Custodian of 30 million Nazi-era persecution documents and core partner in the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure since its founding.
The International Tracing Service (ITS), based in Bad Arolsen and now also known as the Arolsen Archives, holds one of the world's largest documentary collections related to Nazi persecution, the Holocaust, forced labor, and displaced persons — approximately 30 million documents accumulated since the end of World War II. It serves as a primary source repository for researchers, survivors, and their families, providing access to records that are irreplaceable and largely unavailable elsewhere. In both rounds of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI), ITS contributes its archival holdings and institutional expertise as a foundational partner, helping to build pan-European digital access to Holocaust-related archives. Its real-world value lies not in conducting research itself, but in custodianship and structured provision of primary historical evidence at an unmatched scale.
Both EHRI (2015–2019) and EHRI-3 (2020–2025) rely on ITS as a core partner precisely because its archive constitutes the most comprehensive collection of documents on Nazi victims, forced laborers, and displaced persons in Europe.
ITS contributes archival infrastructure and access protocols to both EHRI projects, enabling cross-border scholarly access to its holdings under international governance.
Participation in two consecutive EHRI infrastructure grants demonstrates a sustained institutional role in building and sustaining the European Holocaust research commons.
EHRI and EHRI-3 both include digitization and online access components, areas where ITS contributes its document-level expertise and collection knowledge.
The available CORDIS keyword data is empty for both periods, making a keyword-based evolution analysis impossible. What the project timeline does reveal is a clear deepening of commitment: ITS moved from EHRI (2015–2019) with EUR 86,260 in EC funding to EHRI-3 (2020–2025) with EUR 237,665 — nearly a threefold increase — suggesting a more substantive role in the second phase. The organization's thematic focus has not shifted: it remains entirely within Holocaust research infrastructure, which reflects its mission-driven nature rather than strategic pivoting.
ITS is deepening its engagement in European Holocaust research infrastructure — with a significantly larger funding share in EHRI-3 — suggesting it is becoming a more central rather than peripheral partner in this domain.
ITS participates exclusively as a consortium partner, never as coordinator, which is consistent with an institution whose value lies in providing access to a unique collection rather than leading research programs. Despite only two projects, it has worked with 25 distinct partners across 18 countries — indicating involvement in large, internationally diverse consortia typical of ESFRI research infrastructure projects. This suggests ITS is comfortable operating within complex multi-stakeholder projects without needing to drive them.
ITS has built a network of 25 unique partners spanning 18 countries through just two projects, reflecting the deliberately pan-European design of the EHRI consortium, which brings together national archives, memorial sites, and research universities across the continent. Their collaborative footprint is wide but concentrated within a single thematic infrastructure.
No other institution in Europe — or the world — holds a comparable concentration of primary documents on Nazi persecution and Holocaust victims: approximately 30 million records covering forced labor, concentration camp internment, displaced persons, and death registrations. This makes ITS an irreplaceable node in any serious European Holocaust research infrastructure project. For consortium builders working on WWII history, memory studies, digital humanities, or archival science, ITS brings both unique data assets and decades of international archival governance experience that cannot be replicated.
