17 May, 2006
Eleven nations that share custody of millions of files on victims of the Nazis reached an agreement in principle on Tuesday to open the archives to researchers. "These amendments will permit the rich documentation preserved at headquarters of the ITS (International Tracing Service) in Bad Arolsen to be opened to researchers and historians," the countries' representatives said in a statement after a meeting in Luxembourg. The world's largest archive of its kind based in the central German town of Bad Arolsen covers the fates of 17.5 million forced and slave laborers as well as concentration camp inmates, and it has until now been open only to them and their relatives.
Germany in particular had been reluctant to give researchers access to the archives for fear that it would compromise the victims' privacy. At the meeting, representatives said that provisions would be taken to ensure the dignity of individuals covered in the files. "Access to the archives and documents preserved by the ITS will take adequate protection of the personal data into account," the statement said. A spokesman for the meeting said further details on these protective measures would be announced at a later date. Some signatory countries will have to ratify the amendments.
The US State Department, the Israeli Holocaust memorial institution Yad Vashem and the World Jewish Congress warmly welcomed the planned opening of the ITS files. "We are pleased that after 60 years, the millions of written proofs for the Nazi mass murder against Jews will be open for researchers," WJC Policy Council chairman Israel Singer said. "It is a strike against all those Holocaust deniers. The opening of the archives is necessary to continue research into this dark chapter of our history; it is necessary to preserve the past so future generations could learn a lesson from it." Researchers have said the files, which fill 27 kilometers of shelf space, will not lead to a rewriting of history but will help give a clearer, more personal picture of the suffering inflicted during the Holocaust.
