March 3,2010

Search for Contemporary Witnesses from DP Camp Lahde

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Sonja von Behrens spent a two-day investigative visit to the International Tracing Service at Bad Arolsen viewing lists from displaced persons’ camp Lahde and checking DPs’ names. Her research endeavour is to culminate in the production of another book on the post-1945 history of her hometown Minden and its surroundings. “It would be wonderful if I could manage to make a connection with former DPs in Poland“, says 43-year-old von Behrens expectantly.

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February 22,2010

The Children from “Bullenhuser Damm”

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Mandated by Concentration Camp Memorial Centre Neuengamme and the association titled “Kinder vom Bullenhuser Damm e.V.”, historian Christine Eckel sifted through the archival material kept by the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen last week. She is investigating the fates of 20 children who, with their nurses, were murdered by the SS during the night of 21st April 1945. “In order to have a full view of the crime, we exhaust all information sources. As regards ITS, its children’s files and case correspondence are of special relevance to us”, said 30-years-old Eckel.

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February 15,2010

Research for the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism

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On behalf of the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism, historian Dr Susanne Meinl spent the last weeks at the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen pursuing research. “In a first step, I am examining the hefty documentation selecting out the segments of relevance to us“, said Meinl. The Munich Nazi documentation centre is a project of the capital of the federal state Munich in cooperation with the Free State of Bavaria and the Federal Republic of Germany. Its objective is to build, and give shape and form to, a place of future-oriented historical-political education.

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February 10,2010

Researching Ohrdruf Forced Labour Camp

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Hobby researcher Klaus-Peter Schambach spent three days at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen examining documents on the Ohrdruf prison camp. Schambach´s research looked into how the camp was built, if it can be considered an independent and third concentration camp in Thuringia and existing documentation.

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February 2,2010

Searching for Eye Witnesses of DP Camps in the French Zone

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Her intention to write a dissertation on displaced persons in the French-occupied zone in post-war Germany has led Julia Maspero to the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS). “I attempt to find out from where the DPs originally had come, what they had gone through during the war, how they got along in the DP camps and where they ended up finally”, explains the doctoral candidate at Sorbonne University in Paris her project. She is also trying to find eye witnesses of the time.

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January 19,2010

Exchange of Information with Memorial Centre Concentration Camp Moringen

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On behalf of Memorial Centre Concentration Camp Moringen Julia Braun and Stefan Wilbricht are searching through more than 3500 names in the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen. “Thanks to the archive’s opening, it has become possible for us to compare the data kept in Moringen with those held at ITS”, said Wilbricht. “Moreover, we find it important to record the victims’ life stories before and after their confinement in Moringen. This is feasible nowhere but at ITS.”

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January 8,2010

History acquired based on biographies

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Christoph Schwarz spent two days at the International Tracing Service (ITS) archive in Bad Arolsen researching the fates of 60 Polish children.  The educator from Freiburg is using their life stories as material for his history lessons. “I would like my students to learn about National Socialism using a different approach.  My experience has shown me that adolescents are better able to deal with the topic when they acquire history based on biographies.”

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December 11,2009

Excursion of the German Red Cross (DRK)

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The Berlin-based department for international cooperation with the General Secretariat of the German Red Cross (DRK) held its annual team meeting at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen this week. Apart from discussing their field of work, the 20 participants formed an idea of ITS functions and visited the archives. “We want Bad Arolsen to be better known”, said Martin Hahn, head of the department.

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December 2,2009

"Time does not heal all wounds"

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Natan Kellerman, project development director and clinical psychologist at Amcha, gave a talk on December 1 at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen on the psychological effects of the Holocaust. Amcha offers Holocaust survivors and their families psychosocial support as a national Israeli center. “It is important for survivors that the world is aware of their fate and that their presence refutes every denial,” said Kellerman.

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November 26,2009

Kershaw sees Research Potential

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Realizing his book project on the war end in Germany, the well-known historian, Professor Ian Kershaw, has spent three days at the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS). He informed himself about its holdings and paid special attention to the voluminous collection of documents on death marches. “A significant aspect in my book”, said Kershaw. Being in Bad Arolsen for the first time, the Englishman showed enthusiasm for the documentation.  

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November 25,2009

Study Excursion of Archival School Marburg

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As integral part of their studies, 45 future archivists at the Marburg-based Archival School have taken part in a guided tour through the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen today. The students took advantage of the two-hours round to gain a survey of the diversity of the documents.

