75 Years Arolsen Archives
In 2023, the Arolsen Archives will celebrate their 75th anniversary. In 1948, the “International Tracing Service” (now Arolsen Archives) began its search and documentation work on the millions of victims of the Nazis. It was the birth year of the world’s largest and ever-growing archive on Nazi persecution, with around 30 million documents on 17.5 million people.
In this coming anniversary year, we look back on the history and the development of the institution while presenting new projects. For decades, the organization has been clarifying the fates of people affected by persecution, creating certainty for their relatives, reuniting families and helping survivors to enforce their right to compensation. To this day, thousands of people from all continents contact us asking their questions every year.
“Shop Window of Democracy”
The Arolsen Archives thus developed into an international organization that stands for information and clarification, trust and reconciliation after the war. Staff from many countries worked together to create what Hugh G. Elbot, the director at the time, called a “shop window of democracy”. The team did their part to build a new European peace order.
»No future without looking back – the Arolsen Archives are an important source of knowledge for our society. With our current projects, we’re connecting that knowledge to current challenges.«
Floriane Azoulay, Director of the Arolsen Archives
Today, the Arolsen Archives develop modern digital education and research projects about the Nazi era, make the archives digitally accessible, and work with their partners to stand up for more respect, diversity, and democracy in our society. Communication and educational work via social media is becoming increasingly important.
#everynamecounts: One week – 30,000 names
To mark the beginning of our anniversary year, we cordially invite all those interested to participate in a new #everynamecounts challenge around International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2023. The goal is to digitize 30,000 names of former prisoners of the Stutthof concentration camp within one week.
