BA / MA digital files

[Mori]

The microfilm reading room at NARA is a case example of efficiency: just one person is on site and it's almost wholly self service. It's not a voluntary design though, as it derives from all the paper documents being sent back to Germany. It looks like they never considered extending such system to their US archives. Go know why. It may be because the microfilm room is never busy, few researchers go to NARA to access German documents. Most are into US documents.

I'm doubtful about long-term conservation of electronic support, because it requires power supply and because formats keep changing (go read a floppy disk from the 1990's, go run a video game designed for a 20+ year old version of Windows...). But I can very well imagine the chief of an admistration deciding to get rid of the warehouse to meet the year's budget...

[steve248]

I agree entirely with Mori's comment about the microfilm reading room at NARA.
Self service for the films, help yourself to the many microfilm readers.
Spent many weeks there.
Bundesarchiv Berlin, Mikrofilmlesesaal, has a lot to learn.

[Joda]

Hallo all,

I'm looking for RH 54/25:

- https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothe ... Z2PSVDE7AN

- https://www.archivportal-d.de/item/FRVA ... Z2PSVDE7AN

Anyone owns it? And is so kind to share it?

Many thanks in advance,

[aquarya]

[/quote]

A researcher who has access to Berlin-Lichterfelde and Berlin-Reinickendorf told me a couple of weeks ago that the WASt files cannot be scanned or photographed and only handwritten notes are allowed. The files in Berlin-Lichterfelde can be copied but having obtained some last week they look like they have just used the scans that NARA did all those years ago.
[/quote]

My experience has been that the files in Berlin-Lichterfelde can be far richer - in one case of a Waffen-SS officer, the NARA personnel file yielded 12 pages, but the Lichterfelde file close to a hundred, with pictures, etc. No comparison - the NARA files are extremely sparse and often a name search yields almost nothing.

[hucks216]

My experience has been that the files in Berlin-Lichterfelde can be far richer - in one case of a Waffen-SS officer, the NARA personnel file yielded 12 pages, but the Lichterfelde file close to a hundred, with pictures, etc. No comparison - the NARA files are extremely sparse and often a name search yields almost nothing.

My experience has been the opposite. I've recently obtained various files from Berlin-Lichterfelde and was very disappointed with just how little there was in the majority of them, in a few cases just one side of a card file bearing the man's name and rank and that was all.
The only file held for a Waffen SS officer had approximately 60 pages and yet the completely different file held by NARA had close to 200.

[steve248]

Files and their contents can be exhilarating or a complete let down. SSOs are just the same. You might think an officer with an extensive career would have a large file and when you finally get the opportunity to examine it, a single doubled-sided sheet with not much detail.
The reason why the Bundesarchiv and Deutsche Dienststelle do not put much on-line is German data protection legislation. The guilty deserve as much protection as the innocent.

Back in 1997 the new British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to the declassification of the German Police Decodes to UK National Archives (the process was a bit more involved but leave it as this simple explanation). What was UK National Archives' immediate response about this treasure trove of thousands of pages of information in German? Oh, we can't release it until we have had it translated into English! Sometimes you just cannot make this stuff up. Uproar followed and released into the public domain forthwith.

[nickterry]

A slightly more substantive Bundesarchiv update this morning (695 files), which includes 346 of 483 files from RH 3 OKH/Generalquartiermeister, and 66 files from RH 19 IV Heeresgruppe D.

The GenQu files include 30 on ammunition supply and expenditure; the collection includes files mirrored in T77, T311 and T501 in the NARA versions but also things which are otherwise buried in the great mass of T78, and some seemingly unique records not in RG 242. Among other files are reports on casualties, weapons losses/stocks and other important statistical material so the files are well worth browsing for almost everyone interested in the Ostfront/Wehrmacht. Also some Feldpostuebersichten under Verbindungsstellen - Heeres-Feldpostmeister.

[nickterry]

Michael Hollmann, head of the Bundesarchiv, pointed out the problems with budgetary restrictions recently. Interesting that he doesn't include Freiburg among the archive stores that can accommodate really large masses of new files (those are Koblenz, Bayreuth and Berlin-Lichterfelde). The article is worth a read as an insight into archive administration.
https://politikkultur.de/inland/die-zuk ... angenheit/

Since then an extra 16.8 million euros for digitalisation has been announced: "Mit dem Geld solle vor allem die Digitalisierung der Bestände zum Nationalsozialismus gestärkt werden"
https://www.siwiarchiv.de/haushaltsauss ... desarchiv/
It likely won't be felt until late in 2023-2024, but every little helps.

[Piet Duits]

The 17. November, they added 150 digital files to the inventory. No idea where though.

[Orlov]

Back in 1997 the new British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to the declassification of the German Police Decodes to UK National Archives (the process was a bit more involved but leave it as this simple explanation). What was UK National Archives' immediate response about this treasure trove of thousands of pages of information in German? Oh, we can't release it until we have had it translated into English! Sometimes you just cannot make this stuff up. Uproar followed and released into the public domain forthwith.

Dear Steve248,
Are there a lot of materials about Bandenbekämpfung in Ostland, Ukraine, GG and Balkans? Can you direct or share the inventory of this archival fond?
Bestreg Orlov

[steve248]

Orlov, there are occasional messages involving the Chef des Bandenkampfverbandes.
I can not recall their content but I will look a few up among my photocopies.

Steve

[kstdk]

Hello

I am looking for RH24-30 XXX. Armekorps, 7 V-Waffen Einsatz - as far as I can see it has not yet been made digital.

It covers from RH24-30/275 to RH24-30/286

Any one have it, and any one want to share it - I might have other files to bargin with

PS: All other V-Weapons related has my interest!

Regards
Kurt
kstdk

[kstdk]

Hello

Also:

RL 12 Verbände und Einheiten der Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe
3 Flak-Regimenter
3.83 Lehr- und Erprobungskommando Wachtel / Flak-Regiment 155 (W)
Bemerkung: zwischen ca. Jan. und Aug. 1944 als Flak-Gruppe Creil (Deckname) bezeichnet; zum
V-Waffen-Einsatz siehe auch RH 24-30 (XXX. Armeekorps) und RL 11 (hier: 5. Flak-Divison (W))

And:

RH 19-IV Heeresgruppe D/Oberbefehlshaber West/Oberbefehlshaber Süd 4 Führungsabteilung

Anyone??

Best regards
Kurt
kstdk

[nickterry]

Hello

Also:

RL 12 Verbände und Einheiten der Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe
3 Flak-Regimenter
3.83 Lehr- und Erprobungskommando Wachtel / Flak-Regiment 155 (W)
Bemerkung: zwischen ca. Jan. und Aug. 1944 als Flak-Gruppe Creil (Deckname) bezeichnet; zum
V-Waffen-Einsatz siehe auch RH 24-30 (XXX. Armeekorps) und RL 11 (hier: 5. Flak-Divison (W))

And:

RH 19-IV Heeresgruppe D/Oberbefehlshaber West/Oberbefehlshaber Süd 4 Führungsabteilung

Anyone??

Best regards
Kurt
kstdk

Heeresgruppe D (RH 19 IV) has now been started, use Invenio to find concordances with NARA T311 as the latter is complete, to see what if anything is unique to RH 19 IV.

RL 12 hasn't been started.

[kstdk]

Hello

Thanks for the tip

It is nice to see that more and more Rolls being digitized!

Regards
Kurt
kstdk