The cabinets containing the card index boxes reach the ceiling and fill three rooms. On the cards themselves are the names of more than 17 million victims of National Socialism and information about where documents relating to the individuals can be located. Put in a single row, these documents would cover a length of about 26 kilometers (16 miles) -- it's the most comprehensive collection of its type in the world.

However, the International Tracing Service in the town of Bad Arolsen in Hesse is no Holocaust museum.

"Some of these victims would be found among our files, but the International Tracing Service was created to collect, hold and analyze documents of the victims of National Socialism," said Udo Jost, who coordinates document categorization at the center. "Those are of course not only victims of the Holocaust, but also those who were imprisoned due to political, racial or religious reasons in the various prisons, concentration camps and the like."

For years, researchers, such as the director of the Buchenwald memorial, have tried to gain access to the immense file collection, which includes "transfer lists," such as Oscar Schindler's famous one. But until now, these records were closed to all but the survivors of Nazi crimes or their close relatives.

Loosening restrictions

Now, 61 years after the end of World War II and the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, this restrictive policy is coming to an end. The federal government has agreed on opening the files to researchers and the international committee, made up of 11 countries, has also given the green light. Once signed, the protocol still needs to be ratified by all signatory states before the archives can be opened.

The "Bonn Treaty," signed in 1955, gave the panel responsibility for overseeing the International Tracing service, which is an arm of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross. The body actually decided to open the archive in 1998, but could not agree on implementing the process until now, largely due to the difficulty of coming up with unified rules on access. There were also concerns about protecting the interests of victims and their families.

"There were different views on these issues because there are different rules in the 11 countries involved," Jost said.

On May 16, 11 states -- Israel, the US, France, Belgium, Britain, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland and Germany -- agreed to open up on the archive while taking into consideration the protection of personal data. Eight of those nations signed the accord on Wednesday, including Germany, Israel and the US. Three others are expected to sign later.

The rules on access to the files have now been put in place. Information that refers to medical conditions or political orientation and data that was often invented by the Nazis to justify an individual's imprisonment will remain largely protected. Those protections are especially strict if the person concerned is still living.

From the beginning, the International Tracing Service has stressed that the interests of the victims have priority over the data's historical value or media inquiries. To date, only records of a non-personal nature -- such as general information on concentration camps, forced labor or military records -- have been accessible for historical research.

Interest still high

Still in the foreground is the tracing service, which even six decades after the end of the war receives tens of thousands of requests annually, according to Bad Arolsen officials. In 2005, 150,828 people asked the tracing service for help.

The service was originally conceived as a temporary institute, but the passage of time has shown that the doors are not closing anytime soon. Right now, the institute is preparing to digitalize its files to make the growing demand for access easier.

But employees in Bad Arolsen say they are somewhat surprised that the interest in the collection has grown recently, since today there are fewer and fewer survivors who need documentation to show government authorities. Rather it is frequently the grandchildren to ask for information, eager to learn more about their grandparents. Soon researchers will be joining their ranks, hoping to make their picture of the era more complete.