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November 25,2009

Clarification and Commemoration as a Task

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On his journey leading him to places where he can investigate the fate of homosexuals deported from France, Jean-Luc Schwab made a stop at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen. He wanted to inform himself about the type of documents kept here and leafed through the files of various victims. “It is good to have this archive available for use, as it is an important source of information”, said the French.

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November 25,2009

“I´m happy to be alive”

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Rudolf Brazda went through three years of hell at the Buchenwald concentration camp. He survived. Today the 96-year-old is the last known former victim of Nazi persecution of gays. “I´m not complaining. I´m thankful to be alive and healthy,” said the senior with a smile.

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November 20,2009

Dissertation on Concentration Camp Riga-Kaiserwald

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Preparing her dissertation, Franziska Jahn has been looking through files and records at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen for a week. The historian supported by the Berlin Centre for Research on Anti-Semitism builds her paper on her previous finals’ thesis “Concentration Camp Kaiserwald in Riga. “The documents held by the tracing service provide accurate details on the life conditions and survival chances of prisoners kept in CC Riga.”

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November 19,2009

Research on Buchenwald Prisoner Infirmary

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Jena student Ralf Leipold visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) archive in Bad Arolsen to examine documents on the history of the prisoner infirmary at Buchenwald concentration camp.  His findings will contribute to the expansion of the educational offerings of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorial Foundation. “The scope of the documents at the ITS is impressive. I managed to get an overview during the four days.”

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November 13,2009

On the Loss of Identity

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A report broadcast on the American TV network CBS compelled Canadian author Deborah Schnitzer to visit the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen. She wanted to learn how the archive works firsthand and see documents on her husband´s family. “I´m interested in how the archive has changed since it opened its doors for research and how the documentation is structured,” said Schnitzer. “The kinds of records will reveal something about how identities were robbed and destroyed.”

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November 9,2009

Branded a Traitor at Home

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Moscow researcher Alexej Konopatchenkov spent four days at the International Tracing Service archives examining material on Russian prisoners of the concentration camp Mauthausen. “I was able to get an idea of the scope of the documents,” said the historian.  “There is still only limited interest in the topic in Russia, but we “ ´have to understand our history.´ ”

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November 4,2009

Turning a Number into a Name

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Thomas Irmer conducted research this week for the second time at the International Tracing Service (ITS) on behalf of the memorial foundation of Saxony-Anhalt. He reviewed the prisoner numbers of nearly 1000 victims of the Gardelegen massacre which took place at the end of the Second World War. “I´m turning numbers into names and thereby try to return the victims a part of their dignity,” reported Irmer.

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October 23,2009

Dachau Memorial Site staff gets an overview of documents

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Dr. Gabriele Hammermann, Director of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, spent a week with two colleagues at the International Tracing Service (ITS) getting an overview of the collection of documents housed in Bad Arolsen. They focused mainly on the fates of former prisoners and the SS´s written correspondence on the Dachau concentration camp. “We are impressed by the breadth of the documents, which are of particular importance to our archive and to the field of research,” said Hammermann.

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October 9,2009

Database on female prisoners in Mauthausen

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Dr. Brigitte Halbmayr and Dr. Helga Amesberger of the Institute for Conflict Research (IKF) in Vienna visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen in early October to do research for their study of former female prisoners at Mauthausen and its satellite concentration camp. They also wanted to safeguard current database records on the women and add further biographical information. “The ITS is an important source for our work because of its documents and correspondence files,” said both Austrians.

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October 7,2009

US Consul General Alford appeals for more research

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The new US Consul General in Frankfurt am Main, Edward M. Alford, sees the future of the International Tracing Service (ITS) as a research center. “When the last victim passes on, the documents must bear witness to the enormity of the Nazi atrocities,” said the US representative during a visit to the archive, which houses over 30 million files on National Socialist persecution. The USA is a member of an International Commission which oversees the ITS. The commission, comprised of 11 member states and chaired by the US, is currently discussing the institution´s future role.

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October 6,2009

Seeking the author of Buchenwald memoirs

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It was not the search for a relative but for three notebooks from a great aunt´s estate which led Heinz Bachmann from Switzerland to the ITS (International Tracing Service) in Bad Arolsen. Buchenwald concentration camp survivor Marton Stark had recorded his experiences in the notebooks at the end of 1945. “I was deeply touched by what I read,” said Bachmann. The 55-year old immediately decided that he would like to meet the author and publish his memoirs.

