NARA vs. BA/MA
NARA vs. BA/MA
As I'm getting more familiar with sources every single day, I slowly come to realize what's different between the German documents microfilmed (and now digitized) by the US at NARA and what's actually in the files held by the Bundesarchiv in Germany.
For years I thought that NARA copied almost everything before returning the documents to Germany. An article by Weinberg - who was in charge of the microfilming - stated just that: he decided not to select what to copy because "someone's junk is someone else's gold".
However, I know believe NARA did have a policy what to copy and what not to copy. NARA focused on operational documents from field units from division upwards, and by and large left aside:
- documents of units smaller than divisions (unless, by chance, directly attached to a corps or an army)
- pre-war documents, even if many divisions / corps / armies were setup before the war broke out. Some of these were filmed under T79 (Wehrkeis, Rear areas), and BA/MA filed back under their relevant units.
- pre-operations documents when Germany did not have the initiative. I'm thinking of documents of units in occupation duties (e.g., Army Group G - responsible for South France - prior to D--Day). A notable exception are the tens of rolls of 20.AOK in Norway.
- folders from field police and equivalent units, even if they were directly attached to armies or army groups. Usually, Korück of secret field police files are missing, although BA /MA has some of them.
- folders solely related to personel, like list of officers, of Iron Cross holders etc. Note that Personakten were copied, especially those of the SS (A3343). Name cards of higher officers, with their evaluations, were also recorded under T78. But whatever existed in the field units wasn't.
- folders with repetitive lists and charts. For example, there is almost nothing in T78 from Inspector of Armored Forces (Guderian's job from 1943) compared to BAMA RH10. An example of what NARA did not copy are monthly TO&E of each division. For a casual readers, these files are just very repetitive charts. It could also be that whomever checked them did not know how to read them - it requires some training - and left them aside.
Here is my understanding so far. Feel free to add your observations.
For years I thought that NARA copied almost everything before returning the documents to Germany. An article by Weinberg - who was in charge of the microfilming - stated just that: he decided not to select what to copy because "someone's junk is someone else's gold".
However, I know believe NARA did have a policy what to copy and what not to copy. NARA focused on operational documents from field units from division upwards, and by and large left aside:
- documents of units smaller than divisions (unless, by chance, directly attached to a corps or an army)
- pre-war documents, even if many divisions / corps / armies were setup before the war broke out. Some of these were filmed under T79 (Wehrkeis, Rear areas), and BA/MA filed back under their relevant units.
- pre-operations documents when Germany did not have the initiative. I'm thinking of documents of units in occupation duties (e.g., Army Group G - responsible for South France - prior to D--Day). A notable exception are the tens of rolls of 20.AOK in Norway.
- folders from field police and equivalent units, even if they were directly attached to armies or army groups. Usually, Korück of secret field police files are missing, although BA /MA has some of them.
- folders solely related to personel, like list of officers, of Iron Cross holders etc. Note that Personakten were copied, especially those of the SS (A3343). Name cards of higher officers, with their evaluations, were also recorded under T78. But whatever existed in the field units wasn't.
- folders with repetitive lists and charts. For example, there is almost nothing in T78 from Inspector of Armored Forces (Guderian's job from 1943) compared to BAMA RH10. An example of what NARA did not copy are monthly TO&E of each division. For a casual readers, these files are just very repetitive charts. It could also be that whomever checked them did not know how to read them - it requires some training - and left them aside.
Here is my understanding so far. Feel free to add your observations.
Re: NARA vs. BA/MA
While BA/MA have some of the KvK & EK award lists, they do state that all those from 1939 to June 1941 are not available due to 'outsourcing' so does that refer to NARA still having the originals or is that just another way of saying they don't know where they are?
Re: NARA vs. BA/MA
If they can't say where to they were "outsourced", it means they don't know where they are...
- Piet Duits
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Re: NARA vs. BA/MA
In the 60's, the NARA started to send documents back to Germany. The NARA states they send everything back, the BA-MA however are saying they did not.
I believe the BA-MA.
I believe the BA-MA.
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Re: NARA vs. BA/MA
The archive(BA) is working, but NARA is still closed!
God created the Internet, but devil created Darknet.
Re: NARA vs. BA/MA
Commenting on my own comments 6 months later, I should add that:
Besides, NARA filmed a semi-random selection of files from occupation authorities, like Frankreich Oberbefehlshaber. They are also under T501. Something like 1/3 of items are in BAMA only. The holes are obvious when you read the NARA catalog, but what I have just learnt is the gaps are not "lost items" but "existing but not microfilmed items".
=> NARA actually filed them under T501 instead of T311-T315. It seems NARA and BAMA collections are >90% almost similar.- folders from field police and equivalent units, even if they were directly attached to armies or army groups. Usually, Korück of secret field police files are missing, although BA /MA has some of them.
Besides, NARA filmed a semi-random selection of files from occupation authorities, like Frankreich Oberbefehlshaber. They are also under T501. Something like 1/3 of items are in BAMA only. The holes are obvious when you read the NARA catalog, but what I have just learnt is the gaps are not "lost items" but "existing but not microfilmed items".
Re: NARA vs. BA/MA
Appearently, BaMa didn't have the capacity to handle all the returned documents at the time, so a lot were destroyed and some ended up on private hands (unfortunately, I can't find the references for this now).Piet Duits wrote: ↑11 Nov 2020, 17:31In the 60's, the NARA started to send documents back to Germany. The NARA states they send everything back, the BA-MA however are saying they did not.
I believe the BA-MA.