International Day of the Disappeared

Families need answers

Armed conflict in Ukraine

Tracing missing relatives and providing support for those affected

Cyber-attack targets international tracing data

Important Information from the GRC tacing service

How we help

The GRC Tracing Service searches for, connects and reunites families. In Germany and around the world.

How we work

Tracing. Connecting. Reuniting: The GRC Tracing Service under the humanitarian mandate of the Red Cross.

Good to know

Further information and assistance for science and research

The GRC TRACING SERVICE...

supports people who have become separated from their family due to armed conflicts, natural disasters, escape, displacement or migration.
It helps to trace family members, to put them back in contact and to reunite families.

Tracing
The GRC Tracing Service clarifies the fates of missing persons from the Second World War and searches worldwide for people who have been separated from their relatives as a result of current armed conflicts and disasters.
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Connecting
The GRC Tracing Service enables the exchange of messages between relatives who have lost contact to each other and cannot communicate using conventional means.
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Reuniting
The GRC Tracing Service advises and supports relatives who are separated by armed conflict, disaster, flight, expulsion or migration in reuniting families in Germany.
read more

International Day of the Disappeared 2023

Berlin, 29. August 2023 Jedes Jahr verschwinden weltweit unzählige Menschen spurlos. Anlässlich des Internationalen Tags der Vermissten am 30. August erinnert das Deutsche Rote Kreuz (DRK) an sie und ihre Angehörigen.… read more

Armed conflict in Ukraine: Information from the GRC Tracing Service

Berlin, 09.03.2022 In view of the current situation in Ukraine, the GRC Tracing Service provides the following information on its services read more

International Day of the Disappeared 2022

Berlin, 29.08.2022 Countless refugees throughout the world have gone missing without a trace. On the 30 August, the International Day of the Disappeared, the German Red Cross (GRC) is spotlighting its Tracing Service –… read more

Open Letter from the ICRC and the GRC

Berlin, 31.01.2022 Hacking the data of the world’s most vulnerable is an outrage read more

More current news

Family M. and GRC President Mrs Hasselfeldt

Finally reunited - after more than six years apart

Elham M. is 21 years old and knows exactly how long she was separated from her father – six years and two months. From 2014 to 2020, between the…

Family A. and GRC President Mrs Hasselfeldt

Missing without a trace after fleeing

Over Christmas 2013, Yusif and Gule A. and their two small children arrive as refugees from Syria at a reception centre in Bielefeld. Three weeks earlier, they had fled their village in northern Syria…

People made of cardboard and with a heart

Happy family reunification in spite of many difficulties

After six years of separation, Mr Y.’s wife and daughter finally receive the longed-for family reunion visa and can enter Germany. The time of waiting was dominated by anxiety, sorrow and despair.…

Wolfgang Voss: Prisoner of war compensation

In the winter of 1945 towards the end of the Second World War, Wolfgang Voss was injured in the trenches after being hit by shrapnel in his hip during combat with US soldiers in the Schnee Eifel…

The case of Manfred Kropp

Certainty about the whereabouts of the war-missing father from Russian archives read more

At long last clarity about the own identity!

Success of the GRC child tracing service read more

Read all insights into our work here »

Tracing missing relatives

Online International tracing request
Search for relatives who are missing due to armed conflict, disaster, flight, displacement or migration.
Read more »
Online tracing request - Ethnic German repatriates
Search for relatives who are missing due to resettlement to Germany (in particular ethnic German repatriates from the former Soviet Union).
Read more »
Online tracing request - Second World War
Search for relatives who are missing in connection with the Second World War or the division of Germany.
Read more »

Information and background knowledge

National Information Bureau
The National Information Bureau of the GRC Tracing Service helps relatives in armed conflicts and disasters.
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Archive and documentation centre
The Munich office has been the central information and documentation centre of the GRC Tracing Service since 1982.
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Assistance with research inquiries
The GRC Tracing Service not only provides information to relatives, but also helps with research enquiries.
read more

International Day of the Disappeared

Armed conflict in Ukraine

Cyber-attack targets international tracing data

How we help

How we work

Good to know

The GRC TRACING SERVICE...

Tracing

Connecting

Reuniting

News

International Day of the Disappeared 2023

Armed conflict in Ukraine: Information from the GRC Tracing Service

International Day of the Disappeared 2022

Open Letter from the ICRC and the GRC

Insights into our work

Finally reunited - after more than six years apart

Missing without a trace after fleeing

Happy family reunification in spite of many difficulties

Wolfgang Voss: Prisoner of war compensation

The case of Manfred Kropp

At long last clarity about the own identity!

Tracing missing relatives

Online International tracing request

Online tracing request - Ethnic German repatriates

Online tracing request - Second World War

Information and background knowledge

National Information Bureau

Archive and documentation centre

Assistance with research inquiries

International Day of the Disappeared

Armed conflict in Ukraine

Cyber-attack targets international tracing data

How we help

How we work

Good to know

The GRC TRACING SERVICE...

Tracing missing relatives

Online International tracing request

Online tracing request - Ethnic German repatriates

Online tracing request - Second World War

Information and background knowledge

Contact the GRC Tracing Service

Postal code

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