The ITS Holocaust archives at Bad Arolsen, Germany. (AP/Michael Probst) (AP/Michael Probst)
Holocaust archives at Bad Arolsen

More documents and artifacts from the Holocaust are now open to public access after 70 years. 

The International Tracing Service (ITS) announced it has begun putting its Holocaust-era archive online for the first time, including photos of items seized from concentration camp victims and other historical documents.

The archive, located in the German town of Bad Arolsen, said Wednesday the materials are now available free of charge on its site. The 50,000 images posted so far represent only a small part of its collection of some 30 million documents.

The ITS was established by Western Allies in the final days of World War II and initially run by the Red Cross to help uncover the fates of Holocaust victims and others.

In 2007, scholars and researchers were allowed access to the documents, beginning the archive’s transformation from a tracing service to a research institution.

By: AP