Heritage et AL

On 22 March, New Zealander George Lowe passed away at the age of 89. George Lowe was the last surviving climber from the team that made the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. As a child, Lowe broke his arm and it did not heal well. Despite being told by doctors that he would always be a cripple, Lowe went on to become an highly accomplished mountaineer.  Lowe accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary on a several expeditions including on Eric Shipton’s British Everest Reconnaissance Expedition and John Hunt’s 1953 British Everest Expedition. Upon summitting Mount Everest with Nepalese sherpa Tenzing Norgay, Hillary told Lowe that they had "knocked the bastard off". Ref: AWNS-19350710-44-3, Young mountaineer, 1935, Sir George Grey Special Collections

The International Commission for the International Tracing Service (ICITS)  is handing over management of the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen to the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) after over 50 years. The ICITS will continue to give technical expertise, helping the ITS serve the victims of Nazi persecution and their families. Ref: T7129, North Auckland Research Centre The archives cover civilians detained in Nazi concentration or labour camps and people who had to flee their homes because of World War II. They house over 50 million card files relating to more than 17.5 million civilians persecuted by the Nazis.