Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (RvD) Card File

Background

The Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (RvD) was established in 1939 in Berlin with the task of registering all Jews resident in Germany, regardless of national origin or citizenship.  Thus, it included many Jews born outside Germany, particularly Poland, and even the United States.  Nominally administered by the Jewish community, but in fact closely supervised by the Gestapo, it was used to monitor births, deaths, emigrations and deportations.  While many German Jews avoided registering, this collection offers valuable information on the lives of German Jews, particularly those who were not deported.

Registration cards included at a minimum such information as name, date and place of birth and residence, but many cards contain additional information on profession, family members and fate, e.g. emigration.  The collection is particularly useful where an individual died within Germany, since death certificates are often difficult to obtain through civil authorities.

This collection covers the same material but in many cases includes information from other sources which was not noted on the cards.  Moreover, it can be searched by maiden name and place of birth.

Database

The fields for this database are as follows:

• Surname
• Given Name
• Maiden Name
• Date of Birth
• Place of Birth
• Date of Death
• Place of Death
• Comments

Acknowledgments

This collection is held by the International Tracing Service (ITS) at Bad Arolsen, Germany.  Until recently, access to the cards was only possible at locations such as the USHMM and Yad Vashem, where ITS records may be viewed.  In March 2017, however, ITS placed the collection on the web, where images of the cards can be viewed at https://digitalcollections.its-arolsen.org/01020401.  Searches can be conducted by family name, and then given name.  Peter Landé compiled the list.

Particular thanks to , Director of Special Projects - Holocaust Collection.

Searching the Database

This database is searchable by clicking here.