Millions of holocaust files to be opened to researchers

Germany, Israel, the US and others signed an agreement today opening to researchers an archive of millions of Nazi files describing how the Holocaust was carried out.

The accord was reached in April by the 11-nation governing body of the International Tracing Service, the arm of the International Committee of the Red Cross that oversees the archive in the western German town of Bad Arolsen.

Also signing were Britain, France, Luxembourg, Greece and Italy. The remaining three countries expected to sign later.

The agreement broadens access to the files, which have been available only to the victims and some of their immediate families. Under the provisions of a 1955 treaty third parties have only been able to access the archives with the written consent of a victim.

The service was founded after the Second World War to trace missing persons. Later, survivors eligible for compensation applied to the archive for documentary evidence of their mistreatment.

The Nazis were meticulous, documenting everything from the mundane, like how many meals a forced labourer received, to the horrific in describing a concentration camp prisoner’s death in painstaking detail.

Much inside the cabinets is simple, solemn fact, such as a name on a concentration camp death list.

Others of the archive’s 30 million documents relate to mental illness, homosexuality, medical treatment, even the presence of head lice.

Ageing Holocaust survivors and victims’ families had pressed for the change, arguing that the histories of their loved ones could otherwise be lost.

Germany had said that access to the files by Holocaust researchers would violate its privacy laws, but dropped its objection earlier this year.

German deputy foreign minister Guenter Gloser called the process “long and sometimes cumbersome” but said that in the end, it represents a “big success for researchers”.

“For Germany, the signing underlines the importance it attaches to dealing with the past,” he said.

Of the three countries that did not yet sign the agreement – Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands – the latter two had representatives at the ceremony and Gloser said it was only a matter of the nations getting their paperwork in order before they signed.

Once signed, the protocol still needs to be ratified by most of the 11 signatory states, including Germany and France, before the archives can be opened. The US Congress does not need to ratify the agreement.

There is no concrete timeline on when access will be broadened, but German justice minister Brigitte Zypries has it would be by the end of the year.

“Those who suffered from the Holocaust will welcome access to these archives as they hope to answer long-standing and agonising questions about the fate of family members and family property,” said US Ambassador William Timken Jr. in a statement after signing the agreement.