Debate on the future of ITS is well underway

During its two-day annual meeting in London, the UK-chaired International Commission for the International Tracing Service (ITS) dealt with the question of the future organisational structure and administration of the ITS. Past humanitarian work done by the Tracing Service, the clarification of the fates of victims of the Nazi regime and the reunification of families, is to be continued as long as there is a need for such expressed by the victims and their descendants. “Apart from this, we are also discussing taking on an active role in the area of education, commemoration and research”, said Daniel Bethlehem, President of the International Commission. “In any case, the international character of the institution shall remain.”

The International Commission, whose eleven member states control the work of the ITS in Bad Arolsen, will continue its debate on the future of the institution in the coming twelve months under the Presidency of the United States. The Commission agreed that a new international agreement stipulating the tasks of the ITS should be drawn up in the near future. This agreement would replace the Bonn Agreements of 1955 and its amending protocols from 2006. “We made good progress during the discussions over the last year”, added Bethlehem. “The International Commission and ITS are trustees of an archive of special significance for the whole of humanity.”

The mandate of the strategic study group, created by the Commission last year to work out proposals on the future structure and management of ITS, was extended for another twelve months. The group will be chaired by the Netherlands. Negotiations on the focus of ITS were initiated in May last year, as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) indicated its wish to withdraw from running the archives now that they will have an increased focus on research. The International Committee of the Red Cross will continue to be an observer in the Commission after its withdrawal from the management of the archives.

The International Commission welcomed the ongoing process of opening up the archives for historical research. It gives high priority to the digitization and accessing of the documents in the ITS archives. On the occasion of the annual meeting, ITS handed over additional data copies of documents to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw. These are documents from German camps for displaced persons, 180,000 so-called CM1 questionnaires (care and maintenance). They provide information on the fate of those who were rescued from concentration camps, forced labour and, in some cases, war captivity.

ITS also handed over copies of lists of Holocaust survivors, which are referred to as F18 lists (ITS classification). These lists were compiled after WWII mostly by Jewish organisations from different countries. The 55,000 documents helped the Tracing Service clarify individual fates and reunite families. Based on a resolution from the International Commission, all eleven member states are entitled to a digital copy of the documents archived in Bad Arolsen. The remaining documents from DP camps in other European countries and emigration lists will follow at the end of the year once digitisation of this part of the archive’s inventory has been completed.

Link to FCO:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/latest-news/?view=News&id=17969182

The International Tracing Service located in 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.

The ITS is under the control of the eleven states of the International Commission for the International Tracing Service (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, United States). The Bonn Agreements from 1955 and the Protocol amending the Agreement from 2006 are the basis for this. The International Committee of the Red Cross manages and administrates the ITS on behalf of the International Commission. The institution is financed by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The ITS budget amounts to 14 million euros annually.

Kathrin Flor
Head of Communication/Press Officer
International Tracing Service (ITS)
Große Allee 5-9
34454 Bad Arolsen
Germany

Phone: +49 (0)5691 629-116
Mobile: +49 (0)170 900 84 95

Fax: +49 (0)5691 629-500
http://www.its-arolsen.org

This release was published on openPR.