We are currently witnessing major changes accompanied by significant challenges. The conflict in Gaza and the war in Ukraine mark decisive turning points. Antisemitic acts of violence are on the rise, and views on Israel are changing – as are the narratives of identity that shape our society. All of this has a profound impact on remembrance work. Our approach focuses on developing resources that are relevant to the present day and meet the needs of adolescents and young adults growing up in a digital world. This is described in our annual report – as are other key issues from 2023, including our plans for a new archive building, the use of AI, and the notable increase in inquiries and user numbers.
Huge interest in fates of victims of Nazi persecution
Number of inquiries submitted to the archive has risen again
2023 saw a dramatic surge in interest from relatives and subsequent generations seeking information about victims of Nazi persecution and their fates. We received over 20,000 inquiries regarding more than 28,000 people – a good 30 percent more than in the previous year. Although the number of conventional inquiries is impressive, there has been a clear shift in the way our services are used – never before have so many people searched our online archive as in 2023. User numbers went up by 43 percent!
0680000
users searched the online archive in 2023
Who submitted inquiries to the Arolsen Archives in 2023?
Inquiries from survivors of Nazi persecution seeking information about their own fates or asking questions about their own documents are now very rare. However, the number of inquiries submitted by relatives of former victims of persecution increases from year to year. They often come from victims’ grandchildren or great-grandchildren, who may be looking for information or for relatives. In addition, we received numerous inquiries from researchers in 2023. The general public is also increasingly interested in the wide range of topics covered by our extensive collection.
99-year-old survivor searches for clues
The inquiry Dan Hadani submitted in 2023 was profoundly moving and left a lasting impression. Now 99 years old, he was born in Poland and currently lives in Tel Aviv. The only one of his family to survive the Holocaust, he then emigrated to Israel. During the years that followed, he never spoke about the persecution he had suffered or about his detention in various concentration camps. But the past caught up with him in his later years. He began to set up a website about his family history and his own fate. Documents from the Arolsen Archives helped him find out what had happened to his sister.
Photo: David Peretz
Half-sisters meet after more than 60 years
Our staff continue to reunite families to this day, but only in a few instances each year – and the people concerned are often not closely related. But in 2023, four sets of half-siblings found each other through the work of the Arolsen Archives. They included Helen Schaller (left) and Sula Miller, two daughters of a concentration camp survivor. Helen was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1947, while Sula was born in the USA in 1960.
More in-person visitors
In 2023, we saw another significant increase in the number of people coming to Bad Arolsen to search for information about their relatives, take a tour of the permanent exhibition, or visit the archive. The number of relatives and private individuals who visited the Arolsen Archives more than doubled. Karen Mayfield and her daughter Katja (on the right in the photo) even traveled from the USA to find out more about Karen’s mother, who worked at the Arolsen Archives immediately after the war.
Research projects involving the Arolsen Archives
There was also another rise in the numbers of historians, local researchers, universities, and schools who conducted research on site in the reading room, the archive, and the extensive library. In June 2023, for example, 40 students from the Department of Social Work at the University of Kassel came to Bad Arolsen. They took part in a workshop, where they worked with documents concerning victims of Nazi “euthanasia.” Many researchers also used the online library or made use of our remote access solution to access the database.
140
people carried out research on site in the reading room
90
new users were given remote access to the database
14,000
books are available in the library of the Arolsen Archives
190
new publications were added in 2023
The process of digitization continues
The Arolsen Archives continued to digitize their holdings in 2023. In cooperation with partner institutions, using new technologies, and supported by our crowdsourcing initiative #everynamecounts, our staff digitize hundreds of thousands of documents. As a result, the online archive is growing every day. In addition, we process, conserve, and pack original documents in state-of-the-art archive boxes.
035million
names* were searchable in the online archive as of 2023
*A name does not equate to a person: many people’s names appear on more than one of the documents in the archive.
The Arolsen Archives have undergone a rapid transformation as a result of digitization. We saw the number of online users jump from virtually zero to one million and introduced lightning-fast digital workflows to replace the slow analog processes we used to rely on for dealing with inquiries. We now interact with the world in a very different way. A plethora of new tasks and new challenges have resulted from the changes, requiring us to completely redefine the way archive staff collaborate.
Floriane Azoulay, Director of the Arolsen Archives
New scans and precise organization of archival collections
In the area of cataloging and digitization, several teams are working together to produce new document scans and add new archival descriptions to various collections. The challenge is to use space more efficiently to display collections in the online archive, while making sure individual documents are easy to read. In 2023, the focus was on the largest of our concentration camp collections – the collection from Buchenwald concentration camp. Documents that were only available as poorly legible black-and-white scans up until now, like this transport list…
…have now been rescanned in color with a higher resolution and sharp contrast. As a result, even handwritten entries are now clearly legible. In addition, staff have reorganized and cataloged the collection. This is particularly helpful for researchers who want to work with these holdings. We will devote more staff to these activities in the coming years and will move on to other collections. New collections and copies from the holdings of other archives will also be given a place in the online archive.
