The International Tracing Service says it has begun putting its Holocaust-era archive online for the first time, including photos of items seized from concentration camp victims and other historical documents.

The archive, located in the German town of Bad Arolsen, said Wednesday the materials are now available at no charge on its site. The 50,000 images posted so far represent only a small part of its collection of some 30 million documents.

The ITS was established by Western Allies in the final days of World War II and initially run by the Red Cross to help uncover the fates of Holocaust victims and others.

In 2007, scholars and researchers were allowed access to the documents, beginning the archive’s transformation from a tracing service to a research institution.

(AP)