TWO New WWII-Related Databases

Last week I wrote about a "hidden" database on Ancestry along with tips to search it, since it didn't have a typical Ancestry search page.  Well, it turns out that it wasn't hidden, it just wasn't ready for release, but Vera discovered it too soon!  And there are actually two new databases, and Vera and I only wrote about one of them.

So what are these databases and what could you find?

My Grandparents Coming to America!

Ancestry has been working with the International Tracing Service to get some of their records digitized and available online.  And there are a lot of new records--with more to come in the future.

The mysterious "hidden" database from last week is now easily searchable here, in the new "Europe, Registration of Foreigners and German Persecutees, 1939-1947" database, which says:

The Nazi persecution of both foreigners and German persecutees during the Second World War resulted in the forceable incarceration of these individuals throughout the German Reich and the territories occupied by Germany. Following the war, the Allies began a concentrated effort in both the occupied zones of Germany and Europe to document these individuals. 

This first batch of documents is primarily those from the American Zone, but future iterations will include those from the other zones as well.

And then there's the other new database, Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971.   And in this one, I found my grandparents and my great grandmother.

My Great-Grandmother Coming to America

I had found the equivalent manifests for my grandparents and great grandmother years ago, so initially I figured this database wouldn't give people much additional information.  But it actually contains people who weren't captured on traditional manifests, for whatever reason.  I have a family friend who is a childhood Holocaust survivor.  She remembers coming to America and knew the name of the ship and the date of her arrival.  But she didn't arrive on a passenger ship but rather on a retrofitted US Army Transportation Service Ship.  And on both Ancestry and FamilySearch's manifests for that ship, only the crew were listed on the manifest.  But I found her (and her parents) in this new database!  This should allow the many people who emigrated in this fashion to find their relatives coming to America, where they couldn't before.  I'll be sending her a link to her own manifest today. :)

What new information have you found on your own family in these two incredible new databases?

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