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September 23,2009

Koop: “ITS is the Institution to approach for a General Overview“

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The well-known journalist and publicist Volker Koop sifted through the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS) late in September gathering material for his new book project on the so-called “Sonder- und Ehrenhäftlinge” (special inmates and prisoners of honour) of the concentration camps. The high-ranking hostages of the Nazi regime included politicians, officers, priests and prominent figures from 17 nations, among them statesmen like the former French Prime Minister Léon Blum and members of the Stauffenberg family. Koop summarised the success he had had with his research and the impression he had gained of the ITS archives as follows:

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September 18,2009

Thesis on the Reconstruction of the architectural history of Neuengamme

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Research for his doctoral thesis brought Andreas Ehresmann, Director of the Sandbostel memorial site, to the International Tracing Service (ITS) in mid-September. The subject of his thesis is the reconstruction of the architectural history of Neuengamme concentration camp. “This is the first thesis of its kind”, said Ehresmann. “The system underpinning the construction of concentration camps was only brought into the focus of research only in the mid-1990s.”

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September 16,2009

Pursuing the Traces of Russian Prisoners of War

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It has been eleven years now that the Dutch journalist Remco Reiding for the first time set his foot on the Russian cemetery near former concentration camp Amersfoort, not knowing that he would be under the sway of this place ever since. Reiding retraces the life story of the people buried there undertaking a parallel search for any of their next of kin alive. In mid-September, he had come to the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen attempting to find further information on their fate.

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September 11,2009

Comparative Study on Mauthausen Interviews

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Working on a project of the Vienna-based Ludwig Boltzmann institute for Historical Sociology, historian Alexander Prenninger retraced persecution routes at the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS) for a week. His pertinent findings will become part of a comparative study on oral memory reports delivered by survivors of Concentration Camp Mauthausen. “I have come across plenty of information”, said the Austrian researcher.

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September 3,2009

“Pictures put a Face to the Documents”

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About 130 guests – among them mayor Jürgen van der Horst, the member of the regional parliament Reinhard Kahl, Professor Dietfrid Krause-Vilmar and Ernst Klein from the association “Gegen das Vergessen” (counteracting oblivion) – were welcomed to the opening of the exhibition “Private Tolkatchev – At the Gates of Hell“ by the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen on 3rd September 2009 . “We are pleased to present for the first time an exhibition at the ITS,” said Director Jean-Luc Blondel. “This is one further step towards opening our institution to the region.”

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September 2,2009

Names of 100 Hinzert concentration camp prisoners found

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Dr. Beate Welter, director of the memorial at the SS special camp/concentration camp Hinzert, spent 3 days at the beginning of September researching documents at the International Tracing Service (ITS) archive.  She found information on the camp, examined transport lists and studied the fates of individual victims.  “It was the first time I laid eyes on a number of the documents.  We also came across roughly 100 new prisoner names,” said the historian. 

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August 25,2009

Talks with Stasi Archive

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A delegation of the “Bundesbeauftragten für die Unterlagen des ehemaligen Staatssicherheitsdienstes der DDR (BStU)” (Special Federal Representative responsible for preserving the documents of the former State Security Service of the GDR) came to visit the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen on 25^th August 2009. On a guided tour through the archives and in talks with ITS archivist Karsten Kühnel and Nicole Dominicus, Birgit Salamon, Head of the archival holdings’ section at the BStU, and her colleagues, Dr Karsten Jedlitschka and Stephan Wolf informed themselves about ITS’ archival holdings and its modus procedendi.

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August 24,2009

Child Forced Labour under Nazi reign

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Over the past week, Professor Johannes-Dieter Steinert was carrying out research into the subject of “Child Forced Labour in National Socialist Germany and German occupied Eastern Europe from 1939 to 1945” at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen. For two years, the Professor for Contemporary European History and Migration Studies at Wolverhampton University has been gathering information for his book. At the ITS, he scrutinized among others documents originating from the camps of Lebrechtsdorf (Potulice) and Litzmannstadt (Łódź).

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August 18,2009

Research on DP Camp

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Dr. Adam Seipp, assistant professor of history at Texas A&M University, spent two days at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen viewing records on displaced persons and historical documents for his book project Strangers in the Wild Place: Americans, Refugees, and Germans, 1945 – 55. He has visited various archives, museums and institutions for his newest project and has conducted interviews with eyewitnesses. “The documents at the ITS are enormously helpful for my work. They help bring people´s fates in to life in my book,” reported Seipp.

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August 12,2009

Database on Norwegian Holocaust Victims

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Bjarte Bruland, head curator and historian at the Jewish Museum in Oslo, spent two days in August at the International Tracing Service (ITS) researching information on Norwegians persecuted under National Socialism. His findings will be included in the museum´s new database which was created last September. “I didn´t expect to find so many interesting references,” said the historian.

