Arolsen Archives

When the Second World War ended, the Allies were faced with unprecedented humanitarian challenges. The “International Tracing Service” (now Arolsen Archives), established in 1948, soon emerged as a key player and important bridge-builder. For decades, the organization has worked to document Nazi crimes, provide the relatives of victims with certainty, reunite families, and help survivors establish their eligibility for compensation. This work led to the creation of the world’s largest archive on the victims and survivors of Nazi persecution.

Many decades have passed since those early days. Today, the Arolsen Archives are an international organization known for providing reliable information and building trust and reconciliation in the aftermath of the war. Back in 1952, one of the organization’s first directors described it as a “shop window of democracy.” Its efforts to deal with the legacy of the Nazi era helped lay the groundwork for a peaceful order in Europe.

Tens of thousands of people from all over the world still submit inquiries to the Arolsen Archives every year. The archive is listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register and is an important source of knowledge for society today. The Arolsen Archives provide a globally accessible online archive, digital projects, and educational resources to promote a modern culture of remembrance and inspire young people to value respect, diversity, and democracy.

Anyone seeking information about victims of Nazi persecution, former concentration camp prisoners, forced laborers, or displaced persons after 1945 can use our services. The Federal Republic of Germany finances our work in order to help individuals to come to terms with their experience of Nazi persecution. This enables us to carry out research free of charge for survivors and relatives of victims of Nazi persecution and to search for information that provides historical context and helps them understand their family history. We also provide resources for people involved in education, research, and archives.

We began operating under our new name Arolsen Archives – International Center on Nazi Persecution in May 2019. We remain the same institution, and we continue to perform the same tasks. The archive was created in order to document the crimes committed by the National Socialists and the fates of the victims. Current social trends underline the growing importance of raising awareness in order to keep knowledge about the crimes of the Nazi regime and the inhuman ideology behind it alive. The organization’s new name and the reference to our role as an International Center on Nazi Persecution are a logical consequence of these ongoing developments. Incidentally, the International Tracing Service remains our legal name, as the international agreements with the member states use this name.