10 million records added to WWII victims database

Researching relatives and ancestors who were victims of WWII as concentration camp victims, forced laborers or displaced persons just got easier.

This week, Arolsen Archives (formerly known as International Tracing Service) posted 10 million records online for free downloading here. The database, which has more than 13 million records, doesn’t involve any registration so it is straight to searching.

The best part of this database is that it can be searched in English. Since the database had so many records uploaded quickly, the search abilities are limited to names and topics for now.

These records are in German but some records have English written along the German. Anyone who lacks German language skills could try Google Translate to switch the typed German into English.

Also, plenty of German genealogy groups on Facebook have members who are willing to translate documents. The Genealogy Translations group is a popular group for this type of help.

This database was last updated in November, when I found more documents on my grandparents. Three more important records were just posted on my grandparents, who were displaced persons from Soviet Ukraine living in southern Germany during the war.

I hope to post soon about the information the new records reveal about my grandparents. This update to the database will be one of many to come.

I will post here when Arolsen Archives has another major update to the database.

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