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August 10,2009

Research on SS racial fanaticism

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Dana Schlegelmilch, a research assistant at the Wewelsburg District Museum, visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) archive in early August to view file cards on Weimar´s “Administrative Office for Race Questions” for a new exhibition which is being planned. “It was exciting to be able to research the archives digitally,” said Schlegelmilch.

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July 17,2009

Memory mirrored through three generations

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How does the view of Nazi persecution and the Holocaust change over three generations? Jennifer Allen of the University of California, Berkeley is attempting to answer this question. “The International Tracing Service archive will be an important source for my studies,” said Allen. “Nowhere else is there such an extensive collection of letters from survivors and their relatives in one location.”

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July 6,2009

Dissertation on the persecution of Sinti and Roma in Italy

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Rosa Cobelletto of the University of Turin spent two weeks at the International Tracing Service (ITS) archive researching her dissertation on the persecution of Sinti and Roma under Italian Fascism. Her research focuses on the deportations from 1943-1945. “The ITS archive is especially rich in information, as a lot of it has been amassed in one place,” said the historian.

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June 26,2009

Son of former ITS director Hugh Elbot looks back

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The International Tracing Service (ITS) was able to welcome a very special guest to Bad Arolsen this past Friday. The son of former ITS Director Hugh Elbot came all the way from Denver with his wife Barbara to rediscover the traces of his childhood. Charles Elbot was just four years old when his father took over the direction of the tracing service in 1951. “I don’t recall very many things from back then,” said Elbot. “Yet I do remember that my father always worked quite long hours and came home rather late in the evenings.”

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June 19,2009

Research on the First Transport from Düsseldorf to Lodz

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Angela Genger, Head of the Düsseldorf memorial centre, has been studying the first deportation transport leaving Düsseldorf for the destination of Lodz on 27 October 1941 on her visit to the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS) at Bad Arolsen. In close cooperation with her colleagues, the historian has since 2004 dedicated her time and energy to compiling a commemorative book. “The ITS is a site with sources that will enormously enrich my research”, said Genger.

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June 18,2009

Insight into Restoration and Conservation

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For three days, Director Armida Batori, archivist Cecilia Prosperi and restorer Claudia Pappalardo from the Rome Institute for the Conservation of Archives (Istituto Centrale per il Restauro e la Conservazione del Patrimonio Archivistico e librario) have been staying at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen procuring themselves an overview of the ongoing restoration and conservation of the documents. “I had no idea of the huge amount of documents here. I am impressed and moved by the tasks ITS has,” observed Director Batori.

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June 16,2009

Final Certainty on his father’s fate

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Decades after the actual event, Otto Romberg, Holocaust survivor and editor of the journal “TRIBÜNE”, for the first time has come to know for certain the place where his father was murdered by the Nazis. Documents kept in the archive of the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen testify to the fact that his father Otto Roboz, born in Hungary in 1897, was deported from Budapest to Concentration Camp Bergen-Belsen early in December 1944. “It relieves me greatly that I have finally attained – though only after 65 years – certainty on my father’s fate,” said Romberg.

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June 3,2009

Investigating forced labor in Frankenhausen

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Three agricultural science and sociology students from the University of Kassel and historian Jochen Ebert visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen at the beginning of June because of a project seminar. Their research focused on forced labor in the Hessian State Domain Frankenhausen during the Second World War. “With the ITS´s support we were able to determine a number of names and learn more details about so-called civilian workers,” reported Ebert.

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May 29,2009

The forgotten authors of the Lodz Ghetto

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Seeking for Jewish writers and journalists who had been interned in the Lodz Ghetto, historian Uta Fröhlich for some days read and probed the files and documents kept in the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS). The information she gathers is for the benefit of the research project “Writing under the Holocaust” of Heidelberg University. “I have already discovered what I was looking for,” rejoices Fröhlich. “Thanks to the well-advanced digitalization, research is working out excellently.”

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May 20,2009

Unsuccessful SS „Re-education“

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Norwegian Karl Sondenaa spent a day at the International Tracing Service (ITS) at the end of May viewing original documents on his father´s imprisonment at the Buchenwald concentration camp. “It is incredible which details the Nazis registered,” he said.

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May 14,2009

Research on the Fate of Austrian Sinti and Roma

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Professor Rudolf Sarközi and Gerhard Baumgartner of the Cultural Association of Austrian Roma visited the International Tracing Service in mid-May and viewed documents on the fate of Austrian Sinti and Roma. “We wanted an overview of the specific information we could find here,” said both representatives.

