International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Milestone for the Online Archive
Eight million names of Holocaust victims from concentration camp lists enrich the digital collection of the Arolsen Archives
Transport list with various names and “asset details”
To mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, the Arolsen Archives are taking significant steps to make their holdings more accessible online. Through a partnership with Ancestry, the global leader in family history, over eight million names from historical concentration camp lists have been fully indexed. The names and information extracted from these records will enhance research and provide deeper insights into the persecution of concentration camp prisoners. It should be noted, however, that the eight million names do not correspond to eight million individuals as some names appear on more than one list. The records are available now free of charge on Ancestry and will be integrated into the Arolsen Archives online archive by 2027.
A strong partnership for global accessibility
The Arolsen Archives have been using innovative technologies to improve digital access to their collections for many years. They employ AI, OCR (Optical Character Recognition), and crowdsourcing to capture document content and now offer the world’s most comprehensive online archive on victims of Nazi persecution. But two major challenges remain: the sheer volume of documents and the complexity of processing lists. Despite the range of technologies already in use, extracting data from lists is still a time-consuming task. To address these challenges, the Arolsen Archives are working with strong partners like Ancestry to further improve the searchability of their online archive.
Piecing together individual fates
The newly indexed data from concentration camps lists provide detailed information about the prisoners. The Nazis kept meticulous records of new arrivals, deaths, forced labor, transports to other camps, and more. These lists offer deeper insights into paths of persecution and connect personal stories with the global historical context. “Extensive documentation exists for some persecutees, while in other cases, the last trace of a person before they were murdered is a single name on a single list,” explains Head of Archives Giora Zwilling. “That’s another reason why these lists are so important.” Through the partnership with Ancestry, the concentration camp lists held by the Arolsen Archives have now been fully indexed for the first time.
Partnerships and free access to historical knowledge – today and in the future
The Arolsen Archives have been collaborating with Ancestry since spring 2019. Through this partnership, digital resources are created that facilitate remembrance, promote research, and support relatives in their search for information about family members. As part of the collaboration, ships’ passenger lists from the holdings on displaced persons have already been processed.
In addition to the concentration camp lists, Ancestry has also published over two million names from correspondence files to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2026. These files document inquiries received after 1945 by the International Tracing Service (ITS) from people all over the world who were seeking to clarify the fates of relatives who had been persecuted by the Nazis.
“The Holocaust is not distant history; it lives on through the families and stories shaped by it, including my own,” commented Howard Hochhauser, President and CEO of Ancestry. “My grandmother survived the Holocaust, and like so many families, we have relied on historical records to better understand and preserve her story. By partnering to expand free access to these vital collections, Ancestry and Arolsen Archives are honoring the lives of those who were persecuted and helping ensure their experiences are remembered, passed down, and never forgotten.”
The newly digitized data will be fully integrated into the modernized online archive of the Arolsen Archives by 2027. To mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Ancestry is making the digital data available at ancestry.com/alwaysremember – free of charge, with no paid subscription required.
The online archive of the Arolsen Archives currently contains over 40 million documents: https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/
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