Bureau for Former Prisoners
Information about former Auschwitz prisoners is provided on the basis of the index of names and numbers compiled from the partially extant records of Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The waiting for our response is about 9 weeks.
The research is fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis. Certificates for Auschwitz survivors and their families applying for welfare benefits are issued out of turn.
Moreover, the Office coordinates contacts with former prisoners of KL Auschwitz, members of the resistance movement near the camp, and those who helped prisoners held in this camp. The employees of the Office make reports and survey former prisoners. They also prepare catalogues of names of people deported to the camp on the basis of postwar archive materials (reports, memories, testimonies etc.). The lists contain primarily the names of prisoners of KL Auschwitz, but also those of prisoners held in other camps and prisons, members of the resistance movement near the camp, and members of the SS personnel at KL Auschwitz.
- By sending an online form to the Information Office or directly to the address archiwum@auschwitz.org
- Carry out their own search of the online data bases
- Information may also be obtained in person at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, block no. 24, room 1, Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM. Former prisoners family members and visitors who are planning to visit the Bureau for Former Prisoners or the Archives before the booked tour ought to ask a dispatcher for an identification card enabling entry to the Museum grounds. Guests that are planning to visit only Bureau for Former Prisoners or Archives are asked to inform about it before visiting mentioned Departments.
Please bear in mind that:
- because the SS destroyed portions of the records before the liberation of the camp, we are not able to provide exhaustive responses to all inquiries
- we ask you to fill out all sections of the form as fully and precisely as possible, because many prisoners with identical surnames were registered in Auschwitz and proper identification often depends on additional information.
An Appeal
We appeal to all former prisoners, their family members, and anyone else in possession of camp documents—letters, death certificates, death notification telegrams, or receipts for parcels—to make these documents (or copies of them) available to the Museum Archives. This will help us to compile valuable information and to help many more people obtain information about the fate of their loved ones. All the documents we receive are preserved in climate-controlled storage under the care of conservation experts.