Jewish genealogists have known of the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen, Germany, ever since Daniel Rottenberg and Arthur Kurzweil published their seminal “to-do” books more than 30 years ago.¹ But we did not know much, because the institution was closed to the public, and information about its holdings was difficult to obtain.² When ITS at last opened to the public in November 2007, archivists who work with Holocaust material confirmed that this massive collection of documents about individuals affected by World War II exceeded all expectations.³

In May 2008, we escorted a group of 37 genealogists to ITS for a week of intensive, individual onsite research. In June, a group of academic historians also spent a week in Bad Arolsen studying the holdings of ITS. As a result of these experiences, this article addresses two questions: What does ITS offer the Jewish genealogist? How best might its data be accessed? Our primary focuses are the so-called T/D files, the master index of names, and surname searches.

T/D Files

Most ITS holdings are World War II-era documents—pre-war arrest records, deportation lists, concentration camp records, displaced persons lists, and slave labor papers—26,000 meters of such records. The 2.5 million T/D (tracing documents) files are different. They are correspondence files created when someone wrote to ITS after the war asking for information about one or more individuals. Such letters, often written by relatives or close friends, may supply valuable genealogical information about the individual(s) being sought, e.g., “I am seeking information about my sister (brother, husband, wife, cousin etc.) born in such and such a place on such and such a date, last living at such and such an address and so forth.” Other letters came from Holocaust survivors themselves in connection with restitution claims. For every such letter of inquiry, ITS created a file card with the name of the inquirer and opened a case file. Into the case file went the original letter of inquiry, any future correspondence, and all ITS documents that applied to the person being sought. Even if ITS found no documentation in its holdings, the correspondence was preserved in the T/D file—available if anyone else later institutes a query about the same individual.

Because of the valuable personal data frequently found in a letter of inquiry, as well as information linking him or her to the person writing the letter, the T/D files are likely to be the most valuable ITS records for genealogists. Even if ITS has no information about a given individual, a T/D file can provide an earlier letter of inquiry (with all of its genealogical detail)—itself a potential lead to other relatives.

Unfortunately for the genealogists, the T/D files will be digitized last and are not scheduled to arrive at other institutions until the end of 2010 or the start of 2011. Until then, T/D files may be accessed only at ITS headquarters in Bad Arolsen.

Central Name Index

The ITS maintains a Central Name Index of 50 million-plus individual entries representing at least 17.5 million different individuals. Every time a name appeared on a document held at Bad Arolsen, a file card was created showing, at a minimum, the name and where in the collection the document could be found. Everyone who ever wrote a letter of inquiry is represented as well; the authors’ names appear in the name index as a result of correspondence over the years. Most names are not Jewish, and many Jews murdered in the Shoah are not represented—but surprises cannot be anticipated and every thorough Jewish genealogist should check the ITS index for names of interest. This is true even if the whole family died in Treblinka and no records exist for Jews taken there. Maybe they lie in mass graves in the former USSR, slaughtered by the Nazi Einsatzgruppen killing squads. Check in case someone after the war wrote to the Red Cross seeking information—someone perhaps unknown to the genealogist., but who is on the family tree nevertheless. Here is an example:

A relative (of Sack) thought her aunt had survived the war in Belarus. She remembered hearing that a letter had come from the Red Cross, but the letter was lost and nothing beyond that was known.

Sack had just read about ITS in Rottenberg’s book, and she sent a letter to Bad Arolsen with the little information she had—the lady’s given name, patronymic, her maiden name, where and approximately when she had been born,

and the fact that she was married. Also included was the speculation that she may have lived in Mogilev, Belarus, before the war.

A letter arrived from ITS a year later—with Tante Leah’s address (in Mogilev) and her married name. A brisk correspondence followed, family connections were re-established and after Chernobyl, Tante Leah’s 16 living descendants were helped to immigrate to Israel.

Doing a Surname Search

Some genealogists with relatively rare family names do surname searches. That is, they collect information on everyone with a given surname—or perhaps everyone from a specific geographical area with that surname. Big databases (Yad Vashem, Ellis Island, Hamburg Emigration Index, U.S. Social Security Death Index, and others) are, of course, excellent sources. So is the ITS index.

Although any given index card may have only a name, most have considerably more information—frequently date of birth, place of residence, and the fact that the individual is Jewish. Additional information is not uncommon. Thus, it often is easy to collect all surnames from a given location with the caveat that some individuals from the location of interest may not be identified as such. When restricting surname searches to a given location, it is wise to extend the search beyond the town level to other towns and villages in the surrounding county or district. Experience shows that large extended families frequently scattered throughout a district. Where Once We Walked: Revised Edition⁴ is a good source for the names of all towns and townlets where Jews lived in a given area on the eve of the Shoah. Toward the back of the book, just before the sound-ex, is a section entitled “Index to Nearby Towns.” Make a list of relevant names, and carry it when researching the Central Name Index.

