If the attempt to take Adolf Hitler’s life on July 20, 1944 had been successful, Dr Fritz Elsas would have become head of the Reich Chancellery. But the attempt failed. The Nazis arrested, interrogated, and tortured Fritz.

For Eugen Seidt, fighting on the side of the Republic also meant fighting against the Nazis. The German national joined the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Read the whole story on our website: arolsen-archives.org/en/news/90-y...

„Wenn man hier in Deutschland aufwächst, dann wächst man mit Antisemitismus auf.“ Nach dem Überfall der Terrororganisation „Hamas“ auf Israel am 7. Oktober 2023 bricht für Leah ihre wissenschaftliche Community um sie herum weg, sie verliert Freund*innen und Kolleg*innen. youtu.be/1sshDQcYOZo

Technical problems with the Online Archive Due to maintenance work, access to the online archive is currently limited. We are working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding!

“I'll keep going until there are no more Nazis.” Esther Bejarano survived Auschwitz, Ravensbrück, and a death march. In Auschwitz, she played the accordion in the women’s orchestra. Explore documents relating to her persecution in our online archive: collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/...

Following their liberation, former prisoners took control in some concentration camps. For the liberated prisoners, this form of self-organization was a first step toward reclaiming their dignity and autonomy. Find out more: arolsen-archives.org/stories/en/s...

Was hat Ikkimel mit Jiddisch zu tun? Und warum war der Reisepass der BRD so besonders für Leah? Darum geht’s in der neuen Folge „Meine, Deine, Keine Geschichte“. Tanya Raab und Leah Czollek spielen eine Runde Memory und klären, welcher Feiertag ihr liebster ist: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQig...

#everynamecounts continues to grow! The participation of tens of thousands of volunteers and their enthusiastic sharing of the campaign on social media helped triple user numbers in 2025. Together they processed twice as many documents as in 2024. arolsen-archives.org/stories/en/a...

“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.” This quote by Elie Wiesel is engraved in stone at the entrance of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Elie was a Holocaust survivor who dedicated his life to defending human rights. In 1986, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

„Die Sieger schreiben die Geschichte“ ist einprägsam und klingt schlau. Immer wieder taucht er im Zusammenhang mit den Verbrechen der Nazis auf. Aber was steckt wirklich dahinter? Wir machen den Faktencheck bei einer neuen Folge „Bullshit vs. Belege“: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7hb...

830,000 searches were carried out in our online archive in 2025. Anyone can explore more than 40 million documents online, and thousands of people now access this resource every day. For more facts and figures, see our annual report: arolsen-archives.org/stories/en/a...

We’re extending our #StolenMemory tour in Ukraine! Instead of the 5 venues originally planned, it’s scheduled to visit 17 locations by the end of the year, despite the difficult conditions in the country. Read more in our update: www.stolenmemory.org/en/stolenmem...

National players Alfred Dünnmann, Kornel “Narrio” Hoffmann, and Emil Isidor Weinberg helped shape the early years of Austrian professional football. But the Nazis murdered the three Jewish sportsmen in extermination camps in 1942.

Why do the stories of people persecuted by the Nazi regime still matter today? For Malgorzata Przybyla, who works in the tracing department at the Arolsen Archives, the answer is simple: because their names mustn’t be forgotten – and because their stories help us understand the present.

Sobald über Verbrechen deutscher Soldaten während des Zweiten Weltkriegs aufgeklärt wird, wird ein Argument besonders laut und gerne hervorgebracht: Deutsche Soldaten hätten nur Befehle befolgt. In der neuen Folge „Bullshit vs. Belege“ schauen wir uns diese Erzählung genauer an: youtu.be/pxMkJ1cUdOk

85 years ago, on June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The objectives of this war of annihilation were the economic exploitation of the population and the territories, the conquest of “Lebensraum” (living space), and the murder of the Jewish population and the Soviet ruling class.

“After a year of war, this has become a very pressing, painful topic.” Hanna Tarkovska and her students in Ukraine are participating in #StolenMemory. Together with other volunteers, they’re searching for the families of victims of Nazi persecution. Read more: www.stolenmemory.org/en/

The International Commission of the Arolsen Archives met in Rome this week. Arezoo Hersel-Rohila (Israel) takes over as chair for the next 12 months, succeeding Sabrina Mingarelli (Italy). We would like to thank Sabrina Mingarelli for her hard work and dedication this past year!

