German Federal Archives
German: Bundesarchiv | |
The Federal Archives in Koblenz | |
Archive overview | |
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Formed | 2 March 1952 |
Status | Active |
Headquarters | Potsdamer Straße 1 56075 Koblenz 50°20′32.712″N 7°34′21.216″E / 50.34242000°N 7.57256000°E |
Annual budget | €54.6 million (as of 2009[update])[1] |
Archive executives |
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Parent department | Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media |
Website | www |
Map | |
The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv (BArch) (
They are subordinated to the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media (Claudia Roth since 2021) under the German Chancellery,[2] and before 1998, to the Federal Ministry of the Interior.[1]
On 6 December 2008, the Archives donated 100,000 photos to the public, by making them accessible via Wikimedia Commons.[3]
History
The federal archive for institutions and authorities in Germany, the first precursor to the present-day Federal Archives, was established in
In 1946, the German Central Archive was founded in Potsdam, then in the
In West Germany, the Cabinet of Germany decided to create a new Federal Archive in Koblenz in 1950, a project that was realized in 1952. The United States and the United Kingdom, like the Soviet Union, also seized records from Germany following World War II in their respective zones of occupation. In 1955, a Military Archives Division was established as part of the Federal Archives as a place into which these records were returned. In 1988, the Federal Archives Act elevated the tasks of the Federal Archive into law, and granted it rights to the documents produced by West Germany's courts, public authorities, and constitutional institutions.
The reunification of Germany in 1990 also led to the unification of West Germany's Federal Archive with East Germany's Central State Archive. In the course of this development, the formerly separate National Film Archive and Military Archives of East Germany were also merged into the Federal Archives.
With the unification of the two German archives in 1990, the traditions of the East Germany state authorities were absorbed into the Federal Archives. However, legal problems were encountered during this process in securing the archives and libraries of East Germany's political parties and mass organizations. Even though East Germany's political structure meant that these institutions had very close ties to the government, they were not public institutions. Further problems arose as these records were separated from other East German documents, resulting in the Federal Archives presenting an incomplete picture of East Germany's history. In 1991, an initiative was implemented that placed the records in question into the possession of the Federal Archives. As a result of this initiative, a bill amending the Federal Archives Act of 1988 that established the department foundation provided for the Federal Archives came into force on 13 March 1992.
Content
The collection of the German Federal Archives today includes older documents from
Organization
- Bayreuth (Lastenausgleich)
- Berlin–Lichterfelde SAPMO-DDR and Reich; Film Archives (German: SAPMO, DDR und Reich; Filmarchiv ))
- Berlin–Lichtenberg (until 2021 Stasi Records Agency)
- Berlin–Reinickendorf (German: Personenbezogene Auskünfte; until 2019 Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt))
- Freiburg im Breisgau German Federal Military Archive (German: Militärarchiv)
- Hoppegarten (Zwischenarchiv und Filmarchiv-Servicezentrum)
- Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland)
- Nazi Archives (German: Außenstelle bei der Zentralen Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen zur Aufklärung nationalsozialistischer Verbrechen)
- Rastatt (German: Erinnerungsstätte für die Freiheitsbewegungen in der deutschen Geschichte)
- Sankt Augustin-Hangelar (German: Zwischenarchiv )
Directors since 1952
- Georg Winter (Archivist) (Director, 1952 –1960 )
- Karl Bruchmann (historian) (Director, 1961 –1967 )
- Wolfgang A. Mommsen] (President, 1967 –1972 )
- Hans Booms (President, 1972 –1989 )
- Friedrich P. Kahlenberg (President, 1989 –1999 )
- Hartmut Weber (Archivist) (President, December 1999 – March 2011 )
- Michael Hollmann (President May 2011 – present)
See also
- Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) – Archive which maintains records of members of the former German Wehrmacht who were killed in action. Merged with Federal Archive in 2019.[5]
- German Democratic Republic(East Germany). Merged with Federal Archive in 2021.
References
- ^ a b "2009 - Einzelplan" [2009 - Budget] (PDF). German Federal Ministry of Finance (in German). 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011.
- ^ "Die Staatsministerin und ihr Amt" [The Federal Commissioner and her Office]. Staatsministerin für Kultur und Medien (in German).
- ^ "Wikipedia Receives German Pictorial History". Deutsche Welle. 6 December 2008. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021.
The German Federal Archives has provided online encyclopedia Wikipedia with 100,000 historical images for free public access. The donation was the largest ever to the Wiki Commons media page. The images were made available to the Wikimedia Commons page, a database of over three million freely usable media files, from Thursday, Dec. 4. The donated pictures cover periods such as the Weimar Republic, the German colonial era, the Third Reich and Germany after reunification. It was the largest donation of media to the Commons page since it was set up in September 2004.
- ^ "German Reich: National Socialism (1933-1945)". Bundesarchiv. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010.
- Bundesarchiv (in German). 7 January 2019. Archivedfrom the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
Nach dem Inkrafttreten des "Staatsvertrags über den Übergang der Aufgaben der Deutschen Dienststelle für die Benachrichtigung der nächsten Angehörigen von Gefallenen der ehemaligen deutschen Wehrmacht (WASt)" ist die Deutsche Dienststelle zum 1. Januar 2019 in das Bundesarchiv überführt worden. Zu diesem Zweck wurde im Bundesarchiv eine eigene Abteilung am Standort Eichborndamm in Berlin-Reinickendorf eingerichtet.
[After the entry into force of the "State Treaty on the Transfer of Tasks to the Deutsche Dienststelle for Notification of the Next of Relatives of Fallen of the Former German Armed Forces (WASt)", the Deutsche Dienststelle was transferred to the Federal Archives on 1 January 2019. For this purpose, a separate department was set up in the Federal Archives at the Eichborndamm site in Berlin-Reinickendorf.]
External links
Media related to Bundesarchiv at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website (in German)
- Official website (in English)