Phonetic Classification

One of the greatest challenges when searching for information stems from the fact that the names of persons, institutions and places were often recorded phonetically, resulting in multiple spellings of the same name. It is virtually impossible to reconstruct the fate of the victims without an in-depth knowledge of all the different variants.

It is not unusual to find upwards of 20 documents relating to the same person, whose name appears in diverse forms.

How did these variations come about?

The reason for these variations can be traced back to the chronology of events. Displaced persons were often first recorded by German speakers. Later, prisoners of various nationalities carried out this task in the offices of the concentration camps. Since the names were recorded according to how the individual received the pronunciation, the first discrepancies in spelling appeared.

Some deliberately changed their names as a means of camouflage. Of course, names were changed for more commonplace reasons such as marriage, and for reasons of assimilation when emigrating.

To complicate matters further, requests very often refer to the phonetic names of places and institutions as recalled by the applicant rather than to the official names.

The benefits of digitisation

Many – but not all – of these alphabetic-phonetic problems can be solved with the help of computer software. Success in the retrieval of information, however, will always depend on a combination of the professional experience of ITS staff and relevant technical support.

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