International Tracing Service: a potted history in pictures

28-11-2012 Photo gallery

War leaves more than physical wounds – tens of millions who survived the Second World War were left wondering what had happened to their loved ones. The International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, Germany, “serves victims of Nazi persecutions and their families by documenting their fate through the archives it manages.” After administering the ITS for 50 years, the ICRC is withdrawing from its management role. Time to take stock.

- When the Second World War finally ended, millions of people were unaccounted for. As early as 1943, a department was set up within the British Red Cross to begin the work of tracing and registering missing persons. This department was known as the Central Tracing Bureau.
  © ICRC / v-p-hist-03220-31
- As the war unfolded, the bureau moved around, finally ending up in Bad Arolsen in Germany. Bad Arolsen was chosen because of its central position between the British, US, Soviet and French occupation zones and because it had large, undamaged buildings and good telephone and telegraph connections.
  © ICRC / v-p-hist-01034-04
- In 1947, the International Refugee Organization took over administration of the bureau, and in 1948 it acquired the name by which it has been known ever since – the International Tracing Service (ITS). In April 1951, responsibility passed to the Allied High Commission for Germany, and when Germany officially ceased to be an occupied country in 1954, it was the ICRC that was entrusted with the management of the service.
  © ITS
- Placed back to back, the documents in the ITS archives would stretch for some 26 kilometres. The Nazis operated 22 concentration camps, with over 1000 annexes. However, the ITS only has something approaching a complete set of documents for Buchenwald and Dachau. Documentation for the other camps is partial or non-existent.
  © ITS
- The records consist of individual documents and lists, but the ITS also holds personal effects found during the liberation of the Neuengamme and Dachau concentration camps, which it hands over to former inmates or their families on request.
  © ITS
- Even now, more than 60 years after the end of World War II, the ITS still receives many enquiries from victims of Nazi persecution and their families. Finding out exactly what happened to relatives is of enormous importance to the survivors.
  © ITS / v-p-hist-02743-14a
- Over the years, the ITS has enabled many people to be reunited with their relatives. These included the Böhmer sisters, reunited in September 2006 after 61 years.
  © ITS
- Others, such as 69-year-old George Jaunzemis from New Zealand, were able to discover their true origins. Originally named Peter Thomas, he was separated from his mother at the age of four in the turmoil of post-war Europe. “I’ve finally found peace of mind … what I feel is extreme relief.” In May 2011 he met his relatives for the first time, and visited Magdeburg, his place of birth.
  © ITS
- While it continues to trace missing persons and reunite families, the ITS has now become a centre for documentation, research and education on Nazi persecution between 1933 and 1945. In January 2013, after managing the work of the ITS for more than half a century, the ICRC will be withdrawing from the administration of the ITS. The organization will continue to provide technical expertise on tracing missing persons.
  © ITS

International Tracing Service: a potted history in pictures

28-11-2012 Photo gallery

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