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NS-Unterlagen aus dem Berlin Document Center und die Debatte um ehemalige NSDAP-Mitgliedschaften
NS records of the Berlin Document Center and the debate on former NSDAP memberships
[journal article]
Abstract "The Berlin Document Center (BDC) - today a part of Germany's Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) - with its holdings of Nazi files and documents has been and still is a central point of public interest. As a result of the military defeat of Germany, the BDC was founded in July 1945 by the American Arme... view more
"The Berlin Document Center (BDC) - today a part of Germany's Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) - with its holdings of Nazi files and documents has been and still is a central point of public interest. As a result of the military defeat of Germany, the BDC was founded in July 1945 by the American Armed Forces in Berlin-Zehlendorf as a collecting point for NS state and party records and documents of varied origin which had been confiscated by the American troops during the last months and weeks of World War II. The center piece of these collections were the NSDAP membership file cards of almost 11 million party members transmitted from Munich to Berlin in late 1945. Additionally biographical data and person-related files of various Nazi organizations were kept at the BDC under American administration. In 1994, the BDC holdings were transferred to the Bundesarchiv and German legislature provided rules for public access to the Nazi files for the first time. About 10.000 requests with regard to the former BDC files still reach the Bundesarchiv every year. The recent disclosure of several German celebrities' nominal membership in the NSDAP has re-stirred a public and scientific debate over NSDAP memberships, the circumstances of enlistment, and the NSDAP membership files themselves. In this article, the subject is discussed from a BDC and Federal Archives insider's perspective." (author's abstract)... view less
Keywords
research; documentation system; interest group; membership; German Democratic Republic (GDR); document; GDR research; Federal Republic of Germany; club; film; Nazism; historical development; information system; archives; National Socialist German Workers' Party; access to records; military; source of information; contemporary history; Berlin; German Reich
Classification
General History
Method
documentation; historical
Document language
German
Publication Year
2010
Page/Pages
p. 22-35
Journal
Historical Social Research, 35 (2010) 3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.35.2010.3.22-35
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed