Almost every family in Europe and beyond carries an unresolved story from the Second World War. A grandfather who "never came back." A relative deported to a camp. A soldier listed as missing. Today, finding information is more realistic than it has ever been — large parts of the relevant archives are now online.
The approach depends on which country your ancestor served or lived in. Military records, casualty lists, displaced persons records and camp documentation are held in different places — but the major databases cover most of Western and Eastern Europe, the United States and the Commonwealth countries.
The International Tracing Service (ITS) at Arolsen Archives (arolsen-archives.org) is the world's largest archive of Nazi persecution and forced labour documentation. It holds over 30 million documents on more than 17.5 million people. The archive is now online and searchable by anyone with a family connection.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (ushmm.org) has extensive searchable databases including the Arolsen Archives collection, deportation records, testimonies and photographs. Yad Vashem (yadvashem.org) maintains the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names with over 4.8 million entries and detailed collection guides for researching Jewish families from across Europe.
United Kingdom. Service records for World War II are at The National Archives, Kew. Many RAF records are also there; Royal Navy service records are held by the Ministry of Defence. Medal rolls and casualty records are accessible online. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (cwgc.org) documents the graves of 1.7 million Commonwealth casualties.
United States. NARA holds military service records (though many Army records were destroyed in the 1973 fire in St. Louis). The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) handles requests for post-1912 Army and later records. Fold3.com has extensive digitised US military records.
Germany. The Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) in Berlin held German military records — now integrated into the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv in Freiburg. The German War Graves Commission (Volksbund, volksbund.de) maintains casualty records and a searchable database.
France. Service records are at the Service Historique de la Défense (SHD) in Vincennes. The Mémorial GenWeb (memorial-genweb.org) covers French war memorials and casualties.
Poland. The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN, ipn.gov.pl) holds documentation on Polish victims and those who helped Jews during the occupation. Many records are online.
The Arolsen Archives are the starting point for anyone with a family member who was a concentration camp prisoner, forced labourer or displaced person. The ITS collection includes prisoner transport lists, camp records, death books and post-war tracing correspondence. Many of these documents were only recently made accessible to the public. The UNHCR holds some displaced persons records, and national archives in Germany, Austria and Poland have post-war DP camp documentation.
Civilian records — birth and death registrations, residence registrations, ration books — were kept locally and survival is patchy. Many German and Polish town records were destroyed in bombing or deliberate destruction. Where records survived, they are generally in regional or municipal archives. For German civilians, Meldekarten (registration cards) sometimes survived in city archives. For Jewish families, community archives and Yizkor books (memorial books compiled by survivors) are often the only remaining sources — most are at Yad Vashem or YIVO Institute (yivo.org) in New York.
Begin with what you know: full name, country, approximate birth year, military branch or civilian status. Then: Arolsen Archives for anyone who passed through the Nazi persecution system; CWGC for Commonwealth military casualties; NARA or Fold3 for American service members; the Bundesarchiv for German military personnel; and national archives for civilians. If you know the religion, Jewish genealogical resources (JewishGen, Yad Vashem) offer additional documentation specific to Jewish families across Europe.
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