International Day of the Disappeared 2025
The GRC Clarifies Thousands of Fates
Berlin, 28 August 2025
Every year, countless people lose all trace of their relatives in armed conflicts or while fleeing. The result is agonising uncertainty that weighs heavily on the families of the missing persons, often for years. The German Red Cross (GRC) Tracing Service supports those affected, and last year, thousands of people once again turned to the Tracing Service for help. "Thanks to the work of the GRC Tracing Service, families that have been torn apart are reunited, or at least gain certainty about the fate of their loved ones," said GRC President Gerda Hasselfeldt on the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared on 30 August 2025. "We will continue our humanitarian mandate for the missing and for separated families with great commitment to reunite as many relatives as possible or to clarify the fate of those who remain missing."
In the area of international tracing linked to current crises and conflicts, 2,391 new missing relatives were newly registered last year, compared to the 997 new cases added in the first half of 2025. The main countries of origin of those seeking help were Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and Somalia.
The work of the GRC Tracing Service is supported by the international tracing service network of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Particularly with current international tracing requests, data collected for tracing purposes can be exchanged between the 191 National Societies and the Central Tracing Agency of the International Committee of the Red Cross, thus reconnecting family members. The Movement is able to clarify the fate of a missing person worldwide every 30 minutes.
Additionally, last year, the GRC Tracing Service conducted 12,811 qualified consultations nationwide on the legal requirements and practical implementation of the late repatriate admission procedure (Spätaussiedler) and on family reunification for individuals entitled to protection.
"The consistently high number of tracing requests and consultations underlines the social relevance of the work carried out by the GRC Tracing Service," said Gerda Hasselfeldt.
For more than 70 years, the GRC Tracing Service has received institutional support from the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI) and continues to do so to this day, clarifying the fates of those missing from the Second World War. In the past year, 7,101 enquiries were received regarding the whereabouts of those missing in action, and 4,197 enquiries were received in the first half of 2025. In approximately 43 per cent of cases, the GRC Tracing Service was able to provide information that clarified the fate of the missing. "Even 80 years after the end of the Second World War, we continue to see great interest among relatives in learning what happened to their missing loved ones," says GRC President Hasselfeldt.
In 2024, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement registered over 200,000 people as missing without a trace. To demonstrate solidarity with the missing and their families, the GRC Tracing Service is sowing more than 200,000 forget-me-nots across Germany this year.
More information and online forms for tracing enquiries can be found on: www.drk-suchdienst.de