by Barbara Wilks, Chapter Historian

May 8 was World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, a time for volunteers and paid staff to remember that the American Red Cross is a part of an international organization that is helping people around the world 365 days a year.

One of the very important services offered by the organization is helping people locate their loved ones with whom they have lost contact due to civil strife, war or natural disasters.  All of these tragic events can, and often do, force thousands of people to flee their homes, even their homelands, to seek sanctuary in refugee camps.  These large movements of people are chaotic, and families sometimes lose one another as they flee.

Such a tragedy was the Holocaust during World War II.  Since the opening of the American Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Center in 1990, Red Cross chapters across the country have been helping people who seek to learn the fate of family members who were imprisoned in concentration camps. Past Chapter Chair Irving Margol was named to the board of the Center in 1996 and continues today as chairman.

The American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles has been a leader in helping Southern Californians search for their loved ones.  Twice, in 1996 and 2003, it received the Chapter Excellence Award from the Holocaust and War Victims Center for its outstanding tracing services. This award is presented to the chapter that exhibits “service excellence and community outreach,” in support of the center.

For information about Holocaust Tracing, please contact the chapter’s International Tracing Division at(310) 477-5176 or (800) 627-7000, or email Intlservices@arcla.org.  

photo: During World War II, the Central Tracing Agency at the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland was primarily devoted to locating prisoners of war.