German Red Cross tracing service for war missing to end in 2021
The German Red Cross is still making efforts to find out what happened to those who went missing from World War II, even 75 years after fighting ended.
But the search for those presumed dead will come to a halt at the end of 2021.
“This is why queries for the German Red Cross tracing service should be sent to the search office in Munich in the next year and a half,” the organization’s president Gerda Hasselfeldt told dpa.
There is a good chance that what became of those missing could be traced, even after so many decades.
Last year, almost 10,100 people sent queries related to World War II, and some 9,000 people sent enquiries the year before.
“In 23 per cent of all cases, the tracing service can provide information on the whereabouts of a missing relative. When it comes to German prisoners of war in the former Soviet Union, this is often information on the date of death and their last location,” Hasselfeldt said.
The tracing service doesn’t only search for information on soldiers, prisoners of war or children lost in the chaos of war – it can also help with present-day missing persons cases.
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In 2019, there were almost 2,100 enquiries from refugees looking to locate their relatives.
In the same year, the search team were involved in 21,000 consultations for family reunifications across Germany. (dpa)
