Israel today became the sixth member of the United Nations to accede to an international treaty which may help to trace and establish the facts of the death of Jews during World War Two.
The formal document to which Israel acceded is one entitled "Protocol for the Further Extension of the Period of Validity of the Convention on the Declaration of the Death of Missing Persons." This U.N. Convention provides "for the declaration of death for persons whose last residence was in Europe. Asia or Africa and who have disappeared in the years 1939-1945 under circumstances affording reasonable grounds to infer death as a consequence of events of war or of racial, religious, political or national persecution."
The Convention does not cover members of armed forces who were in those continents during the years of World War Two. Five other countries have thus far acceded to the Protocol which was opened for accession. These are: Cambodia, (Nationalist) China, Guatemala, Italy and Pakistan.
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.
