History of the Inventory Designer: By Decree of the 21. October 1917 Transfer of economic and socio-political tasks from the Reichsamt des Innern ausgeglie‧derten to the newly founded Reichswirtschaftsamt, which reports directly to Reichs‧kanzler; early 1919 upgrading to Reichs‧wirtschaftsministerium (RWM); with the dissolution of the Reichsministerium für wirtschaftliche Demobilmachung 1919 transfer of control and processing of Kriegsrohstoffabtei‧lungen to the RWM; 1920 after formation of the Reichsministerium für Ernährung and Land‧wirtschaft dissolution of the short-term association with the Reichsernährungsministerium; 1921 transfer of responsibility for inland navigation and 1926 for maritime navigation to the Reich Ministry of Transport; with the dissolution of the Reich Ministry of Treasury 1923 Über‧nahme of the electroeconomic legislation and other economic tasks au‧ßerhalb of the competence of the Reich Ministry of Finance; 1933 The fields of economic advertising, exhibitions, trade fairs and advertising are transferred to the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda; foreign exchange control is separated from the RWM, the Reich Office for Foreign Exchange Control is established; 1934 the company is merged with the Prussian Ministry for Economic Affairs and Labor; 1935-1938 the company is officially named: Reichs- and Preußi‧sches Ministry of Economics; 1936 transfer of responsibility for the right of disposal over raw materials, foreign exchange, labor and the procurement program to Vierjahres‧planbehörde; 1937, after the centralization of the two authorities, transfer of important parts of the four-year plan authority to the RWM in 1937: the raw materials management, the foreign trade department and the general representative for iron and steel management; 1941, transfer of the energy management division to the Inspector General for Water and Energy; 1943, creation of the main department "Der Oberberghauptmann" (The Chief Mining Officer) in accordance with Auf‧bau of the Reichsberg authorities; with decree of the Reichsberg authorities, 1943, creation of the main department "Der Oberberghauptmann" (The Chief Mining Officer); with decree of the Reichsberg authorities, 1943, creation of the main department "Der Oberberghauptmann" (The Chief Mining Officer). September 1943 on concentration in the war economy Transfer of competence in the areas of raw material supply, production and armaments industry to the Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production: competence of the RWM (cf. Speer Decree of 29 October 1943) for civilian production, general economic policy, trade and industry, mining and economic financing. Inventory description: Inventory history When the main building in Behrenstraße was destroyed by the air raids in the second half of November 1943, the RWM had already prepared itself for this case. By order of 12 July 1943, the head of Hauptabteilung II i.V. had ordered measures to "secure files and working materials in the event of bomb damage". The file material should be checked and, if it were classified as particularly important for the war, stored in the RWM in a bomb-proof manner. Duplicates and copies of essential operations should be secured outside Berlin. In addition, there was the economic necessity of making waste paper available to the paper industry due to a shortage of raw materials. Only a few days later, on 20 July 1943, a corresponding order was issued. Files that are dispensable and meaningless for future work should be delivered for stamping. "Files which are also of value for the future, be it as a basis for legal relationships of any kind, be it as a source for the history of the office or the economic administration, must be excluded from destruction. If they are no longer needed, they should be kept "ready for handover to the Reichsarchiv in Potsdam or the Prussian State Archives". The main department OBH reported on 14 August 1943 that in the registries II Bg and OBH about 1900 volumes of files had been sorted out and had already been driven away by the company entrusted with the collection. In the course of the relocation of the RWM from Berlin, the State Secretary issued a special decree on 16 March 1945 concerning the security of files. Remarkable is the 2nd point: "Due to the air raids so far, valuable and partly irreplaceable material from the overview of the economic measures of the past has been lost in the German Reich. Since knowledge of the facts, motives, arguments and counterarguments of previous economic policy decisions is of particular importance for economic management in order to further develop economic measures, any material that can still convey this knowledge must be secured. I have therefore ordered that the relevant documents from files and written material be archived and stored in a secure manner with regard to air protection. The main departments must therefore separate the relevant materials from their files and records and report them to Dr. Lück ready for transport according to type and quantity." Lück belonged to the "Economics Department", to which Ohlendorf gave preferential interest. It cannot be excluded that important parts of the RWM could be saved through this action. Overall, a number of alternative sites have been set up. Archival processing When the ZStA's traditions were transferred to the Federal Archives, the unambiguous usability of the holdings had to be guaranteed first. In a first step, therefore, for purely practical reasons, it was decided to retain the signing of the larger part of the Potsdam collection and to re-sign the Koblenz files by adding 30,000 to each file signature (example: old R 7/ 1196 is new: R 3101/ 31196). The classification of the second part of the index was based on the business distribution plan of 1943. The files from the Koblenz and Potsdam parts of the collection that had not been classified according to keywords were collected and merged. The basis for the classification is the business distribution plan of 1943. Content characterisation: Documents have been handed down mainly on the following focal points: - Personnel and administrative matters - General economic policy, in particular to chambers of industry and commerce - Economic mobilization - Management of industrial products and control of industry - Implementation of supplies (trade, crafts, commerce) - Banking and lending - Financing of economic enterprises and assumption of Reich guarantees in various branches of industry - Export credits, credit insurance and guarantees for economic expansion abroad - Citation method: BArch, R 3101/...