ITS digitized its master index in recent years, but the system does not permit a full name search. Rather, it is more like a telephone directory with a name highlighted at the top and the bottom of each page. Searching is not difficult, but it takes a bit of instruction to learn. The spelling of an individual given name or family name often varies from one document to another. To deal with this problem, ITS created an extensive set of name synonyms. Spelling variations present no problem, because all cards with all variant spellings for a given individual are brought together in the digitized version of the index.

Finally, remember that German is the working language of ITS. Index card headings in the master index are written in German, but are relatively easy to translate and understand.

How and Where to Search the Central Name Index

Unfortunately, the ITS Central Name Index may be searched only at a limited number of locations. The agreement that opened the ITS records to the general public includes a number of restrictions. One institution in each of the countries represented by the 11-member governing council may acquire a complete set of the digitized documents—including the index. No internet access is permitted and no country not represented on the governing council may have a copy of the documents. In addition to ITS headquarters in Bad Arolsen, the master index currently is available at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, DC, at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. Several institutions in Paris have applied to be the French source; as soon as one is selected, a master index will be available there as well. Unfortunately, countries such as Australia and Canada, both with sizeable Holocaust and Holocaust-descendant populations, will not acquire copies of the ITS holdings under the current agreement.

For most AVOTAYNU readers, access means going in person to Bad Arolsen, Jerusalem, or Washington; writing to one of the three institutions; or hiring someone to search the index. Easiest and least expensive, of course, is to write to <e-mail@its-arolsen.org>. If the request is relatively specific or limited, none of the institutions should have difficulty responding. On the other hand, extensive surname research, such as, for example, “everyone named Slomovitz from Maramaros County, Hungary,” likely is more than can be done by e-mail. In such a case, the choices are to visit an institution in person or to hire someone.

Hiring a Researcher Versus a Research Visit

Despite the richness and extent of the ITS holdings, not every Jewish genealogist will find material about his or her family. A research trip undertaken solely in the hope of finding family information could be expensive and frustrating. Hence, check the Central Name Index first. If an e-mail query does not answer the question, look for someone in Jerusalem or Washington willing to make the trip to Yad Vashem or USHMM. Some genealogists who made the May 2008 trip to Bad Arolsen live in Jerusalem and Washington, are experienced using the index, and are willing to undertake such searches for others.⁵ In most cases, such a search will be satisfactory and probably sufficient—but not always.

Remember that ITS was not created to be an archives but a working institution whose mission was to reunite and/or document individuals and families affected by the Holocaust. Documents were acquired, created and used for these ends. One result is that notations and abbreviations reflecting internal processes frequently are found on the index cards. Personnel from USHMM and Yad Vashem have been training at ITS to understand these notations, but it likely will be some time before they are as adept at deciphering these codes as are the people who instituted them in the first place. Thus, a search of the master index in either Jerusalem or Washington may not capture as much information as a search at Bad Arolsen.

Digitized copies are good, but never quite as good as originals. Mokotoff had an experience at Bad Arolsen that illustrates this fact. He found an index card for a relative and asked an ITS staffer to explain some of the notations. The staffer was puzzled initially until he went next door where the now-retired cabinets of paper index cards are stored. He returned holding the paper card and beaming, the mystery solved. Some of the original paper index cards were pre-printed forms in red ink. The process used when the cards were digitized does not capture red ink. As a result, some information is missing from the digitized image of the Mokotoff relative’s index card; without it, the index card is only partially intelligible. Sack had a similar problem with a document on which an official stamp had been superimposed over a family name. The family name could not be deciphered from the copy, but was easily read from the original, because the official stamp was printed in a different, lighter color than the family name written beneath it.

Conclusion

Genealogists all know the saying, “No one can do my research as well as I can.” Even the most diligent hired assistant may not recognize a relevant clue simply because he or she doesn’t know as much about the family as the genealogist does. The best index search will be done by the individual genealogist—and for maximal thoroughness, the search would need to be done at ITS in Bad Arolsen.

If a search of the Central Name Index reveals that ITS holds files of interest, the next step is to acquire the files. T/D files are not scheduled to be digitized until the end of 2010 or possibly the beginning of 2011. Until then, the only place to see these files is at ITS in Bad Arolsen.

