News, well-researched dossiers, background information and biographies, interactive scroll stories that bring history to life: we explore important issues for you here.
From press releases to information about upcoming events or updates about the current activities of the Arolsen Archives – whether you are a journalist or simply interested in our work, our news section will keep you updated.
News
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“At last, his story can be told in full”: personal effects of a victim of Nazi persecution returned to his family in France
For a long time, it looked as though the search for Jan Poliwczak’s relatives was a lost cause. Apart from …
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The 1936 Olympics: A Victory for Propaganda
With the aim of warding off a threatened boycott of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, the Nazi regime presented …
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Traces of a genocide
During the night of 2 to 3 August 1944, the Nazis murdered around 4,300 Sinti and Roma at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Today, …
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Bringing the Victims’ Names to Light: The Book of Names for Treblinka
The Memory of Treblinka Foundation is dedicated to commemorating those who were murdered in the Treblinka extermination camp. Its mission …
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Annual Meeting of the International Commission in Rome
The International Commission (IC), the governing body of the Arolsen Archives, convened in Rome from June 15–17, 2026, for its …
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90 Years Since the Spanish Civil War: From the Battlefield to Nazi Concentration Camps
Ninety years ago, on July 17, 1936, a group of Spanish army officers staged a coup against their democratically elected …
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Letters That Keep Memories Alive
They have been hidden away in archives for over 80 years – letters written by Ukrainian forced laborers who were …
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The H-Files Project
Letters, photos, identity documents: much of the documentary evidence of Nazi persecution in Ukraine is not held in state archives, …
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Researching in Small Ukrainian Archives
The documentation on Nazi persecution preserved in Ukrainian micro-archives is often fragmentary. Our H-Files project helps to bring the documents …
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Personal belongings of a concentration camp survivor returned to his family in France
Two wristwatches and a signet ring bring back memories of Stanislaus Szydlewski. His nephew Harry Klawezynski remembers that his uncle …
Scroll stories
Our scroll stories offer you deeper insights into biographies and historical events – narrated in a multimedia format. Biographical documents and historical documents from the Arolsen Archives are often the starting point. It is worth checking back regularly, because the number of scroll stories is growing all the time.
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After Liberation
Starting in July 1944, Allied forces liberated hundreds of concentration camps in Germany and the occupied territories. In some of …
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Annual Report 2025
Remembrance is teamwork. The Arolsen Archives can only fulfil their mission in collaboration with strong partners from the fields of …
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Forced to emigrate
Uncovering the fates of victims of Nazi persecution is often like assembling a puzzle. As pieces of information come to …
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Reading to survive
Despite the inhumane conditions in the Nazi concentration camps, some camps had what were known as prisoner libraries. The camp …
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Anna’s search for the truth
The hidden picture Anna Salton Eisen was first introduced to the Holocaust when she was a young child and found …
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Bad Arolsen: Tracing the history of the Nazi era
A small town called Bad Arolsen in the north of Hesse, Germany, has been home to the Arolsen Archives since …
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Investigating a Tragedy
In the last days of the Second World War, one of the worst shipping disasters ever to occur took place …
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Annual Report 2023
We are currently witnessing major changes accompanied by significant challenges. The conflict in Gaza and the war in Ukraine mark …