Private collections in the archives
More and more academics, local researchers, victims of Nazi persecution – or their descendants – are leaving their own private collections to the Arolsen Archives. In 2023, Harald Larsen from Norway sent us some photographs and documents from his mother’s estate, for example. They complement our collection on the Lebensborn homes where the SS raised thousands of “Aryan” children. Harald Larsen had to live in a Lebensborn home in Saxony in 1944/1945. His mother’s collection contains comprehensive documentation.
New AI technology facilitates digitization
The use of AI is changing the way we go about our everyday work at the Arolsen Archives. This is especially true for staff who work in indexing, like Martina Steiner-Güde. Digitizing the information contained in millions of lists stored in our archive is one of the tasks her team is charged with. The Nazis drew up this type of list to document prisoner transports, for example. Because of the amount of data they contain and because the writing is often difficult to read, indexing these lists has proved particularly time-consuming.
Until recently, Martina and her colleagues had to decipher and type out the data on these documents by hand – name by name, place by place, and date by date. But in 2022, they began to train an AI tool that controls a so-called OCR system. OCR converts graphic information into text. Instead of spending 30 minutes entering the data, all they need to do now is carry out quality control checks, which take a matter of minutes. Sometimes the team still has to process documents manually because it is not always practical to use OCR. But in general, this technology makes their work much easier, as Martina explains in the video.
We have plenty of new ideas about how we can use AI. One of them is already a pilot project and will use AI technology to link all the data that can be found in the online archive about a specific person in visual form. In the future, deportation routes or escape routes could be traced in this way.
Michael Hoffmann, Head of the Data Integration Unit
Restoration of original documents
Prior to their digitization, the original documents in the archive were indispensable tools that staff used to help them search for missing persons and document paths of persecution. Daily use took its toll. To preserve them for future generations, we now need to de-acidify, restore, and repackage them, gradually working our way through the collections to complete the task. In 2023, we made good progress once again – thanks to the BKM special program for the preservation of written cultural heritage and the tireless efforts of the permanent and temporary staff involved in the complex task of packing the documents.
20,100
files from Lebensborn institutions had been conserved by the end of 2023
360,300
correspondence files were packed in archive boxes in 2023
New archive building in Bad Arolsen
An important milestone
The documents inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register have long been in need of a suitable new home that meets archival standards. The valuable collections have been stored in a temporary archive for years. In April 2023, the Arolsen Archives and the State of Hesse were finally able to launch a design competition for a new archive building. Over 50 national and international planning and architecture firms applied, and 15 were selected to take part in the competition.
The winning design
Stuttgart-based architecture firm RIEHLE KOETH submitted the winning design, followed by Berlin firms Nieto Sobejano Architectos and AFF Architekten. An EU tendering procedure will be launched in 2024 to decide which of the three designs will be built. The competition was judged on the basis of criteria such as cutting-edge architectural design, practical functionality, energy efficiency, compliance with building regulations, and landscaping. The jury paid special attention to the way the various designs integrate the building into the historic park at the planned location. Another important factor was the extent to which the exterior and interior of each design projected a commanding presence, befitting the historical and social value of the documents the building will house.
The Arolsen Archives will be housed in a physical structure that truly reflects their importance at last. Thirty million documents on victims of Nazi persecution will be stored here for posterity under perfect conservation conditions for the first time. The archive is both a place of research and a memorial. We have managed to select three exceptionally good pieces of work from a large number of outstanding designs. This bodes well for the new building.
Prof. Gesine Weinmiller, Chair of the Jury
The cost of the new building is estimated at around 17.3 million. It is due to be completed by 2028. With around 3,000 m2 of floor space, the building will not only store the valuable historical documents safely, but will also provide a setting commensurate with their importance as part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World, serving as a venue for events and a center for remembrance, research, and education, for example.
The facade of the archive building is made of red concrete elements that are reminiscent of archive boxes: The jury gave this design second prize.
The third-placed design presents the archive in the style of a garden monument that fits in harmoniously with the surrounding park.
Allegations against the Directorate
At the beginning of March 2023, a number of employees and former employees made anonymous allegations of misconduct against the Director and the Deputy Director of the Arolsen Archives. The International Commission (IC), the supervisory body of the Arolsen Archives, commissioned an investigation by an independent law firm. In the final report they issued in August 2023, the law firm stated that they had found no evidence of any breaches of duty under labor law or criminal law.
The IC reacted by expressing their confidence in the Directorate. With the aim of fostering collaboration within the organization, the IC also called for measures to be put into place to build confidence between the Directorate and the workforce. Implementation includes a variety of additional initiatives ranging from a whistleblowing system to measures promoting dialog within the institution.