When Yidele Henechowicz was liberated from the Bergen Belsen, he was not yet three. After the war, he was adopted in Sweden and given a new name: Julius Maslovat. Not until 2010 did he learn that an uncle had escaped Poland before it was too late - with a photo of his parents Sala and Symcha.

The Nazis castrated Kurt Brüssow because he was gay. After 1945, he fought for his suffering to be recognized. But he fought in vain – homosexuals continued to face discrimination under Paragraph 175 after 1945. Not until 1994 was the Paragraph abolished. Too late for Kurt, who had died in 1988.

To mark World Day Against Child Labor, we remember the millions of children and young people who were deported by the Nazis to Germany and to German-occupied territories and made to perform forced labor - among them seven-year-old Sinaida Dalidowicz from Belarus.

In honor of Eva Mamlok, a Jewish resistance fighter, the German Federal Ministry of Finance issued a commemorative stamp on May 7. When she was still a teenager, Eva stood up against the Nazi regime. The Nazis murdered her in the Stutthof concentration camp on December 23, 1944.

Wie prägt die Geschichte der eigenen Familie dein Leben heute? Leah Czollek und Tanya Raab sprechen in der neuen Folge „Meine, Deine, Keine Geschichte“ über Traumata, Migration und ihre jüdische Identität. Jetzt anschauen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOZx...

The initiative “NeprOSTi lysty” – "Difficult Letters" returns letters from Ukrainian forced laborers that have been stored in archives for more than 80 years. Vitalii Heds, co-leader of the initiative, talks about one return that left a lasting impression arolsen-archives.org/en/news/lett...

We spoke with Aleksandr and Marina – our ASF volunteers - about what motivates them to engage in remembrance work and what it means to confront the past in the present – particularly in light of recent developments in their home country, Russia. arolsen-archives.org/en/news/asf-...

As an archivist and research assistant at the Arolsen Archives, Mareike Hennies works where history, technology, and people come together. In our interview, she shares what motivates her, what makes #everynamecounts so impactful, and what it’s like to work at the Arolsen Archives.

Eine neue Staffel von „Meine, Deine, Keine Geschichte“ startet mit Tanya Raab und Leah Czollek. Die beiden sprechen über jüdisches Leben in Deutschland, Familiengeschichte und Verbindungen, die sie trotz unterschiedlicher Generationen haben. Jetzt den Teaser schauen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQaW...

Wenn aus Worten Taten werden, ist es zu spät 😔 Wir erinnern heute an den Regierungspräsidenten von Kassel, Walter Lübcke (CDU), der auf seiner eigenen Terrasse in der Nacht vom 01. auf den 02. Juni 2019 von einem Rechtsextremisten erschossen wurde.

To mark International Children’s Day, we remember Josef Bareikowski who became an orphan in infant age. His mother was deported by the Nazis for forced labor to Germany and died there. After the war ended, various aid organizations took care of Josef and returned him to Poland in May 1946.

We are looking for relatives of Anna Bovkova (Bovkava) in order to return Anna’s ring to them. Anna’s story is part of the #StolenMemory traveling exhibition which we are showing in Ukraine, in cooperation with Tolerspace. Here are all the details: www.stolenmemory.org/en/exhibitio...

Kennst du schon unsere Graphic Novel „Wo ist Lotte?“. Die Graphic Novel entstand in Kooperation mit dem Grimmelshausen-Gymnasiums Gelnhausen, der Künstlerin Hannah Brinkmann und dem Bildungsteam der Arolsen Archives. Mehr erfährst du hier: arolsen-archives.org/mitmachen/ar...

„Vielleicht erlebe ich den Frieden noch.“ Die Ausstellung des Hilfsnetzwerks für NS-Verfolgte zeigt 10 Überlebende der NS-Verfolgung in der Ukraine und ihren Alltag im Kriegsgebiet. Schau sie dir bis Ende der Woche in der KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme an: hilfsnetzwerk-nsverfolgte.de/ausstellung-...

Unter unseren Posts wird immer wieder behauptet, in den Rheinwiesenlagern hätten die Alliierten Millionen Deutsche ermordet. In der neuen Folge „Bullshit vs. Belege“ schauen wir uns den Mythos mal genauer an und erklären dir, was dahintersteckt: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVrC...

