President of the International Commission Visits ITS
Daniel Bethlehem, head of the legal department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) visited the International Tracing Service (ITS) for two days in Bad Arolsen together with representatives from the FCO and the British National Archive. Bethlehem is chairing the International Commission of the ITS since this year’s annual meeting in May 2008.
During his first visit to the International Tracing Service (ITS), Daniel Bethlehem was deeply impressed by the content and size of the archives that document the history of the persecution, exploitation and extermination of civilians by the Nazi regime. As chairman of the International Commission and in order to define its objectives, Bethlehem and the members of his delegation had initiated this visit. At the same time, he also established dialogue with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and ITS.
During the discussions, Bethlehem particularly emphasised his willingness to participate in the process of formulating a future model of the ITS and constructively work on its development. Such a model aims at ensuring the long-term, best possible use of the archives within a suitable management structure. “When discussing the future role of the ITS, it will be of utmost importance to measure up to the archive’s historical relevance,” said Bethlehem. This relevance is not just limited to Germany, but is of universal scope. For Bethlehem, the value of the collection archived in Bad Arolsen lies in “their remarkable relevance for historical research”, and he assured his support in the development of research work at ITS.
The members of the delegation also learned about the current process of digitisation of migration documents and the implications of the most recent changes that have been made to the way ITS answers new requests. The prompt response to new incoming enquiries and the ongoing confidential tasks carried out to trace individuals allow the ITS to cater to the needs of victims or their family members.
On Bethlehem’s initiative, the ITS and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office decided to organise a visit to Bad Arolsen in the near future for a group of interested individuals and representatives of British organisations in order to generate more attention in the United Kingdom to the relevance of the ITS archive, as well as to clarify the possibilities of collaboration.
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