Notes

1. Arthur Kurzweil. From Generation to Generation. New York: HarperCollins, 1980; Dan Rottenberg. Finding Our Fathers, New York: Random House, 1977.
2. See for example, “The International Tracing Service: Mother Lode of Holocaust Information,” AVOTAYNU, Vol. XVI, No. 4, Winter 2000; “Working Toward a Master List of Holocaust Victims,” AVOTAYNU, Vol. XVII, No. 2, Summer 2001; “Holocaust Closure: The Role of Germany and the Swiss Red Cross,” AVOTAYNU, Vol. XXI, No. 2, Summer 2005; “ITS Revisited: The Times They Are A’ Changin” AVOTAYNU, Vol. XXIII, No. 4, Winter 2007; “Report of a Research Trip to the International Tracing Service,” AVOTAYNU, Vol. XXIII, No. 4, Winter 2007.
3. Personal communication from Yaacov Lozowick, former chief archivist at Yad Vashem, May 22, 2007.
4. Mokotoff, Gary and Sallyann Sack, Where Once We Walked: Revised Edition, Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, 2002.
5. In Jerusalem, Dr. Rose Lerer Cohen and Michael Goldstein, both of whom came on the Bad Arolsen trip, are available to do private research. Their e-mail addresses are (for Cohen) rlerercohen@gmail.com; (for Goldstein) michael@jg-search.com.

Comments from Genealogists and Researchers Who Visited ITS

From Liz James, Melbourne, Australia [reprinted with permission from The Kosher Koala, September 2008.]

I was astounded when I was given 58 T/D (tracing documents) files. How could this be so? We were told that on average the ITS was able to locate details on only 25 percent of requests. Speaking to representatives of the ITS, I learned that two factors suggested that the prospect of getting real information about my tree families was good. First, it is evident that ITS has much more data on people who had been in Germany and surrounding areas. The further East a family lived or was deported from, the lower the likelihood of detailed information. Secondly, the files I was given were “extended;” prior requests about a particular family were logged and recorded in the file, thus linking requests. In this way, I was provided with the files of spouses, siblings, children, and members of the extended family, all of whom were related to my initial search request.

From a genealogical viewpoint, the T/D files are a rich source of information. For example, I found a letter sent by an enquirer from Canada requesting information from a list of 23 names. In the correspondence, the enquirer had listed the names of the persons he was seeking, their birth dates, particulars of what he thought had been their fates, how they were related to one another, and how they were related to him. I have subsequently written to this person in Canada (found through JewishGen) and established how we are related to each other. We have been corresponding and sharing data ever since.

The other amazing find for me came from a correspondence file written by someone in 1952. When reading the birth place of the people in question, I realized that I possibly had some photos belonging to this family at home. On my return to Australia, I was able to confirm that I did, in fact, have their photos! I have now posted the four photographs to the only living member of this family—an 82-year-old cousin of my mother who, as it turns out, had not seen these pictures since 1938. Her father and brother perished in the camps; she and her mother had fled Europe to the U.S., losing all their possessions on the way. By having had access to these T/D files at Bad Arolsen, I could now return the photographs to their owner, and my family’s role as custodian (for 70 years) was complete.

I wish everyone had the opportunity to go to Bad Arolsen. It upsets me that my parents and all of my grandparents, who came to Australia in 1939, never knew the fate of other family members and friends.

From Tom Weiss, Boston, Massachusetts

I was researching the Weinstein family. I knew of the parents, Emil and Miluska, and the son, Bruno, but only the name of the father of Emil—Moric or Moritz. Usually, if one does not know the birth date, it is almost impossible to identify that person definitively in the Central Name Index. Therefore, prior to coming to Bad Arolsen, I had not submitted the name of Moritz Weinstein to ITS. But, Uwe (my ITS staff helper) handpulled the T/D files not only for a Moritz Weinstein, but for several other Weinsteins who came from Prague or surroundings. I did not know any of these people. Then it was time for lunch, and there were things to do during lunch, so I put the T/D files aside.

After lunch, I began to look at the other Weinstein T/D files that Uwe had requisitioned for me. Soon I found a document typed on front and back that seemed to include a list of members of the Weinstein family who had been declared dead as Holocaust victims. To be sure, I called over my favorite translator, Margit, and audio taped her free translation of the document.

Here was the whole Weinstein family! I had known of only three members. Here were four or five children and many grandchildren of Moritz Weinstein. The sad thing was that they had all been murdered, but now I can commemorate their lives and detail their fates. I drew a small family tree to see if things fit together. They did!

Sallyann Sack, sitting at the computer next to me said, “Why don’t you look at the Yad Vashem database of names and see if there is a Page of Testimony (PoT) for them?” Using my own laptop, I immediately signed onto the Yad Vashem site and looked up one of the Weinsteins. There was a PoT submitted by someone whose surname also was Weinstein. That means a member of the family survived and was living in Israel in the 1950s. The PoT is written in Hebrew, so I will need help to translate it in order to search for living members of this branch of my Czech family. This was pretty exciting.

From Professor Kenneth Waltzer, Michigan State University

Bad Arolsen was incredible. The scholars were a good group, the teams worked very hard, and the reports on what was there and what might be done with what is or was there were positive and good. What was most gratifying to me was the find that I could track people from transport lists, zugangsbucher (registration books), blockbucher (block books), and personalkarte (personnel cards) in the same way we track immigrants via Ellis Island ship manifest lists,

census manuscripts, city directories, and so forth.