Letter to the Editor:

Yad Vashem’s release of its database linking survivors to records of Holocaust victims (Dec. 1, 2004) is a welcome development in the critical realm of international tracing.  The American Red Cross, long an ally of Yad Vashem, is also a resource available to survivors and their families.  It is a resource that supplements, and in many cases goes beyond, the records at Yad Vashem.

The mission of the American Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Service is to document the fates of the victims and locate missing loved ones who have survived.  The service is part of an international network of Red Cross societies with extraordinary access to government and private archives, including the International Tracing Service in Arolsen, Germany, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Red Cross Tracing Service provides information from primary source materials, largely from original Nazi documents, such as transport lists and internment records of concentration and forced labor camps.  Staff and volunteers confirm that the information pertains to the missing family members.

Trained caseworkers at close to 900 Red Cross offices around the country deliver news to clients, often in person.

The new Yad Vashem database is a welcome springboard to further aid the Red Cross in its quest to produce tangible answers regarding the fate of loved ones, and may even help the Red Cross reunite more families.

To initiate a free, confidential, worldwide search, contact Kathy Lass, 314.516.2737.

-Joseph White, CEO

American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter

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