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IRO Statistical Card

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A/F 45-49Form C/M/1/ARefugee/Displaced PersonsFeld 1 bis 3Feld 4Feld 5Feld 6302851Feld 7Feld 8Feld 9Feld 10 bis 13Feld 14Feld 15 Feld 16Feld 17

The Refugee/Displaced Person Statistical Cards – or Statistical Cards for short – are associated with the IRO’s Care and Maintenance program that was launched in the summer of 1947 to support DPs. In order to be accepted into the program, people had to submit a so-called CM/1 application. The Statistical Card may have been used to document the application’s progress as it was processed. It should be noted that Statistical Cards only existed in the British occupation zone in Germany, while a variation of the card was used in Austria. Unfortunately, nothing else is yet known about the Statistical Cards.

The Refugee/Displaced Person Statistical Cards – or Statistical Cards for short – are associated with the IRO’s Care and Maintenance program that was launched in the summer of 1947 to support DPs. In order to be accepted into the program, people had to submit a so-called CM/1 application. The Statistical Card may have been used to document the application’s progress as it was processed. It should be noted that Statistical Cards only existed in the British occupation zone in Germany, while a variation of the card was used in Austria. Unfortunately, nothing else is yet known about the Statistical Cards.

Background information on DP documents

Further examples

Questions and answers

  • Where was the document used and who created it?

    Although we do not know exactly how IRO employees used the Statistical Cards, we can at least say where they used them. The cards were utilized in the British occupation zone in Germany, and there was also a variation of the Statistical Card in Austria. It follows that if a Statistical Card exists for a person, that person must have spent time in the British occupation zone in Germany or Austria.

  • When was the document used?

    IRO or PCIRO employees cannot have used the cards before July 1947. The Statistical Cards were probably not updated after January 1, 1952, when the IRO ceased operations.

  • What was the document used for?

    Statistical Cards were created in the context of the Care and Maintenance program developed by the IRO in order to take care of eligible DPs and help them return to their countries of origin or emigrate. For this purpose, they had to fill in a CM/1 application that is also referred to on the Statistical Card. It could be that the cards were created in the IRO Control Centers to track the application review process. Many cards also have stamps or handwritten notes connected to the emigration of DPs, at which point the IRO was no longer responsible for their care. Unfortunately, no more detailed information is available at present about how the card was used in the context of the care of DPs.

    The National Archives of France in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine contain the only reference to the Statistical Cards that has been found so far. A letter from the IRO in Austria dated March 1948 mentions the fact that there were two copies of each Statistical Card: “When eligibility has already been determined, the center copy of the statistical record card will accompany the DP residence card […], and the CM 1 form and the duplicate statistical cards will be forwarded with place of transfer noted to the Area I personal record section.” (Letter dated March 11, 1948, AJ/43/1005, Archives Nationales, Pierrefitte-sur-Seine) It seems that one Statistical Card went with the DP, while the IRO kept the duplicate card in their files.

  • How common is the document?

    It is not possible to say how many of the Statistical Cards have been preserved in the Arolsen Archives, because ITS employees sorted the cards following an alphabetical-phonetic system and filed them together with other documents in the postwar card file (Nachkriegszeitkartei, Collection 3.1.1.1). This made it easier to search for references to individual people, but it also means there is now no way of knowing how many Statistical Cards have been preserved. However, there are probably several hundred thousand of them. But in the near future, modern computer technology will find the answer: clustering techniques will make it possible to automatically identify and count these cards and other types of documents.

  • What should be considered when working with the document?

    Unfortunately, little is known to date about the use of the Statistical Cards. If you have any additional information about the Statistical Cards, we would appreciate it very much if you could send your feedback to eguide@arolsen-archives.org. New findings can always be incorporated into the e-Guide and shared with everyone.

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