Method for aiding or managing a rescue operation in an elevator system comprising at least one elevator having a car driving in an elevator runway having several floors, and an elevator control which gathers data of components (12, 18, 24, 25, 26, 36) of the elevator system and issues a failure signal in any case of failure situation in the elevator system leading to a stop of the car between the floors, in which method it is checked based on first data of at least one first sensor (38, 40, 42, 44), whether a person is trapped in the car, and based on the first data or manually a rescue managing process is started, using a rescue managing circuit connected to the elevator control, which rescue managing process comprises a pre-rescue process in which following data is read from sensors and/or components of the elevator system: - car position data (72, 74, 76), - status data (76, 90) of the elevator system and of the elevator components (12, 18, 24, 25, 26, 36), - functional data of the elevator system and/or of the elevator components (10, 12, 18, 24, 25, 26, 36), which functional data is obtained from the elevator control and/ or from sensors (25, 38, 40, 42, 44) connected to the elevator system, from these data (72, 74, 76, 90, 110) presentation data are generated and displayed on a display connected to the rescue managing circuit and/or to the elevator control) for preparing or performing a rescue drive to release the trapped passengers, characterized in that the functional data of the elevator system and of the elevator components are compared with stored reference values representing different types of failure situations in the elevator system, and from the comparison result failure situation data are obtained which failure situation data are generated as presentation data to be displayed on the display. in which method it is checked based on first data of at least one first sensor (38, 40, 42, 44), whether a person is trapped in the car, and based on the first data or manually a rescue managing process is started, using a rescue managing circuit connected to the elevator control, which rescue managing process comprises a pre-rescue process in which following data is read from sensors and/or components of the elevator system: - car position data (72, 74, 76), - status data (76, 90) of the elevator system and of the elevator components (12, 18, 24, 25, 26, 36), - functional data of the elevator system and/or of the elevator components (10, 12, 18, 24, 25, 26, 36), which functional data is obtained from the elevator control and/ or from sensors (25, 38, 40, 42, 44) connected to the elevator system, - car position data (72, 74, 76), - status data (76, 90) of the elevator system and of the elevator components (12, 18, 24, 25, 26, 36), - functional data of the elevator system and/or of the elevator components (10, 12, 18, 24, 25, 26, 36), which functional data is obtained from the elevator control and/ or from sensors (25, 38, 40, 42, 44) connected to the elevator system, from these data (72, 74, 76, 90, 110) presentation data are generated and displayed on a display connected to the rescue managing circuit and/or to the elevator control) for preparing or performing a rescue drive to release the trapped passengers, characterized in that the functional data of the elevator system and of the elevator components are compared with stored reference values representing different types of failure situations in the elevator system, and from the comparison result failure situation data are obtained which failure situation data are generated as presentation data to be displayed on the display.