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May 5,2009

Searching for lists of graves at Trutzhain POW camp

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Waltraud Burger spent two days at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen doing research to reconstruct names on rows of gravestones in cemeteries at the former POW camp in Ziegenhain, today known as Trutzhain. “It is important to clarify where the POWs are buried. The relatives need a place to mourn,” said the Trutzhain memorial historian. “My research at the ITS supports this goal.”

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May 4,2009

Bamberg students visit archive

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32 University of Bamberg students toured the International Tracing Service (ITS) archive in Bad Arolsen today to learn about opportunities in research and archive administration. “The opening of the archive was a stroke of good luck for research and therefore also for universities,” said Horst Gehringer, excursion leader, guest lecturer and head of the State Archives in Coburg, and Professor Andreas Dornheim.

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April 28,2009

Tracing back her ancestors

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While the international meeting of Red Cross Societies was being held at the Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen, the Israeli Susan Edel researched into traces of her ancestors in Hesse on 28 April. She viewed records and files at the ITS archives and went to visit the Jewish cemetery of Breitenbach. “I am impressed by the documents and touched by my memorable visit here,” so Edel.

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April 27,2009

Regierungspräsident Klein visits ITS

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Kassel´s Regierungspräsident (Regional Commissioner) Lutz Klein visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen on April 27, 2009, where he viewed the archive´s collections and spoke with director Jean-Luc Blondel and chief archivist Udo Jost. “The ITS is still as indispensable and sought-after an institution as it once was, even 64 years after the end of the Nazi reign of terror,” said Klein.

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April 23,2009

Workshop of the Foundation of Memorial Sites in Lower Saxony

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The Foundation of memorial sites in Lower Saxony organised a three-days workshop at the International Tracing Service (ITS) late in April. The aim of the workshop was to familiarize the staff of the memorial sites in Lower Saxony with the archival holdings of the ITS and to show them the collection’s research potential. “The workshop was fruitful. For most of our staff it was the first contact and experience with the archives,“ said Rolf Keller from the Foundation who had prepared the event together with his colleague Marlis Buchholz.

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April 20,2009

Thesis on Lebensborn in Austria

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Corinna Fürstaller, a history student at Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria, spent several days in late April at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen doing research for her thesis on Lebensborn homes in Austria. “I was impressed by the number of documents the ITS has on the topic of Lebensborn,” said Fürstaller.

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April 9,2009

Korbach under National Socialism

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Senior teacher Marion Möller returned to the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen for the sixth time in early April to research the history of the north Hessian county seat Korbach under National Socialism. “I have had contact to the ITS since the opening of the archive, and I´m grateful for their support,” said Möller  “The documents at the archive help to close significant gaps in our regional historiography.”

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April 6,2009

ITS staff on study excursion to Berlin

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A group consisting of eleven employees from the cataloguing, visitors’ support, IT and library sections took early in April a three-day excursion to several Berlin-based archives and documentation institutions, among them the Federal Archives, the “Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)” and the documentation center on Nazi forced labor. “The intention of our study trip was that the staff substantially involved in sharpening the ITS profile visualize their new task comprehensively and make transparent to themselves both the working procedures and the results required,” said ITS archivist Karsten Kühnel, who is in charge of accessing the documents in Bad Arolsen.

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April 1,2009

ITS archivist spoke at Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” Workshop

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At the invitation of the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (EVZ), ITS archivist Karsten Kühnel spoke to an international group of historians, archivists and representatives of memorials in Germany, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine on March 31, 2009 in Berlin. Kühnel gave an overview of the documents on forced labour at the International Tracing Service´s archive. Most participants in the 4-day workshop, which took place as part of the research program “Documentation of Forced Labour as a Task of Remembrance,” are involved in current research on the history of forced labour under the Nazis.

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March 31,2009

Retracing deported Italians

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Historian Giovanna D’Amico spent several days in late March doing research at the International Tracing Service (ITS) for the Fossoli Foundation in Italy. “I´ve been tasked with visiting various German archives to trace deported Italians. My work has been especially fruitful at the ITS,” said D´Amico.

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March 30,2009

“We leave as advocates of the ITS”

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Representatives from eight American Jewish organizations recently spent two days visiting the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen, among them William Daroff (United Jewish Communities), Dan Mariaschin (B’nai B’rith), Marc Stern (American Jewish Congress) and Andi Milens (Jewish Council for Public Affairs). They assessed their experience: “As a group, we are not easily impressed, not least in matters regarding the Holocaust,” said Stern. “However, we are surprised and moved.

