Fate Unknown Series: The International Tracing Service and the ‘Legacies of Political Humanitarianism’

This talk explores the long history of the International Tracing Service (ITS), an agency established by the Western Allies during World War II to locate and reunite persons missing as a course of the hostilities. It tells the story of how states and non- governmental organizations — especially the United States, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the International Committee of the Red Cross — used the purportedly neutral and universal humanitarian services of tracing missing victims of the Holocaust that the ITS offered in pursuit of their respective political and social agendas. Dr. Jennifer Rodgers will discuss how an organization established to ameliorate the crimes of Nazism reframed international humanitarian norms as well as the practice of relief itself. At the same time, Dr. Rodgers will also shine a light on the ways the ITS policies impacted not only Holocaust memory, but also how the history of National Socialism and the Holocaust was — and still is — negotiated.