Nazi Death Documents Given to Museums

By Ed Johnson

An international body documenting Nazi atrocities against Jews during World War II sent millions of files to Holocaust museums in the U.S. and Israel, as it prepares to open its archive to the public.

The documents, from more than 50 concentration camps, include transportation lists, medical reports and “death books” detailing those who perished, the International Tracing Service said in a statement yesterday.

“These documents reflect the most despicable operations of the Nazi era and constitute an essential part of our archive,” said ITS director Reto Meister, after digital copies of 12 million files were sent to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem.

The ITS, managed by the International Committee of the Red Cross, is based in Bad Arolsen, Germany, and documents the Nazi genocide that killed 6 million Jews. The transfer is part of an international agreement to open up the files to the public.

The body is governed under a treaty signed in 1955 by the U.K., Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, the U.S., Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Poland. The countries decided in 2006 to make the archive, which includes 30 million documents, available for research.

The first batch of files was sent to the U.S. and Israel under embargo and won’t be open to the public until Italy, France and Greece join the other countries in ratifying last year’s agreement, according to the statement.

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