The American Red Cross offers a free, confidential Holocaust/World War II tracing service. The major objectives of this tracing program include family reunification, closure regarding the fate of loved ones and documentation for possible claims.
Tracing requests are initiated at any local chapter of the American Red Cross. The requests are then sent to their Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Center in Baltimore, Md.
Staff and volunteers at the center send requests to the International Tracing Service in Arolsen, Germany, which is operated by the International Committee of the Red Cross and holds the world’s largest collection of WWII-era documentation regarding civilians and displaced persons. A search is made to match the name on the tracing form and the names listed in the millions of documents held there. Requests are also sent to national societies of the Red Cross/Red Crescent or to Magen David Adom in Israel.
While the American Red Cross cannot guarantee that they will find the information you seek, they will do all they can to search through documents they can access and provide the results directly to you.