The International Tracing Service archive in Bad Arolsen, Germany, provided a half-dozen documents offering tidbits about Factor and his mother, including a handwritten notation that she might have been headed to Palestine. That reference helped Factor direct his research to Israel and its refugee resettlement records.
The ITS archive, operated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, holds an estimated 30 million to 50 million pages of Nazi concentration camp documents. Since 1955, it has handled more than 11 million requests for information, but under the international agreement that governs the collection it rarely has allowed anyone but Red Cross staff to see the material.
In April, an agreement to unseal the long-closed archive won endorsement from Germany, giving the accord a majority among the 11 nations overseeing the documents. When the agreement is ratified by all 11 nations, survivors will be able to see their own files and researchers will be allowed to examine them.
The archive's historical importance became clear in recent months when The Associated Press obtained extensive access to the material, revealing previously unknown details about the Holocaust.
