Presentation of the International Tracing Service (ITS) has taken place in the capital of South Ossetia. The event was attended by representatives of the South Ossetian media, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the community and students of the South-Ossetian State University.
According to the employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Russian Federation Veronica Vybornova, the purpose of the event is to disseminate the information on the ongoing work of the ITS to help people who have become victims of the Nazis.
"This organization has been working for the benefit of victims of the 1933-1945 Nazi persecution and their families - Vybornova said during her speech to the crowd. International Tracing Service helps to track the fate of the missing people through the archival documents, is keeping these documents and provides the access to them for researching. According to her, the Tracing Service has a total volume of documentation for the concentration camps of Dachau and Buchenwald, as well as part of the documentation for other concentration camps and their external operating teams. "Besides, the organization has documents about people who were engaged in forced labor during the Second World War, as well as about the displaced persons, refugees and children who by the end of the war were under 18 years" - continued the employee of the ICRC Mission in the Russian Federation. She also added that the ITS funds had also been keeping personal belongings of people, contained in the concentration camps and in Gestapo. "In all, the ITS archives are keeping more than 30 million documents. The card file archive consists of more than 50 million registration cards, which contain information about the fate of more than 17 million people", - added Vybornova. According to her, thanks to the ITS, people around the world are still learning about the fate of their loved ones, find the family members and relatives.
She has drawn attention to the fact that the ICRC will carry out its coordinating role of the International Tracing Service till the end of this year. "Therefore, ICRC wishes to draw the attention of the media, NGOs and the public to the opportunity of providing assistance to people who are searching for their relatives, missing since the World War II, were imprisoned in concentration camps or were sent to forced labor, - underlined the ICRC spokesperson. - It is important to inform everyone that citizens can apply to the ICRC until the end of the year with these issues, and members of the Committee will help with registration request to the ITS ". At the end of her speech, Vybornova has also responded to questions of the audience.
The film screening about the ITS activities was also organized for the participants of the event. And later- the lectures on the basics of the international humanitarian law have been conducted for students.
It should be noted that the presentation was held within the framework of the events dedicated to the ICRC activities in South Ossetia and in the world. The events are being held in the capital of the Republic, from April 23 -30.
