our staff then makes a chronological list of the records relating to the sought person.
Repatriation and Emigration Documents
The ITS archives hold records from the UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration), the IRO (International Refugee Organization) and various other aid agencies, dating from the end of the Second World War and thereafter.
The collection documents the repatriation of displaced persons and includes records of emigration resulting from the Second World War.
The following documents are available:
- Original catalogue cards (DP-1, DP-2)
- Medical records and books
- Care and maintenance (C/M1) files
- ICEM records (Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration)
- Displaced persons questionnaires
- UNHCR files
- Hong Kong files
- Miscellaneous lists
The care and maintenance (C/M1) files and displaced persons questionnaires refer to approximately 250,000 families, providing information relating to roughly 850,000 individuals. Displaced persons were required to enter details of their whereabouts in the previous 12 years in the questionnaires.
The International Tracing Service is also in possession of IRO and ICEM (Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration) records dating from 1948 to 1970. The records list all former displaced persons who emigrated from West Germany, France and Italy to other countries by sea or air.
The archives also contain documents relating to immigration to Palestine and Israel facilitated by the AJDC (American Joint Distribution Committee), as well as the arrival and transfer records of approximately 2,500 displaced persons camps.