The International Research Service (SIR/ ITS) located in Bad Arolsen (Germany) has provided France (National Archives) with a copy of its digitized archives concerning the victims of Nazi persecution. About 87 million images were loaded onto the servers of the Ministry of Culture and Communication. This was done in accordance with the resolution of the International Commission of the 11 Member States, which was responsible for supervising the work of the SIR, providing for the issue to each of these States of a copy of the digitized archives.
In order to ensure access for all to this particularly rich and complex data, the National Archives will soon acquire adapted technological solutions. To this end, a scientific steering committee will be convened, under the chairmanship of the director of the interdepartmental service of the archives of France within the Directorate-General for Heritage, in liaison with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Defence and Veterans Affairs. It will be responsible for studying the new research possibilities opened up by this transfer.
Pending the decisions of this committee, the current arrangements for access to the archives held in Bad Arolsen remain unchanged. Recall that the International Research Service works on behalf of the victims of the Nazi persecutions and their families by establishing their fate using its archives. Requests for information from French victims or residing in France, and their families or rights holders, must continue to be sent to the French Liaison Mission at the International Research Service (Grosse Allee 5-9, 34444 Bad Arolsen, Germany - mission-francaise@its-arolsen.org).
More information available on the site:
http://www.its-arolsen.org/fr/page_daccueil/index.html