International tracing

Are you looking for your relatives?

We can assist you in the search for your missing relatives if the following applies to you:

• You are currently in Germany.
• You were separated from your family and lost contact due to an armed conflict, a natural disaster or due to flight, expulsion or migration.

Are you looking for a relative but do not live in Germany?

Please contact the Tracing Service of the Red Cross/Red Crescent in the country where you are staying.

Have you suddenly lost contact with an elderly or sick family member abroad and are worried about them?

Sometimes the GRC Tracing Service can help in special situations by taking humanitarian measures, e.g. with a Health & Welfare Report. Please contact us and briefly describe the reason for your request and the point in time at which contact was broken off.

Do you require confirmation in Germany of imprisonment abroad?

If the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited you while you were being detained abroad, we can try to obtain written confirmation of this detention.

Do you lack the means necessary for forwarding important personal documents to relatives?

Legal and official documents (powers of attorney, contracts, marriage or divorce certificates, wills, etc.) can - if no other means are available - be sent to a family member abroad as an attachment to a Red Cross Message. Our scope of options depends on the individual case.

The GRC Tracing Service cooperates worldwide with the Tracing Service Network of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to find people and put them back in touch with their families. The network consists of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the tracing services of the 192 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

So that we can help in the best possible way, we always recommend that you speak personally with a counsellor from the GRC Tracing Service in your area.

During this Tracing Service consultation, you will fill out a tracing request together. The GRC Tracing Service needs as much information as possible about the person sought. Both the circumstances that led to the separation from the family and the family relationship are important information for the search. The GRC Tracing Service also needs your contact details. The search may be facilitated if - as the person looking for a relative- you can provide a photo of yourself.

Your tracing request is stored in our tracing service database and is usually forwarded to the responsible office within the Tracing Service Network so that they can search for your missing relative on site. In the countries in which the traced person is suspected, the local Tracing Service tries to find out further information about the whereabouts of the traced person.

With your consent, personal data may also be published for tracing purposes (e.g. online search with photo at www.tracetheface.org, joint radio programmes of the ICRC and BBC / Somalia, publication of lists in public places or on the Internet). Data will only be transmitted to other bodies, for example authorities or partner organisations, if this is necessary to fulfil the tracing service tasks. Within the framework of the necessary declaration of consent, you can exclude certain countries, other bodies or even the publication of our tracing activities.