The files of the International Tracing Service at Arolsen, Germany passed today into the custody of the International Red Cross for a five-year period, under the terms of an international agreement signed by nine powers, including Israel and West Germany. The files, containing ten million documents and 20 million file cards, are a compilation of information about victims of the Nazis in the concentration camps liberated by the three Western Allies.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Red Cross will supervise the files until 1960, with West Germany meeting the annual cost of about $350,000. No later than 1959 the nine powers–United States, Britain, France, Italy, Benelux states, Germany and Israel–must decide the future fate of the files, which contain much, or in some cases all, of the documentation to back up claims of Nazi victims for indemnification.
The president of the International Red Cross, Paul Ruegger, was a signatory to the pact, as was Israel’s Dr. F. Shinnar and West Germany’s Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. The representatives of the nine signatories will meet in a committee to give the IRC direction. A Swiss director and several Swiss aides will be appointed by the Red Cross.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
