Bad Arolsen ex Wiki
QUOTE
Bad Arolsen (until 1997 Arolsen,
Bad being the German name for Spa) is a small town in northern
Hesse,
Germany, in
Waldeck-Frankenberg district. From 1655 until 1918 it served as the
residence town of the Princes of
Waldeck-Pyrmont and then until 1929 as the capital of the Waldeck
Free State. The
International Tracing Service has its headquarters in Bad Arolsen.
UNQUOTE
The tracing service is what makes Arolson interesting and important.
International Tracing Service
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Tracing_Service
QUOTE
The International Tracing Service (ITS) in
Bad
Arolsen, Germany, is the internationally governed archive whose task it is
to document the fate of millions of civilian victims of
Nazi
Germany. The documents in the ITS archives include original records from
concentration camps, details of
forced labour, and files on
displaced persons. ITS preserves the original documents and clarifies the
fate of those persecuted by the Nazis. Since November 2007, the archives are
accessible for researchers.
ITS was founded in 1943 as an organization dedicated to finding missing persons, typically lost to family and friends as a result of war or political unrest during World War II. The service operates under the legal authority of the Bonn Agreement, is under the administrative umbrella of the International Committee of the Red Cross and is funded by the government of Germany.
In 1943, the international section of the British Red Cross was asked by the Headquarters of the Allied Forces to set up a registration and tracing service for missing persons. The organization was formalized under the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces and named the Central Tracing Bureau on February 15, 1944. As the war unfolded, the bureau was moved from London to Versailles, then to Frankfurt am Main, and finally to Bad Arolsen, which was considered a central location among the areas of Allied occupation.
On July 1, 1947 the International Refugee Organization took over administration of the bureau, and on January 1, 1948 the name was changed to its current International Tracing Service. In April 1951, administrative responsibilities for the service were placed under the Allied High Commission for Germany. When the status of occupation of Germany was repealed in 1954, the service found its current home with the ICRC.
After some discussion, in 1990 the Federal
Republic of Germany renewed its continuing commitment to funding the
operations of the ITS. The documents in the ITS archives were opened to public
access on November 28, 2007
UNQUOTE
They are obviously the best source
of casualty states. They claim that they have never made any attempt to find
how many died - see under. You might wonder why they kept the evidence under
wraps for so long.
From
http://just-another-inside-job.blogspot.com/2007/06/official-records-from-international-red.html
The Red Cross will tell you, if you care to ask
them that they have never estimated the number of casualties. Their email
on the point is below. They also claim that Raoul Hilberg is a reliable source
on the subject. Read for yourself. Think for yourself. Decide for yourself.
Sir,
Following your request, we inform you that the ICRC never estimated the
number of deaths at the Nazi concentration camps at 271,301. Such allegation was
tendentiously elaborated by Holocaust deniers.
We suggest you to refer to the existing and reliable academic works, especially
those of Raoul Hilberg.
If you wish more information, you may also contact the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem.
Regards
Daniel Palmieri
Historical Research Officer
ICRC Historical Archives Unit
Daniel Palmieri on 02/08/10 12:26
Q1 : Dear Sir,
I came across what is said to be a a Red Cross statement at
http://just-another-inside-job.blogspot.com/2007/06/official-records-from-international-red.html
which tells us that the total concentration camp deaths were 271,301.
I was wondering whether it is authentic. Would you mind checking for me?
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