Documents From Vast Nazi Archive to Be Made Available to Scholars - New York Times

Documents From Vast Nazi Archive to Be Made Available to Scholars - New York Times: "Documents From Vast Nazi Archive to Be Made Available to Scholars

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By MARK LANDLER
Published: May 16, 2007

BERLIN, May 15 — Electronic copies of documents from a closely guarded Nazi archive will start flowing to several countries for the first time since World War II, following an agreement announced Tuesday by the 11 countries that govern the archive in central Germany.

The decision could speed access by historians to a vast repository of material — most mundane, some revelatory — about 17.5 million people who passed through concentration camps or were otherwise victimized during and immediately after the Nazi period.

The archive has long restricted access to the documents to Holocaust victims’ family members, frustrating scholars who complained they were being deprived of access to a vital historical record.

“It is a very important decision for us because it means we can begin sending out copies of our document"