You are seeking information on a prisoner of war or a civilian internee. The tracing section of the ICRC Archives is specialized in this type of research.

Although at the outbreak of World War I the ICRC was not yet mandated to protect displaced persons and prisoners, the organization nevertheless took initiatives throughout the conflict, its ambition being to extend its humanitarian action to as many victims as possible.

The records produced by ICRC services, secretariats and departments in Geneva have an index number starting with the letter B. Particular attention should be drawn to the records of the period 1919-1950 pertaining to conflicts in the 1930s – the Sino-Japanese war, the Second Italo-Abyssinian war, the Spanish civil war, etc – and to the Second World War and its aftermath.

The records of the tracing agencies set up by the ICRC between 1870 and the present day are grouped together in the section with an index number commencing with a C: Basle Agency (Franco-Prussian War), Trieste Agency (Russo-Turkish War), International Prisoners of War Agency (First World War), Spanish Service (Spanish Civil War), Central Prisoners of War Agency (Second World War) and the Central Tracing Agency (as from 1950).

The archives of ICRC delegations operating outside Switzerland are stored under index number D.

The private archives, with index number P, comprise private archives deposited by a variety of sources, especially formally delegates, which pertain to ICRC activities.

Documentary collections stored in the ICRC archives are to be found under index number V. They are generally accessible to the public.

The archives of humanitarian coordination bodies set up jointly with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (the former "League"), National Societies or other institutions, are stored under index number O.

The Committee's archives, which bear an index number starting with the letter A, contain in particular the bound volumes of the minutes of meetings held by the Committee and the other decision-making bodies of the ICRC from 1863 to the present day (they are also accessible on microfilm), the 19th century archives and information bulletins.

Address, telephone numbers, e-mail address, opening hours, research procedures.

Adopted by the ICRC Assembly on 17 January 1996 and revised by the ICRC Assembly on 29 April 2004.

Reports on all ICRC activities, registers of official decisions and legal and operational correspondence have been stored since 1863 in the ICRC’s archives. The Archives Division continued to create ICRC institutional reference files (about 3,500 files in 2009), and regularly advised ICRC units at headquarters and delegations in the field on management of their records. It also responded to some 800 internal research requests.

The International Tracing Service at Bad Arolsen (ITS) serves victims of Nazi persecutions and their families by documenting their fate through the archives it manages. The ITS preserves these historic records and makes them available for research.