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March 30,2009

Experiencing the “new“ ITS

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Aron Hirt-Manheimer of the Union of Reform Judaism and member of the delegation of American Jewish organizations, which visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) last week, combined his stay in Bad Arolsen with a personal interest. The American studied family documents in the ITS archive extensively. “They have filled the gaps in my knowledge,” said Hirt-Manheimer.

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March 19,2009

History of the ITS in Focus

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US-American historians Jennifer Rodgers and Charles Sharpe spent a few days at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in mid-March doing research for their dissertations. Both reviewed and copied numerous documents on the topics of the history of the ITS and UNRRA – the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. “We´re returning to the States with a lot of information,” said the doctoral candidates.

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March 11,2009

Project on Jewish prisoners in Amersfoort

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Dutch researcher Maarten Jan Vos spent two days at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in mid-March working on a project for the Amersfoort memorial. He focused mainly on the fate of Jewish prisoners in the former detention camp. “The number of Jews imprisoned was low, and not a lot is known about them,” reported Vos. The historian intends to change this.

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February 16,2009

Study on concentration camps in the pre-war period

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Christian Goeschel spent a week at the International Tracing Service in mid-February doing research for Birkbeck University of London’s research project on pre-war concentration camps from 1933-1939. “I’m excited about the documents I was able to find here,” said the historian.

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February 6,2009

Researching names for the National Socialism Documentation Center in Cologne

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Nina Matuszewski and Thomas Roth of the National Socialism Documentation Center in Cologne spent a week in early February checking names for their current project on the fate of Cologne natives deported to the Lodz Ghetto (Litzmannstadt). “We were able to determine the fates of one-tenth of the names using documents at the ITS,” reported Matuszewski. “Most of the time we found a notice of death and almost no indication of liberation.”  

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January 28,2009

University of Giessen students do a research about Displaced Persons

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Two groups of students from the Justus Liebig University of Giessen have visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) to learn more about research possibilities on displaced persons available there. Their one-day visits to the archive took place within the context of a seminar entitled “Victim biographies of the Second World War and the Cold War.”

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January 12,2009

“A huge step forward“

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Author Rainer Hoffschildt has dealt with the topic of Nazi persecution of gays for over 20 years. Now he wants to round out his extensive collection with the help of the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen. “There has not been much research done on the group with the pink triangle,” the Hanover resident explained.

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December 19,2008

ICRC donation to former ITS location

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The history of the International Tracing Service (ITS) will be part of an upcoming exhibition in Bad Arolsen´s former barracks. The association “Historicum 20” is planning to document 20th century development of the barracks, which for a time after the war served as the tracing service´s headquarters.

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December 19,2008

Interview made possible with survivor of Lichtenburg concentration camp

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“Filling in as many gaps as possible“ - According to this motto, three freelance workers from the Lichtenburg concentration camp memorial spent a week inspecting documents at the International Tracing Service (ITS).  “We wanted to round out the biographies of Lichtenburg prisoners, so our visit to ITS was helpful,” said Sven Langhammer.

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December 18,2008

Farewell to ITS Director Reto Meister

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Staff at the International Tracing Service (ITS) bid farewell to Director Reto Meister at their year-end ceremony on December 18. After two years Meister is returning to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) headquarters in Geneva. The ICRC has named the director of the ITS since 1955. “He was truly one of us,” said head archivist Udo Jost. “He introduced a new style and put the ITS back on the road to success, step by step.” 

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December 12,2008

US Envoys at ITS

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Christian Kennedy, Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues at the U.S. Department of State and member of the International Commission, and Doria Rosen, Deputy Principal Officer at the United States Consulate General in Frankfurt, visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) to get an update on current progress. The International Commission monitors the work done at the ITS. Ten other countries comprise the Commission along with the United States.  

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December 12,2008

Ordeal of fear, confinement and whispering

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Willy Zalmon is a Holocaust survivor. Along with his parents and uncle, he had to spend two years hiding in a hole in the ground on a farm, which is how at least part of his Jewish-Polish family managed to escape their Nazis persecutors. “For many years I was unable to talk about my ordeal because the memories were such a burden on my soul. I have slowly opened up at my daughter´s urging,” said Zalmon, who lives in Israel today.

