Overview

With some 75 million pages of documentation, Yad Vashem’s archives comprise the largest collection of information on the Holocaust, as well as photographs, testimonies, Pages of Testimony and more. Sources of this information include documents microfilmed by Israel in the mid-1950s at Bad Arolsen, Germany, in the central repository of the International Tracing Service (ITS) established at the end of World War II to help survivors trace missing relatives and friends. In charging the ITS with its enormous task to help reunite families “torn apart by war,” the Allies gathered all the documentation possible that pertained to individuals during the war – including its victims, deportations, concentration camps, forced labor and displaced persons.

Due to mounting public pressure to allow easier access to the vital documentation housed at Bad Arolsen, the International Commission of the ITS recently signed a new agreement whereby scanned copies of the entire collection will be transferred to its 11 member states, among them Israel. Part of this material duplicates what Yad Vashem already has, but it also includes new material collected in the last 50 years by the ITS as well as documents not copied at that time.

The public is welcome to come to Yad Vashem to search all of our archival material, including information we have from the ITS. Our reading room is open 08:30-17:00 Sunday-Thursday.

Starting in February 2008, our Reference and Information unit will respond to queries sent by mail, e-mail, or fax (+972 2 644 3669).
Click here to search for information via a downloadable form or an online form.


Please Note:

• A separate form should be filled out for every individual you are seeking.

• While the ITS records are extensive, they do not include information on every Holocaust victim.

• Because Yad Vashem has held extensive portions of the ITS material for over five decades, if you have received information in the past from Yad Vashem, there may be no additional information in the new materials we have recently received from Bad Arolsen.

• Yad Vashem will answer a reasonable amount of queries per person free of charge. If you have a request that entails extensive research it may entail a fee to cover expenses.

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