January 6,2012

Decisions – conception of man and ideologies under National Socialism and among extreme right-wingers

Advanced Training in Collaboration with the project “Red Line” on 14/15 March 2012

In collaboration with the pilot project “Red Line”, the International Tracing Service (ITS) offers an advanced training “Decisions – conception of man and ideologies under National Socialism and among extreme right-wingers”. The training will be held at the ITS in Bad Arolsen on 14 and 15 March 2012. The closing date for registration will be 17 February 2012.

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International Conference: On the traces of the Death Marches

November 23/24, 2011

The International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen holds a two-day conference “On the traces of the Death Marches – Crimes, Investigations and Remembrance” on 23 and 24 November 2011. In the focus of the conference will be the early endeavours of the allied forces and the UNRRA to reconstruct the death marches between 1946 and 1951. Since 2010 a group of experts and researchers has for the first time systematically examined the corresponding documents in the archives of the ITS.

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Conference on Memorials’ Work and Interviews with Contemporary Witnesses

17 and 18 November 2011 in Bad Arolsen

In cooperation with the International Tracing Service (ITS) Bad Arolsen, the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the Communist Dictatorship in East Germany and the Association Against Oblivion – For Democracy invite the senior staff of memorial centres, of institutes for political education and of associations working with contemporary witnesses and on projects of oral history to take part in their 14th conference on 17 – 18 November 2011.

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Exhibition "BookWitnesses" in Frankfurt/Main

Catholic Academy „Haus am Dom“ 9 November until 1 December 2011

The Catholic Academy „Haus am Dom“ in Frankfurt/Main will present the exhibition „BookWitnesses - Remembrance and Documentation - Early books from the International Tracing Service“ from 9 November until 1 December 2011. The exhibition features a selection of remarkable books from the ITS library including publications which emerged right after the end of WWII.

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Seminar for Teachers Offered in Cooperation with Yad Vashem

27 - 30 October 2011 in Bad Arolsen

Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies will hold a seminar for German-speaking pedagogues at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen between 27 and 30 October 2011. The 13 participants of the seminar shall be enabled to pursue in-depth research in the ITS archives and work out teaching units.

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International Archival Conference on the Description and Accessibility of the Documents in the ITS Archives

10 and 11 October 2011 in Bad Arolsen

On 10 and 11 October 2011, an archival conference will be held at the International Tracing Service (ITS). Its subjects will be the usability, description and accessibility of the documents in the ITS archives. The two-day conference was suggested by the ITS in a meeting of the International Commission whose eleven member states lay down the guidelines for the work of the ITS.

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Art against Dictators

Exhibition on “Josef Čapek (1887-1945) – Drawings and political Caricatures” on 25th August 2011

The International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen cordially invites you to the exhibition on “Josef Čapek (1887-1945) – Drawings and political Caricatures”. Čapek had used both his activities as artist and writer, to express a vehement protest against the National Socialist dictatorship already in its early stages. As a consequence, he was arrested in 1939 and died in Concentration Camp Bergen-Belsen in 1945. The exhibition will be open to the interested public up to 27 October 2011.

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“Clarifying Fates – Keeping Memory Alive“

Presentation of the WLZ-FZ Documentation in Bad Arolsen on 16 August 2011

The regional papers “Waldeckische Landeszeitung und Frankenberger Zeitung (WLZ-FZ)” and the International Tracing Service (ITS) cordially invites you to the presentation of the WLZ-FZ Documentation titled “Clarifying Fates – Keeping Memory Alive”.

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“The ITS – An Institution for Both, the Victims and Survivors of Nazi Persecution”

Symposium for Pedagogues from 27th to 29th April 2011

In collaboration with the children’s teaching home to promote inter-religious and inter-cultural learning in Recklinghausen and with the Čapek Society for International Understanding and Humanism in Hagen, the Teaching Academy of the Association of  Protestant Educators (Gemeinschaft Evangelischer Erzieher / GEE) offers pedagogues a symposium that takes place at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen from 27th to 29th April 2011. The ITS will acquaint the interested expert visitors with its offers in the fields of educational work and research possibilities in its archives.

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"I wanted to halt the War"

Exhibition on Georg Elser from 11 March to 27 May 2011

The International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen invites you to the exhibition “I wanted to halt the War – Georg Elser and the Assassination Attempt of 8 November 1939”. The joiner Georg Elser wanted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in Munich in order to prevent the war begun by Germany from spreading. A couple of minutes before the bomb exploded, the dictator left the assembly hall.

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Meeting Sally Perel

Reading at Christian Rauch Secondary School in Bad Arolsen on 18th February 2011

The International Tracing Service and Christian Rauch secondary school in Bad Arolsen invite pupils of the ninth form to a talk with Sally Perel, contemporary witness and Holocaust survivor, on 18th February 2011. Successfully pretending to be an “Ethnic German” during the Nazi era, he survived the Persecution of the Jews. Later on, he put down his memories in the book titled “Hitlerjunge Salomon” (Hitler-boy Salomon).

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"SS doctor in Mauthausen Aribert Heim – Chronology of a Search”

Reading with Dr Stefan Klemp in Bad Arolsen on 16 February 2011

The International Tracing Service (ITS) invites you to a reading from the book titled “KZ-Arzt Aribert Heim - Geschichte einer Fahndung” (Concentration Camp Surgeon Aribert Heim – Chronology of a Search) with historian and author Dr Stefan Klemp. In his publication, he gives a description of the search for one of the most wanted Nazi war criminals also known as “Dr. Death” and “Butcher of Mauthausen”. 

