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FIFTY MILLION NAZI DOCUMENTS

April 19, 2006

Germany Agrees to Open Holocaust Archive

By Charles Hawley in Berlin

In a dramatic policy reversal, Germany on Tuesday announced it would work toward opening the vast Holocaust archives stored in a small, central German village. Some 17 million individual fates may soon be open to historians and the public.

For years, the United States, France, Poland and a number of other countries have been trying to convince Germany to consent to the opening of the so-called "Holocaust Archives" stored in the north-central German town of Bad Arolsen. Citing privacy concerns and fears of lawsuits, however, the German government had consistently refused. The 30 to 50 million documents -- compiled by the Nazis during World War II and outlining the personal fates of 17 million Holocaust and forced labor victims -- remained off limits to scholars and historians.

But on Tuesday, Germany changed its mind. At a press conference at the US Holocaust Museum, German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said that Berlin would work with Washington to make the archives public. A number of details remain to be worked out, but Zypries said the process should not take more than six months.

"We still have negotiations to do," US special envoy for Holocaust issues Edward B. O'Donnell told the Associated Press. "Our goal is to reach an agreement as soon as possible."

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