Some of the files have been digitized as .jpgs and are not searchable, though they have been placed in specially named file folders. The documents themselves are not searchable, so that if you are looking for a name place or person in the .jpgs, you would first have to convert the file to some sort of text file.

The whole point becomes moot until those files are translated into a format that people can easily use. There is no deliberate hold up–the Italians take years before they ratify a treaty and they are under pressure from the American Gathering of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants. Rabbi Jack Bemporad, a member of the group’s national council, met with officials in Rome and pressed the case. In France, the legislature will meet in the fall.

At this time the people at the USHMM are attempting to find scanning and or transformational software that will quickly turn .jpgs into searchable files. There are hundreds of millions of files and a limited number of people doing the work. It’s not so simple, since we aren’t dealing with English, there are lots of handwritten documents that need transcription to be useful, and to think that this process is deliberately being held up is to deny reality. The information on the .jpgs may even have to be entered manually. These are normal problems concerning old archives that need to be digitized. This was discuseed with leading software companies who have met with museum officials and they are helping seek a quick solution to a very difficult problem.