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The Week in Germany: Current Affairs March 30, 2007 German Parliament Unanimously Agrees to Ease Access to Vast Holocaust
Archive The upper chamber of the German parliament (Bundesrat) agreed on Friday
(March 30) to changes in the Bonn accord, an international treaty which
defines the rules for access to the data of the International Tracing
Service, the world's largest Holocaust archive. The storehouse, which
is administered by the International Committee of the Red Cross, is situated
in the German town of Bad Arolsen.
Under the new regulations, both survivors and scholars will have access
to the files. In addition, copies of the data, which is currently being
digitized, will be sent to other institutions devoted to the memory of
the Holocaust, among others the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
in Washington and Yad Vashem in Israel. The Bundestag, the upper chamber of the German parliament, had agreed
to the changes in the treaty on March 9. The treaty can now be ratified
by the German President Horst Köhler in the near future. Of the 11
countries that oversee the archive's administration, Germany will be the
6th country to ratify. Israel, the United States, Poland, the Netherlands
and the UK have already done so. Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg
have yet to ratify. Germany, together with the United States and the Netherlands, who currently
chair the 11-country governing body of the International Tracing Service,
is leading an effort urging all member states to ratify as soon as possible. US lawmakers urge opening of ITS archive On the same note, a US congressional committee on Tuesday urged nations
overseeing the archive to open it up to the public, suggesting it could
help counter deniers such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A resolution passed by the US House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs
Committee was aimed at seven European countries that have yet to ratify
an accord to open to researchers the roughly 50 million Nazi files housed
at the ITS in the central German town of Bad
Arolsen. Survivors and scholars say the records on concentration camps and their
victims will fill gaps in history, in part because the archive has testimony
of victims and ordinary Germans who witnessed Nazi brutality. In view of "Ahmadinejad's anti-Semitic rhetoric, and a resurgence
of anti-Semitism in part of the world, the opening of the archives at
Bad Arolsen could not be more urgent," the panel's measure said.
Opening the archive "is a vital contribution to the world's collective
memory and understanding of the Holocaust," said the resolution,
which needs the full House's approval to formally take effect. The US government and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington
have led international pressure to open the archive. Paul Shapiro, director
of the US Holocaust Museum's Center
for Advanced Holocaust Studies, also spoke at the hearing, held by
the House Subcommittee on Europe. He highlighted the importance of the
Bad Arolsen archive and praised German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries
for her own efforts in opening it up. Public access to the records "is a moral and humanitarian imperative,"
especially because of "the short time left to Holocaust survivors",
said the House committee. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is chaired by Tom
Lantos, 79, a Hungarian-born Democratic representative from California
and the only Holocaust survivor in the US Congress. Its Subcommittee on
Europe is chaired by Congressman Robert
Wexler, a Democrat from Florida. (TWIG/dpa) US special envoy for Holocaust issues makes first visit to the ITS
in Bad Arolsen Previously, the US Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues J. Christian Kennedy
paid a visit on March 12 to the International Tracing Service in Bad
Arolsen, where he took stock of progress made in the digitization
of the documents. Up to 7 terabyte of electronic information will soon be ready to be exported
to recipient institutions, according to a statement on the ITS website.
Kennedy discussed with its directorate how the US could best assist the
ITS in doing so, as well as in fully opening up the archives. Presently,
individuals can request specific information from the ITS which they receive
within two months. Kennedy has expressed confidence that the ITS will be able to open its
archives for public research purposes this year and to transfer digital
copies to all 11 nations that oversee it. (TWIG/ITS) Links:
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