After that, from January to July alone, 4778 inquiries were received by the German Red Cross tracing service. "the end of the second world war was 74 years ago, but many german families are still incredibly interested in the fate of their missing relatives," said DRK president gerda hasselfeldt on the occasion of the international day of missing persons on 30 June 2010. August.
In 2018, the DRK had a total of 8939 questions about fates in the second world war. by the end of december, hasselfeld again expects a total of around 9,000 new inquiries. In around a quarter of all cases, the tracing service was able to help and determine the date and place of death, for example.
"at the end of their lives, many of the older generation want to know what really happened to their father or siblings," said hasselfeld. "but also the younger generation shows great interest in the subject."For young people, the fate of their great-grandparents is already at stake.
According to estimates, the Second World War claimed at least 55 million lives in europe and asia, many of them civilians. With more than 26 million deaths, the soviet union suffered the greatest losses. Germany counted about 6.3 million dead, including almost 5.2 million soldiers. The victims also include some 6 million Jews murdered by the nazis.
the DRK’s tracing service also has tasks in the present day. Last year, there were around 2300 requests from refugees in germany looking for family members. Main countries of origin are afghanistan, somalia, iraq and syria. The DRK will announce details in the morning.