Reports on the German Reichsarchiv in 1925

[MLW]

Surprisingly, the US National Archives (NARA) has a large collection of WWI German Army documents. Most are from the 1917-1918 period. Some are translated into English. Here is why NARA has such an extensive collection; from it's website:

"In August 1920, Col. Oliver Spaulding, head of the Army War College's Historical Section, began work toward the acquisition from German sources of documents relating to Germany's involvement in World War I. This was followed up by Lt Col. Edward Davis, the U.S. military observer in Berlin in late 1920. Col. Davis traded copies of the American plans for the St. Mihiel offensive to German archivists in exchange for copies of documents relating to German operations.

This led to the establishment of a liaison under which American personnel; working in Potsdam, Germany; undertook the selection, copying, and to some extent the translation of German military logs, annexes, war diaries, and related material. Most of the original documents in the German archives were destroyed in April 1945 during a British air raid which caused a fire in the Heeresarchiv, Potsdam."

I recently found two documents of possible interest to serious researchers of the German Army. You can download them as .pdfs at the following links:

US Army 1925 Report on the German Reichsarchiv and its history, purpose, and organization:

http://downloads.stu...archiv_1925.pdf

US Army 1925 Report on production of the The Reichsarchiv's Der Weltkrieg 1914-1918 and Die Schlachten des Weltkriegs series:

http://downloads.stu...ieg_1914-18.pdf

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi Marc,

very interesting! makes me wonder what other gems they have tucked away!

Thanks

Chris

[Ulsterman]

Yeah- but people have begun to look. The Potsdam archives got bombed, but a lot of papers were crated up beforehand and put elsewhere. Rumor has it that there's a tonne of stuff sitting in warehouses that none of the Museums/archives want because theres' no space. ...etc..

[MLW]

Well, unfortunately rumors don't mean much.

I have found some interesting documents so far:

- German Army Study on the Tank Action at Villers-Bretonneux 1918

- Fifth Army lessons from Verdun 1916

- First Army Experiences on the Somme 1916

- German Army Lessons from Flanders (Lens) 1917

There are also copies of many German Army, Corps, and Division War Diaries from 1917 and 1918

I am currently looking for:

- Germany Tesimony Concerning SGT York's Exploits

- A 1922 Report on the Schlieffen Plan

- First Army War Diary and Orders for Mons and Le Cateau in 1914

[AOK4]

Hello,

I guess the rumours refer to parts of the archives having been moved already before WW2 to elsewhere: Bavarian, Württemberg and Baden military archives are almost completely preserved today and the saxon military archives are only partly preserved, but more archives are preserved than for the rest of the German army.

The Navy archives are preserved as well since they were kept elsewhere as well.

All this is very well known and these state archives are public.

Jan

[MLW]

No doubt, all archives have material that is not catalogued and is thus "lost" awaiting to be rediscovered. By rumors seem to collect in the archives as the dust bunnies do. For example, I have heard that the US archives did not return all its captured WWII German documents to Germany, but that boxes of material are still lying around the archive soemwhere. Seeing is believing, although recently some 20 or more microfilm rolls of WWII German progaganda images just popped up out of a cardboord box at NARA! Who says the archives are boring?

[Söderbaum]

Hi

The fact that the National archive in Washington have a huge amount of German original documents have been known at least for 50 Years or more, at least by those who study WWI aviation. The problem has been that no-one, except some high US militarian have been able to get access to it..

One other aspect is that no-one in US, except these foreigners who could read and interpret the material actually understand what kind of gold mine this is..!

So the fact that "at last" some of this material have been re-leased for the public is very good news..

I tried for more then 20 Years ago to get some copies of from some US historian-Militarian who had been in the archive in Washington, but they refused to send me copies..

I dont agree with AOK 4, as the Germans archivirians has behaved as bad as the Americans..

I can argue more about this if interest..

Gunnar

[MLW]

Hello Gunnar,

Although I have only been actively visiting the US Archives at NARA II in College Park for about four years, as far as I know, the US archives have always been open to the public. I don't understand how any one person can prevent access to WWI records. I do know that trying to get material from the archives is difficult if you can't visit it personnally and search for what you want. One reason for this is that the primary job of the archive's employees to maintain and preserve the records, not serve as researchers for the public. Therefore, depending on who you contact at the archives, the level of assistance varies. It also seems that as the older, more experienced archvists are retiring, the knowledge of the various collections among the archivists is decreasing. That leaves people who live far away from the archives little choice but to either go to the archives themselves (which can be expensive and time consuimng) or to hire a professional researcher (which can be good or bad depending on the researcher).

I go to the archives on a routine basis - about one a week. I have not been denied access to anything except the rarest and most fragile of documents and photographs. It is, however, time consuming to find and search through boxes and boxes of materials and then copy them. For this reason, I sometimes help other people with small research jobs, but even then, I have to limit it because research is time consuming and I have my own work to do (I scan and sell digitzed copies of WWI and WWII documents and photos).

I have seen a few German avaition records in the WWI records - mainly information about Allied bombing attacks and a flyer casuality document. There is also a nice collection of official German photos. If there is something simple I can help you with, I will try.

[Söderbaum]

Great news Marc

I am aware of the problem to get help from archives sometimes. Partly the problem is that the material is unsorted and it hardly exist good

find Bücher (Index). To get in contact with the right person is also vital as you point out.

Ulsterman mentioned the remains of the Potsdam archive. The German re-union in 1989 became a catastrophe for researcher, as the archive in Potsdam was simply closed. In mid 90s the material was send over to the Militärarchive in Freiburg, but it is still lying there today unsorted in boxes and unavailable for studying.

The personal files (maybe a million or more) were sent back to WasT in Berlin to prevent research.

Back to business. The archive in Washington holds material which are vital for aviation researcher. Luckily some material have been copied the last 40 Years (to my knowledge). But as you indicate it might have been free to study all the time. But the American contacts I had 30 Years ago gave another version.

And at last, the situation in Germany for aviation research has become much better the last Year. Maybe it is because it is only 8 months left

for the 100 Year jubilee of the German Military Air Force...

Gunnar

[Ulsterman]

There are a number of US federal warehouses all around Virginia, Ohio and even Missouri that have God knows what in them. they were part of the USAF archives and under seal until they could be indexed and since 1945- it's never been part of the USAF budget.

So there they sit.

Recently in my own state we 'discovered" several shelves of bound pension records from the war of 1812-that had been completely unknown since @ 1880 because they were placed in old financial (receipts) boxes.