Germany to Help Open Holocaust Records
Tuesday April 18, 2006 10:46 PM
By BARRY SCHWEID
AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - After decades of holding back, Germany took a major step Tuesday toward opening Nazi records on 17 million Jews, slave laborers and other Holocaust victims to historians and relatives long anxious for conclusive information about their fate.
Germany pledged to work with the United States to ensure the opening of the archives, which are housed in the German town Bad Arolsen. Eleven nations oversee the 30 million to 50 million documents and are to meet in Luxembourg next month to consider amending a 1955 treaty that has, effectively, limited access and copying.
``We still have negotiations to do,'' the American special envoy for Holocaust issues, Edward B. O'Donnell, said in an interview. ``Our goal is to reach an agreement as soon as possible.''
Approval in Luxembourg would require agreement by all 11 countries. The parliaments of several of the countries would have to give their approval, as well.
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