=ICRC News Release
29 November 2012
Germany: ICRC Hands Over Management Of International Tracing Service
Geneva (ICRC) –The ICRC is to hand over management of the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen to the German
Federal Archives after over half a century. The ITS was founded in 1943 to provide answers to millions of families who
had lost touch with relatives during the Second World War.
Speaking at the ITS on 29 November, ICRC president Peter Maurer explained that "The ICRC is handing over management of
the ITS, but we’re not leaving it." He stressed that the ICRC would remain in regular contact with the ITS, through its
Central Tracing Agency in Geneva, tracing agencies in ICRC delegations, and the tracing services of national Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies around the world. The ICRC will continue to provide its technical expertise, helping the ITS
serve the victims of Nazi persecution and their families.
“The ITS strives to be of service to people,” Maurer added. “Yes, it possesses archives, but those archives reflect
human beings and the unthinkable suffering of so many millions during the Second World War and beyond.”
Indeed, the archives cover civilians detained in Nazi concentration or labour camps and people who had to flee their
homes because of the Second World War. They house over 50 million card files relating to more than 17.5 million
civilians persecuted by the Nazis.
Ever since its creation, the ITS has been governed by the 11-nation International Commission for the International
Tracing Service (ICITS) under the 1955 Bonn Agreement and its 2006 Protocols. The following countries are members of the
Commission: Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom and the
United States. Since 1955, the ICRC has managed the ITS on behalf of the ICITS, as a neutral and independent supervisory
body.
As the mission of the ITS has now extended beyond purely humanitarian work to englobe research, management of the
Service will be handed over on 1 January 2013 to the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) and the International
Commission has appointed a new director, history professor Rebecca Boehling, who will continue and develop the work of
the past five decades.
ENDS