Current Issues

Click to Learn More

Opening the ITS-Bad Arolsen Holocaust Archive

NEWS UPDATE

More Controversy-Plagued Holocaust Records Transferred to Museum

September 25, 2008 -- News coverage in the Forward focuses on continuing efforts to open up Holocaust archives to full public access.

A related op-ed by HSF Board member Esther Widman was published by the on-line news site, The Cutting Edge.

NEWS UPDATE

Bad Arolsen Conflict: "Museum is more concerned with creating a legacy for historians ... than with the heart-wrenching and pressing needs of Survivors"

An article by Leo Rechter, HSF Officer and President, National Association of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors, Inc. (NAHOS) in the online news journal, The Cutting Edge ("Survivors Rebuke USHMM’s Shapiro and ICRC’s Meister over Bad Arolsen Discord Following Closed Door Meeting" - March 3, 2008).

Coverage of this topic in The Cutting Edge moved a number of readers to respond. See letters from Michael Katz,

Stu Rosen, Jennifer Levin and Leo Rechter.

NEWS UPDATE

Opening Holocaust Archives: "20 computers ...are not enough"

The Washington Jewish Week argues in a blunt editorial ("Our Obligations to Survivors and History" - Jan. 23, 2008) that more must be done by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to ensure meaningful public access to the vast Holocaust archives it has acquired from the International Tracing Service.

Washington Jewish Week also provides this news coverage: "Harvesting the Holocaust: Shoah archive opens, but access issues linger."

Background

The largest closed Holocaust-related archive in the world, the International Tracing Service located at Bad Arolsen, Germany has officially begun the process of opening to the public. The first installment of 18 million electronic copies of the vast archive holdings have been transferred to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem in Israel. Both of these institutions are now providing a search service of the documents upon request.  For more information on this new service and to submit a search request, go to the respective websites of the Holocaust Museum and Yad Vashem. 

HSF supports full, unfettered public access via the internet to these materials that have for far too long been withheld from survivors and families. HSF played an instrumental role in drawing public attention to the right of survivors and victims' families to access documents. See the following sources:

  "USHMM Launches Promising if Daunting Individualized Bad Arolsen Search Program," by Edwin Black, Jan. 17, 2008

  HSF News Release, May 18, 2007

  "Survivors Outraged at Holocaust Museum Over Bad Arolsen"  by Edwin Black, May 11, 2007

  Congressional hearing, March 28, 2007: "Opening Up the Bad Arolsen Archives" featuring testimony from survivors & HSF Officers David Schaecter and Leo Rechter.

  Congressional Record, Dec. 27, 2006 Statement of Rep. Alcee Hastings, including HSF letter and statement by Greater Miami Jewish Federation.