New Archive May Reveal Your History

By Anash.org Staff

An archive, filled with millions of documents from World War II and its aftermath, was made public Tuesday.

The AP reports that the International Tracing Service in Germany has uploaded more than 13 million documents from Nazi concentration camps, including prisoner cards and death notices, to help Holocaust researchers and others investigate the fate of victims. These documents tell the story of some 2.2 million victims.

The archive was established by the Western Allies towards the end of the Second World War and was at first administered by the Red Cross. On Tuesday it was announced that the name will be changed to “Arolsen Archives – International Center on Nazi Persecution.”

Initial searches of the archive yielded amazing results.

A scion of the Drizin family of Crown Heights naturally did a search for his family name, to see what it would find. He sent his results to Anash.org:

**Reb Avrohom Drizin, born in Mijori (Mayor) His wife Sara, their daughters Dobe (Kaminetzky and Frieda (Kugel)**

**Drizin, Mendel, Srul, Leah Basia (Rubin), Rochel (Pinson) – the latter two already born in Tashkent, not Mijori (Mayor)**

**Family in Tel Aviv, Palestine (Mrs. Drizin’s father and mother, Reb Zalman Moshe Hayitzchaki. Receiving assistance from the Red Cross and the AJDC (“Joint”)**

**Current Address: Pocking (DP Camp) Germany. Occupations: Reb Avrohom was a weaver and his wife Sara and seamstress (“****shneideren**“)

Do you wish to return to your country of former residence? No. Why not?……
Future Plan: Do you wish to stay in Germany? No. Country of First Preference? Palestine.
Approved on the 19th of May, 1948

The Reb Avrohom Drizin family wasn’t sent to a concentration camp, they escaped to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, thousands of miles from the killing, where they stayed for the duration of the war. But they did leave the Soviet Union with hundreds of other families in 5706/1946 and stayed in the DP camps. So they’re part of this archive as well.

**Reb Avrohom Drizin (left) in Pocking, with an American soldier and Rav Avrohom Eliyohu Plotkin, right. Photo: Courtesy “A Father to Many Chassidim.”**

Who knows what treasures lie in wait for you to find?

Send us your feedback