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December 11,2008

First group of Israeli genealogists did research at the archive

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Nine genealogists from Israel have spent the week doing research in the International Tracing Service´s (ITS) archives. It was the first larger group from the Jewish nation since the archive opened a year ago. “The ITS is a springboard for researchers which provides countless ideas for further research,” said Rose Lerer Cohen, a genealogist and organizer of the trip. 

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December 5,2008

Insight into ITS´s work

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Rolf Ulrich, Germany´s new representative for the Federal Foreign Office in the International Commission, spent yesterday learning about the current status at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen. The commission, which in addition to Germany comprises ten other member-states, governs the ITS´s work. ”The visit was worthwhile. I have learned a great deal,” said Ulrich.

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December 4,2008

Publication on sub-concentration camp Barth

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Historian Natalja Jeske spent two days gathering information at the International Tracing Service (ITS) for the “Friends of Barth Concentration Camp Memorial Site and Documentation Center” association. She plans to analyze the data in a new publication on the sub-concentration camp Barth to be published in the autumn of 2009. “The ITS is the perfect place to do complex research,” said Jeske.

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December 1,2008

“Paradise for Historians“

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40 history students from Georg-August University in Goettingen visited the ITS (International Tracing Service) archive on December 1, 2008, as part of a seminar series entitled “Functional transformation in the concentration camp system.” “The ITS is a paradise for historians which is not far from Goettingen. It was clear that we would take our excursion on working with documentary material here,” said Jens-Christian Wagner, visiting lecturer at the University of Goettingen and director of the concentration camp memorial Mittelbau-Dora.

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November 27,2008

PhD on Deportations from Denmark

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Birgit Müller spent a week at the ITS (International Tracing Service) researching the persecution fate of over 6000 deported Danes for her PhD on the topic “Denmark under German Occupation. Danish Deportees in Nazi Concentration Camps”. Müller was pleased: “I was able to find important additional information on the deportation, persecution and liberation for about five percent of the names.”

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November 24,2008

ITS staff visited Buchenwald Memorial Site

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Last Thursday 33 members of the ITS (International Tracing Service) staff visited a place of horror whose documents they analyze on a daily basis. Staff members took a guided tour of the Buchenwald Memorial site, visited the exhibition and learned about the foundation´s new projects. “It is a singular experience to be at the scene of the atrocities,” said Manfred Kesting, head of the analysis and documentation department.

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Professor Longerich read from his Biography on Himmler

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In cooperation with the BAC theatre, the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen presented the well-known historian Peter Longerich who read parts of his biography on Himmler, recently introduced at the Frankfurt book fair. The reading was held on Tuesday, 18th November 2008, at 7.00 p.m. at the BAC theatre, In den Siepen 6, 34454 Bad Arolsen. 

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November 10,2008

Witness´s visit to the ITS

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Professor Feliks Tych is a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto and a historian and former director of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.  During his 5-day stay in Germany he visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen. “I am very impressed by how the ITS is organized and how it works,” said Tych after an extensive tour of the documentation.

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November 6,2008

Information about the Emsland camps

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Oldenburg historian Dr. Hans-Peter Klausch spent four days doing research at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen on behalf of the Document and Information Center (DIZ) in Papenburg, Germany. Klausch was pleased. “I found quite a few records which are not available at the DIZ. They are important for our research,” he said. 

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October 17,2008

“One of the finest examples of contemporary legal history“

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21 doctoral candidates from the Frankfurt am Main-based Max Planck Institute for European Legal History had a one-day look around the archive of the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen today. They wanted to familiarize themselves with the progress ITS has made since opening for research last November. “The potential is enormous”, said the Director of the Institute, Professor Michael Stolleis, who visited the archive for the first time.

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October 17,2008

Research for Stumbling Stone Project

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Maike Grünwaldt and Christa Fladhammer spent a week at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen researching about 230 names for the Hamburg project “Stumbling Stones.” “We wanted to see what additional information we could find at the ITS,” said both volunteer researchers. Begun in 1995, the nationwide stumbling stone project remembers victims of National Socialism at their previous residences.

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October 7,2008

A look behind the scenes

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26 members of Kassel´s German-Israeli Society (DIG) visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) archive in Bad Arolsen yesterday. They were “deeply impressed” by the documents of persecution during National Socialism which are stored at the ITS. DIG Chair Manfred Oelsen is convinced that “the German-Israeli Society and organizations like the ITS are now more necessary than ever to keep the memories alive and communicate the relevance for the present.”

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October 7,2008

Visit from Scandinavian Red Cross

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Red Cross Tracing Service representatives from Norway, Finland and Denmark were able to get an insight yesterday into the ITS (International Tracing Service) in Bad Arolsen. They toured the archive and met colleagues from the humanitarian requests section. ”It´s always nicer to be able to put a name to a face,” said Brita Liholm Johannessen, who heads the Tracing Service at the Norwegian Red Cross.

