BS: WWII Archives Cleared for Public Release

Subject: BS: WWII Archives Cleared for Public Release
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Nov 07 - 10:11 PM

There have been previous reports posted, but apparently in "News" threads where they don't turn up in my search. Thus:

Vast Nazi archive opens to public

Documents may give further insights into inner workings of Third Reich

The Associated Press
updated 6:34 p.m. CT, Wed., Nov. 28, 2007

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - After more than 60 years, Nazi documents stored in a vast warehouse in Germany were unsealed Wednesday, opening a rich resource for Holocaust historians and for survivors to delve into their own tormented past.

The treasure of documents could open new avenues of study into the inner workings of Nazi persecution from the exploitation of slave labor to the conduct of medical experiments. The archive's managers planned a conference of scholars next year to map out its unexplored contents.

The files entrusted to the International Tracing Service, an arm of the International Committee of the Red Cross, have been used until now to help find missing persons or document atrocities to support compensation claims. The U.S. government also has referred to the ITS for background checks on immigrants it suspected of lying about their past.

Inquiries were handled by the archive's 400 staff members in the German spa town of Bad Arolsen. Few outsiders were allowed to see the actual documents, which number more than 50 million pages and cover 16 linear miles of gray metal filing cabinets and cardboard binders spread over six buildings.

On Wednesday, the Red Cross and the German government announced that the last of the 11 countries that govern the archive had ratified a 2006 agreement to open the files to the public for the first time.

[See link for some additional details]

The article appears to be the same one published several months ago. It indicates "updated 28 Nov" but does not show an original date of publishing. The paragraph to which I added <b> appears to be the only new edit.

The rest of the article does indicate that "digital copies" are being dribbled out to some public access points, but there still seems to be a lack of adequate personnel at the German location to process the information as quickly as some might hope.

John

Subject: RE: BS: WWII Archives Cleared for Public Release
From: GUEST,Obie
Date: 29 Nov 07 - 09:55 AM

Wonder why it took so long? It said that Greece was the last country to agree. Was there people protected by the state? When did the other allied countries agree?

Subject: RE: BS: WWII Archives Cleared for Public Release
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Nov 07 - 02:57 PM

An older press release recovered from my notes, at Holocaust archive going public gives slightly more explanation of the status and conditions/limitations on release of this archive.

That article was published ca. 19 Nov 2006.

"In May, after years of pressure from the United States and survivors' groups, the 11 countries overseeing the archive agreed to unseal the files for scholars as well as victims and their families. In recent weeks the ITS' interim director, Jean-Luc Blondel, has been to Washington, The Hague and to the Buchenwald memorial with a new message of cooperation with other Holocaust institutions and governments."

John