Beginning of family reseach at ITS
This week 42 genealogists are carrying out research at the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Arolsen. They are in the main Jewish name researchers from the USA, Australia, Israel and Great Britain, who are compiling data on Holocaust victims and survivors. “This is the biggest group of researchers that has so far come to the ITS in Arolsen”, says ITS Deputy Director Erich Oetiker. “Opening the archives has already had a positive effect, and is perceived as a valuable asset”.
As Gary Mokotoff explains, the ITS documents are a particularly rich treasure trove for family historians. “The Nazis took away the names of six million Holocaust victims and replaced them with numbers. It is our task to put faces to the names and give them back their family tree. Here at the ITS, we can find valuable clues and information to fill in the gaps”. The US-citizen, a leading Jewish genealogist, organised his colleagues’ visit to Arolsen. The researchers currently working there also include people directly affected by the Holocaust and next-generation descendants of its victims. “However, knowledge about the fate of individual people diminishes as it is passed from generation to generation, so genealogy is becoming increasingly important”, says Mokotoff.
Even though some of the ITS documents can be viewed in the USA or Israel, says Mokotoff, the correspondence files between inquirers and ITS have so far not been scanned and handed over. In addition the staff in Arolsen has more experience with the data than anyone else, so “it is worth the journey. I will urge more researchers to come to Arolsen. I’m extremely pleased that there is now unrestricted access to the archives.”
Oetiker sees the genealogist group’s visit to the ITS as the beginning of this kind of research in Arolsen. The ITS will be offering a workshop for historians in mid-June, in collaboration with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. He also states that there has been a lively exchange of information with German memorial institutions, historians and archivists, as well as talks with research institutes about closer mutual cooperation.
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