Record Group - 02.03.02 Foreign Affairs

Like other German and European countries, Saxony established a network of diplomatic missions in the 17th/18th century. In contrast to the older practice of temporary and factually limited special embassies, permanent embassies were established with the intention of permanent diplomatic representation. The basis under international law for the diplomatic activities of the German estates was above all the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which finally sanctioned their diplomatic rights.<br/>The first permanent diplomatic representation of Saxony was established around 1620 in Vienna. Between 1648 and 1694 (the beginning of the reign of Elector Friedrich August I), posts were also founded in The Hague, Hamburg, Lübeck and Regensburg. Higher demands on Saxon foreign policy after the acquisition of the Polish crown (1697) led to the establishment of legations in Denmark, France, Great Britain, Italy and Russia, among others, as well as at the courts of the great German imperial princes. In the middle of the 18th century Saxony maintained about 30 diplomatic representations. <br/>After the Seven Years' War, Saxony's foreign policy activity declined, so that the number of legations fell to 16 by the end of the 1780s. The first consulate was established in Málaga in 1807 to promote Saxon exports. In the first decades of the German Confederation, the kingdom of Saxony, divided in 1815, hardly appeared in foreign policy. In order to coordinate foreign relations and the diplomatic and consular system, however, a special ministry (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) was formed in the course of the 1831 state reform, which assumed the tasks of the previously responsible Department of Foreign Affairs of the Secret Cabinet.<br/>In the "Beust Era" (1849 - 1866) a certain reactivation of foreign policy began, as can be seen from the increasing number of embassies and consulates. In 1867/71, however, Saxony's foreign policy largely lost its significance when the country joined the North German Confederation or German Empire. Since the legation remained formally with the German federal states in 1867/71, Saxony retained the Foreign Ministry, some inner-German legations and consulates. By far the most important was the legation in Berlin, which represented the state's interests in the Reich and maintained contact with the Reich administration.<br/>Since the Weimar Constitution shifted foreign relations exclusively to the competence of the Reich and thus abolished federal diplomatic law, most of the remaining legations and consulates were gradually abolished in the 1920s. The consulates in Frankfurt am Main and Cologne were last dissolved in 1933, while the Foreign Ministry merged with the State Chancellery in 1935. Only the Berlin legation remained as the "Saxon representation in Berlin" during the Nazi era and did not cease its activities until the beginning of 1945.<br/>In the tectonics group 02.03.02 Foreign Affairs, the archive holdings of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the legations from 1830 have been preserved. The documents of the permanent legations up to 1830 and of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Secret Cabinet can be found in the Legation Section of the 10026 Secret Cabinet holdings. The few surviving consular archives were incorporated into the 10717 holdings of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. <br/><br/>Publications:<br/>Ludwig, Jörg: Zur Geschichte des sächsischen Konsulatswesens (1807 - 1933). In: Consuls et services consulaires au XIXe siècle. Hamburg 2010. p. 365-378<br/>ders.: Saxon Foreign Policy 1871-1918 : Institutions and Archives. In: Die Außenpolitik der deutschen Länder im Kaiserreich : Geschichte, Akteure und archivische Überlieferung (1871 - 1918); Contributions of the Scientific Colloquium on the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office on 3 August 2010. Munich 2012. p. 57 - 78<br/>Matzke, Judith: Saxony's Embassy and Diplomatic Service 1694 - 1763. Leipzig 2011<br/>Schreckenbach, Hans-Joachim: Innerdeutsche Gesandtschaften 1867 - 1945. in: Studies on Archival and Historical Science : On the 65th birthday of H. O. Meisner. Berlin 1965. p. 404 - 428<br/>

Saxon State Archives (Archivtektonik) >> Kingdom and Free State of Saxony 1831 - 1945 >> Specialist authorities and subordinate bodies

Es gilt die Sächsische Archivbenutzungsverordnung (SächsGVBl. Jg.2003, Bl.-Nr. 4 S. 79)

• German

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Original description: Archivportal-D

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