May 16, 2006
New Nazi Files
on Holocaust to Be Opened
By THE ASSOCIATED
PRESS
LUXEMBOURG, May 16 (AP) --
Millions of Nazi files that describe the Holocaust in
gray, bureaucratic tones will be opened to researchers
under an agreement announced Tuesday by a panel that
has kept the archives locked away since the end of
World War II.
Once ratified, the decision
will give the public access to some 50 million files
stored in a German spa town, Bad Arolsen, including
the registration of concentration camp inmates by the
numbers on their arms, stacks of identity booklets and
meticulously kept records of executions.
"Bad Arolsen is the most
complete file," said Paul Mertz, a Luxembourg diplomat
and the chairman of the 11-nation
commission.
The files will be available
to Holocaust survivors and families of victims whose
fates may not be clear. While survivors and their
relatives have been able to request information, they
sometimes have had to wait years.
Amendments to two 1955
agreements controlling the archives are to be signed
at a ceremony in Berlin before they are submitted to
the governments for ratification, Mr. Mertz said.
It could take until the end of the year before the
process is complete.