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September 30,2008

Reunited After Six Decades

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The two cousins Maja Telegina and Katharina Lapuchin were separated for over 63 years. The post-war confusion had torn them apart in 1945. Yet over the years, they had never given up the hope of seeing one another again. The International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen has now been able to reunite the family. “I still can’t believe it,” says Maja with joy.

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September 26,2008

Around 10,000 Names Still Unclarified

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Johannes Ibel, a research associate from the Flossenbürg concentration camp memorial site, had two goals for his one-week visit to the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen in late September: to research material from the post-war period and compile a copy of digital data pertaining to the Flossenbürg concentration camp. “When it comes to this amount of data, digital research is incredibly beneficial in terms of the time factor,” said Ibel.  “If we merge the know-how from the memorial sites with that of ITS, we can profit from our mutual accomplishments and deepen our knowledge.”

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September 5,2008

“The ITS archive belongs to Arolsen”

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Members of the working committee for communal issues on the Waldeck economy (AFK) visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen yesterday evening.  Reto Meister, director of ITS, and Udo Jost, head of ITS’s archive division, presented the work and goals of ITS to the group, and gave a tour of the archive.

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August 18,2008

Research Project on Medical Experiments

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Medical experiments carried out on human beings during the National Socialist era constitute the area of research of historian Anna von Villiez, guiding her to the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen for one week in mid-August. “The ITS is an important, if not the principal source of my present research work,“ according to von Villiez. “I set about viewing the material at ITS in order to get an overview.“

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August 6,2008

The Children Should Know What Happened

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Salomon Hauser is currently working on a commemoration book for the members of the Zionist youth movement B’nei Akiva, who had all lived in Antwerp prior to the invasion of German troops in 1940. The Israeli visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen for three days in early August to pursue his research. “When I heard the archives had opened to the public, I decided to make the trip,” said Haus

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July 21,2008

Squashing the Rumours Surrounding Lebensborn

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There are many rumours and myths circulating about the SS-founded association “Lebensborn”, says the Canadian historian Annette Timm. She now wants to squelch these legends with her new book. Timm came to Bad Arolsen in mid-July for a week of research into the extensive collection of Lebensborn documents archived at the International Tracing Service (ITS).

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July 15,2008

The Story of the Women of Ravensbruck

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A book project about the Ravensbruck women's concentration camp led British journalist Sarah Helm to the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen for two days in mid-July. She was in search of information on camp life and the destiny of individual prisoners. “An interesting experience,” as the London-based writer said.

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July 14,2008

A Treasure Trove of Great Magnitude

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Historian Robert Sommer sifted through documents archived by the International Tracing Service (ITS) for three days in mid-July while conducting research on the subject of brothels in concentration camps. The doctoral candidate needed the information for the publication of his PhD thesis. Sommer is also a freelance staff member at the Ravensbrück Memorial Site, where he is working on a new version of the exhibition “forced sexual labour at Nazi concentration camps”.

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July 7,2008

If it is only a tombstone

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"I am a Lebensborn child", uttering these words, 67-year-old Folker Heinecke from Hamburg entered the premises of the International Tracing Service (ITS) last Friday. An avowal that a handful of persons only will dare to make openly. During the Nazi era, the "Lebensborn" was an association established, promoted and sponsored by the SS, its objective being to raise the birth rate of "Aryan" children.

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July 4,2008

Transitional phase has its charm

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For one week Christine Glauning, head of the documentation centre of the NS forced labour camp Berlin-Schoeneweide, has done a research in the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS). On the one hand she wanted to get an overview of the stock and find out which documents could be of use for her work. On the other hand she looked for new clues about the camp in Berlin-Schoeneweide.

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June 21,2008

A Visit to Bergen-Belsen Memorial

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Together with representatives of the International Tracing Service (ITS), 15 historians visited Bergen-Belsen Memorial in Lüneburg Heath on 21st June 2008. Seeing the permanent exhibition developed at the end of last year in collaboration with, among others, the archive of the tracing service was part of the joint ten-day workshop organized by the ITS and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. 

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June 19,2008

Indian historian explores the archive

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The relationships of prisoners of war with German women during the Second World War are the research subject which has made Dr. Vandana Joshi come to Arolsen in mid-June. The historian teaches European history in the Venkateswora´College at the University of Delhi and did researches for four days in the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS).

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