Berlin Document Center

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Berlin Document Center in Berlin-Zehlendorf (1947)

The Berlin Document Center (BDC) was established in Berlin after the end of the Second World War to collect documents from the time of National Socialism that were needed in preparation for the Nuremberg trials of war criminals . The BDC was under US administration until 1994 and was then taken over by the Federal Archives . Microfilm copies were made for the National Archives and Records Administration , where access is possible unhindered by German data protection . The BDC was located at the end of the Wasserkäfersteig, southeast of the Krummen Lanke , in mostly underground buildings of a former listening station of the Reich Aviation Ministry with a bunker system. After it was taken over by the Federal Archives, the BDC was initially continued as the Berlin-Zehlendorf branch before the documents were merged with the holdings of the German Reich Department in the new Berlin-Lichterfelde branch in 1996 .

With a total of over 20 million files, the BDC was one of the largest personal archives in the Federal Republic of Germany until it was taken over by the Federal Archives.

Stocks

  • Central NSDAP membership file , 10.7 million index cards (90 percent)
  • 60 percent of the SS personnel files, around 600,000 personal documents (files and card files)
    • SSO files: the SS officer files (abbreviated SSO) for approx. 62,000 SS leaders
    • SSEM files: ("SS Enlisted Men"), on approx. 380,000 SS subordinates and ordinary SS members
    • as well as a collection with lists from various origins of approx. 240,000 SS members
  • 500,000 files from the Race and Settlement Main Office of the SS
    • including numerous RuS personnel questionnaires
  • 1.5 million party correspondence
  • several 100,000 personnel files of the SA , the Nazi teachers' association , the Nazi association of German technicians and other Nazi organizations
  • Information on 2.5 million ethnic German immigrants
  • Files from the Reich Chamber of Culture , the People's Court and Gestapo offices

It is possible to have access to these documents under certain conditions and with the appropriate legitimation .

Finding the NSDAP central file

The 68 tons of cards in the NSDAP central file were to be destroyed by the Josef Wirth paper, cardboard and corrugated cardboard factory in Munich- Freimann in April 1945 . This did not happen anymore, the file was reported to the US city commandant in Munich and brought to the Berlin Document Center in January 1946, including the original furniture.

See also

literature

  • Babette Heusterberg: Personal documents from the time of National Socialism. The Federal Archives in Berlin and its holdings, especially the former American Berlin Document Center (BDC). In: Herold-Jahrbuch N. F. 5 (2000), ISSN  1432-2773 , pp. 147-186 ( PDF; 108 kB ).
  • Stefan Heym : A true story. In the S. (Ed.): The cannibals and other stories. List, Leipzig 1953, DNB 573995079 , pp. 51-76.
  • Robert Wolfe: A Short History of the Berlin Document Center. In: George Leaman, Robert Wolfe: The Holdings of the Berlin Document Center. A Guide to the Collections. The Berlin Document Center, Berlin 1994, OCLC 44870799 , pp. XI-XXII.
  • Sabine Weißler ; Wolfgang Schächen (Ed.): Data realm in the hidden: the Berlin Document Center in Berlin-Zehlendorf. Jonas-Verlag, Marburg 2010, ISBN 3-89445-440-7 .

Web links

Commons : Berlin Document Center  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Site plan. In: maps.berlin-brigade.com, accessed on November 24, 2017.
  2. ^ Berlin Document Center. Background to history and main holdings. In: bundesarchiv.de. Retrieved November 23, 2018 .
  3. ^ Horst Ulrich, Uwe Prell, Ernst Luuk: Berlin Document Center (BDC). In: Berlin Handbook. The lexicon of the federal capital. FAB-Verlag, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-927551-27-9 , p. 92.
  4. ↑ Ulrich Raulff . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . September 25, 2004.

Coordinates: 52 ° 27 '2.4 "  N , 13 ° 14' 2.8"  E