Jetzt neu: Das Digitale Gedenkbuch der Stadt Kassel dokumentiert frei zugänglich alle Namen und Schicksale der Jüdinnen und Juden, die 1933-1945 in Kassel gelebt haben. Dafür hat das Stadtarchiv auch jahrelang bei den Arolsen Archives recherchiert: gedenkbuch.kassel.de

Als wahrscheinlich einziger Mensch lässt sich der polnische Widerstandskämpfer Witold Pilecki 1940 freiwillig in Auschwitz inhaftieren, um Berichte über die NS-Verbrechen aus dem Lager zu schmuggeln. Das kommunistische Regime in Polen richtet ihn 1948 wegen „ausländischer Spionage“ hin.

Heute ist der 85. Geburtstag von Rita Kleiber Soares. Im Chaos des Zweiten Weltkriegs wurde sie als Kind von ihrer Familie getrennt. Durch einen Suchaufruf der Arolsen Archives konnten ihre Verwandten gefunden. Lies die ganze Geschichte: arolsen-archives.org/suchaufrufe/...

Stanisław Stylka lived in Warsaw until the Nazis deported him to a concentration camp during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. His pocket watch has now returned to his home town and is part of the Warsaw Museum’s permanent exhibition on the history of the German occupation.

Behind the scenes at the Arolsen Archives: Millions of documents need to be repacked in preparation for their move to the new archive building. We use boxes and folders that conform to archival standards and protect the fragile paper from damaging environmental factors such as light and moisture.

Bei “Bullshit vs. Belege” nehmen wir gemeinsam mit Moderator Rafid Kabir rechte Erzählungen unter die Lupe. Heute: Warum Hitler kein Linker war und woher dieser Mythos stammt. Schau dir den ganzen Faktencheck an: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cErc...

On March 18, 1944, Rudolf Friemel and Margarita Ferrer Rey were married in the Auschwitz concentration camp. For this purpose, Margarita was permitted to visit Rudolf. It is the only wedding ceremony ever documented at the camp. Just a few months later, Rudolf was executed by the Nazis.

On February 21, 2026, #StolenMemory volunteer Nathalie Letierce-Liebig handed over Stanislaus Szydlewski’s personal effects to his nephew Harry. She carried out digital research in three countries before eventually locating Stanislaus’s relatives. Read more: www.stolenmemory.org/en/personal-...

On May 17, 1945, Norwegians were finally free to celebrate their national holiday again. Einar Gerhardsen was among them. Persecuted by the Nazis, he was held at Grini detention camp & at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. After the war, he helped shape modern Norway as the country’s Prime Minister.

When the Nazis arrested István Rokza, he was a 16-year-old apprentice working in a bicycle repair shop in Budapest. He had nothing with him at the time except some small change and his pen. The Nazis took everything away from him. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Ji...

Tonight is the #esc final. Freddy Quinn and Walter Andreas Schwarz competed for Germany at the first #eurovision 70 years ago. Both performers had difficult years behind them – as documents held by the Arolsen Archives show. Read the whole story here: arolsen-archives.org/en/news/70-y...

Heute am Internationalen Museums-Tag noch nichts vor? Besuch doch unsere Ausstellung „Ein Denkmal aus Papier“ über die Arbeit der Arolsen Archives in der Schloßstraße 10 in Bad Arolsen. Alle Infos: arolsen-archives.org/dossiers/all...

Josefa Boholle was a successful dancer when the Nazis came to power. As a Black German, she was forced to earn a living by performing in “human zoos.” In 1944, the Nazis arrested her and sent her to Stutthof concentration camp. She died in 1955 from the long-term effects of the prison conditions.

In unserem neuen Format „Bullshit vs. Belege“, moderiert von Rafid Kabir, nehmen wir Geschichtsrevisionismus und rechte Erzählungen unter die Lupe. Weißt du, was hinter dem Code „271k“ steckt und woher er stammt? Schau dir jetzt den ganzen Faktencheck an: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq3a...

93 years ago, on May 10, 1933, about 70,000 onlookers gathered in Berlin and watched the burning of countless books which the Nazis had declared to be “un-German.” While their books were vanishing from the public arena, the authors faced mounting persecution. (1/2)

Wie konnten Zehntausende KZ-Häftlinge von vergleichsweise wenigen SS-Leuten bewacht werden? Die Nazis schufen dafür ein perfides System: Sogenannte Funktionshäftlinge setzen die Befehle der SS durch. In der neuen Folge „Wusst‘ ich nich‘“ erklären wir’s dir: youtu.be/GtlZCR-jTgA

For a long time, Ilana Kraus and her brother Alan did not know that they had a sister living in France. It was an old wedding photograph that prompted Ilana to begin her search. With our help, she was able to locate her sister, Mala. Read the full interview here: arolsen-archives.org/en/news/the-...