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"Transit Berlin" – Film screening with Gabriel Heim

at the BAC theatre Bad Arolsen on 27th January 2011

Marking this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day, the International Tracing Service (ITS) and the BAC theatre at Bad Arolsen invite to a film screening followed by a discussion with filmmaker Gabriel Heim. The documentary “Transit Berlin” relates the almost forgotten story of the three camps for Jewish Displaced Persons (DPs/stateless people) in post-war Berlin - in Wittenau, Mariendorf-Tempelhof and Schlachtensee-Zehlendorf (Dueppel Center).

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“Meeting again in Russia”

German language talk given by Dagmar Nabert on 26 January 2011 in Bad Arolsen

The Bad Arolsen association “Historicum20” and the International Tracing Service (ITS) cordially invite you to a talk by Dagmar Nabert. The adoptive child that was brought up in Germany will tell the moving story of the search for her natural mother who had been deported as a forced labourer to Germany during the Second World War. It was not until 55 years later that mother and daughter found one another again in Russian Belgorod – thanks to the help of the tracing service and investigations initiated by the media. The story of Nabert’s fate was published in a book titled “Russenkind” (Russian child).

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"BookWitnesses”

Exhibition at Historicum 20 between 29th October and 15th December 2010

In collaboration with Historicum 20 and the town’s Museum, the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen presents the exhibition “BookWitnesses” that can be visited till 15th December 2010. The exhibition will show a representative selection of publications from the ITS library. Book patrons from the institutions involved have read their book favourites and written respective exposés.

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The “Lebensborn” Association

Exhibition at the ITS 18 May until 2nd July 2010

The International Tracing Service (ITS) of Bad Arolsen presents the exhibition "The Lebensborn" association until the 2nd of July 2010. Consisting of 13 information panels, the exhibition was put together by the regional youth organisation Kreisjugendring Ebersberg and portrays the racist goals of the Lebensborn association backed by the SS. The objective was to increase the birth rate of “Aryan” children.

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The Indemnification Policy of the Federal Republic and the ITS

Talk by Archival Manager Udo Jost on 14th April 2010

The indemnification policy pursued by the Federal Republic of Germany and the involvement of the International Tracing Service (ITS) in that policy will be the subject of a talk Udo Jost, Archival Manager at ITS, is going to deliver this Wednesday. By issuing confirmations or certificates for the victims of Nazi persecution, ITS played an important role in the German indemnification scheme. The talk is held on 14th April 2010 at 7.30 p.m at Christian Daniel Rauch-Museum.

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“Karl Plagge (1897-1957) – A Righteous among the Nations“

Exhibition from 26 March until 7 May 2010

Between March 26 and May 7, 2010 the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen presents the exhibition “Karl Plagge (1897-1957) – A Righteous among the Nations”. In the exhibition worked out by the Darmstadt history workshop, the saving of about 250 Jews by German army officer Karl Plagge is portrayed. Yad Vashem honoured the Darmstadt-native with the title of a “Righteous among the Nations” in 2005.

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Archives’ Day

A look into the archive is offered to all interested persons on 6th March 2010

The International Tracing Service (ITS) invited the public to Archives’ Day held on Saturday, 6th March 2010. The countrywide event organised by the Association of German Archivists (VdA) took place for the fifth time. On this day, archives introduced themselves to the public elaborating on the key theme “Dem Verborgenen auf der Spur” (Finding traces of what is latent).

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”Survived, Liberated, Homeless – Displaced Persons in our Region“

Exhibition at the ITS on view until 1 December 2009

An exhibition on view until 1 December 2009 at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen chronicles the history of two displaced persons (DP) camps in Korbach and Kassel-Hasenhecke. Under the title “Survived, Liberated, Homeless – Displaced Persons in our Region,” school children at Christian Rauch Gymnasium in Bad Arolsen present the results of their project week at the ITS archive.

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“Their Death Won´t Make the Slightest Difference”

Exhibition on NS Euthanasia in Korbach from 9 September 2009 to 25 April 2010

Korbach´s Wolfgang Bonhage Museum is showing an exhibition on NS euthanasia in Waldeck-Frankenberg county entitled “Their Death Won´t Make the Slightest Difference” from 9 September 2009 to 25 April 2010.  A work group which has spent two years focusing on the topic, on the initiative of the Lebenshilfe Werk and with the involvement of the International Tracing Service (ITS), will present its research results.

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„Private Tolkatchev at the Gates of Hell“

Exhibition from 3 September until 19 October 2009 in Bad Arolsen

In cooperation with the Friends of Yad Vashem in Germany the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen presents the exhibition „Private Tolkatchev at the Gates of Hell“. The exhibition was conceived by Yad Vashem and shows reproductions of paintings and drawings by the Russian-Jewish soldier and artist Zinovii Tolkatchev.

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Introduction of Fritz Bauer Biography

February 8, 2009 in Munich

ITS historian Irmtrud Wojak has introduced her new publication “Fritz Bauer 1903-1968, Biography of a German-Jewish Prosecutor.” The first book presentation took place on February 8, 2009 at the Jewish Cultural Center in Munich. In Bad Arolsen she presented her book on February, 18, 2009 at the Christian Daniel Rauch-Museum.

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