Inventory description: Dept. 227 Collection Ertel (Westhofen) Scope: 122 units (= 10 archive cartons = 1.5 m) Duration: 1716 - 1990 To be taken over On 5 February 2013 Mr. Georg-Jakob Ertel from Westhofen handed over two large cartons with documents on the history of the Catholic parish of Westhofen as a deposit to the municipal archive of Worms. With this material, the basis for the Ertel collection was laid in the city archives as an archive collection of Dept. 227, since further later levies are intended. According to Mr. Ertel himself, he had fished the documents out of a large quantity of papers, which - coming from the provenance of the parish of Westhofen - were intended for disposal a few years ago, in order to evaluate the contents of the documents for research purposes. Since an archival processing also seemed to make sense with regard to a further possible scientific use, an agreement was reached between him and the City Archives on the deposit. A handwritten parish chronicle, led by Pastor Geeb/Geb (1803) and continued by Pastor Schott (1857), Mr. Ertel wished to keep it for the time being for provisional processing, a later addition to the collection is intended. Mr. Ertel had already drawn up a list of 33 envelopes and two files in advance, in which almost all the pieces were listed. The numbering of this list was adopted as an old signature in the course of the redrawing. There were now 122 units of description, which comprise 1.5 linear metres in ten archive cartons. The duration ranges from 1716 to 1990; blocking periods had to be set for some files for data protection reasons. The material originates mainly from the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. The two former file folders, for which Mr Ertel had produced his own tables of contents, were dissolved and the documents were transferred to acid-free folders, which were to be preferred for conservation purposes. Several units of description were formed, which are linked by means of old signatures and attached copies of Ertel's folder lists. The classification was created after the indexing on the basis of the main content. In some fascicles, partially damaged file aprons [sheets used rather than aprons] contained references to a previous classification system based on simple numbering; the main subjects used there are essentially also to be found in the present classification. Content The archival documents concern the content of the Catholic parish of Westhofen with its branch parishes of Monzernheim and Blödesheim [today Hochborn]. The classification has created five thematic focal points, which are briefly outlined below. On the one hand, there are numerous ordinances, decrees, communications and circulars on parish administration, which were sent mainly by the higher spiritual authorities to deaneries and parishes, but also by civil authorities. On the other hand, correspondence and other documents are available which directly concern the parish of Westhofen, its administration and the work of the respective pastors and the church council, as well as various statistical information. Correspondence, circulars, etc. from the tenure of Pastor W. Oestreicher provide information about church life during the Nazi era. Church accounts are available on a larger scale, some of which even form a series (1797 - 1806, 1819 - 1825, 1869 - 1872 [without 1871]), and further documents on asset management. In addition there are foundations to the parish, here the Blanck'sche Stiftung is mentioned, to which also material can be found in the estate Kirschbaum (StadtA Wo Abt. 170/46), and above all extensive directories about Mess-Stiftungen in the Catholic church in Westhofen and in the Filialgemeinden. Fascicles that deal with the Haubische Gült and the Arnsteiner or the Duboische Gült in Osthofen in favour of the Westhofener church are to be emphasized (StadtA Wo Abt. 227 Nr. 47, Nr. 48 u. Nr. 119). A further content section deals with building issues of the church and other buildings belonging to the Catholic parish and their furnishings (including inventories). The establishment of the sisters' house in 1902 and the activities of the sisters (sewing school, infant school) are also reflected in the files. Information about the Catholic school can be obtained about the building, as well as about teaching (rather general), about the school assets and various statistical data, furthermore about the establishment of a simultaneous school in Westhofen against the protest of the Catholics. A legal dispute with Jacob Weisheimer, who lived in the immediate vicinity of the schoolyard, is documented in detail (StadtA Wo Abt. 227 Nr. 58; 1838 - 1848). Church life is reflected in various directories of sermons and catecheses held and in books of preaching. In addition, various documents are available on pilgrimages, processions, retreats, confirmation classes and the activities of ecclesiastical associations (e.g. Brotherhood to the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of Mary [StadtA Wo Abt. 227 Nr. 65]). Important for individuals and individual families was the necessary granting of a dispensary for marriages and the religious upbringing of children from mixed-confessional marriages. Various publications and newspapers or newspaper cuttings were incorporated into the last classification group. Worms, March 2013 Margit Rinker-Olbrisch Supplementary archive holdings Stadtarchiv Worms: Dept. 170/46 Kirschbaum family estate (concerning Blanck'sche Foundation) Landesarchiv Speyer (currently): Gemeindearchiv Westhofen Hess. State Archives DA: Dept. G 15 here: No. 15/2 with inspection reports, statistical data (e.g. on the community of Westhofen, 1898) Literature EBERSMANN, Jakob: History of Westhofen, Monzernheim and Blödesheim, Worms, 1909 GRÜNEWALD, Julius/ STROH, Heinrich: Chronicle of the market town Westhofen: Contributions to the history of the community of Westhofen, Westhofen, 1974 GRÜNEWALD, Christoph Julius Johannes: Von Westhofener Häusern und Leuten, Westhofen, 1984

Preliminary remark: In 1965, the estate of Berthold von Fetzer was handed over to the Main State Archives by Mrs. Friedel Schloßberger-Hoffmann, the granddaughter of Berthold von Fetzer, retired superior. The printed matter and books (including printed matter by Carl August and Berthold von Fetzer) submitted by Mrs. Schloßberger-Hoffmann at that time were classified in the service library of the Main State Archives. The collection contains 40 volumes of diaries from 1868 to 1925 (with gaps), five volumes of notebooks from 1918 to 1923 as well as three photos of Berthold von Fetzer, and the entries of Fetzer on his activities as court physician of King Karl in 1883, 1885 to 1891 (volumes 5-15). Unfortunately the corresponding volume covering the period from April 1883 to February 1885 is missing. According to the correspondence with Mrs. Schloßberger-Hoffmann, it was not handed over to the Main State Archives. The diaries, which were kept in detail in the years 1883 and 1885 to 1891, especially during the King's winter stays in southern France and Italy, contain numerous information about the person of King Charles, his illnesses, his daily routine and his attitude towards the people around him - especially towards Queen Olga, Charles Woodcock (Baron de Savage), Wilhelm Freiherr von Spitzemberg and Julius Albert Freiherr von Griesinger. Fetzer was consulted almost daily by the king, especially during his winter stays in the south, while he did not maintain such close contact with the king during the remaining months when the king was in Stuttgart, Friedrichshafen or Bebenhausen. In addition, the diaries Volumes 5-15 also give interesting insights into farm life. These diaries, which are the most important source about the last years of King Karl, were written by Professor Dr. Paul Sauer for his book "Regent with mild sceptre. For Fetzer's activity as court physician under King Wilhelm II, however, there are no comparable entries except for a diary (volume 17), which contains some information about diseases of Queen Charlotte. This is probably due to the fact that Fetzer was consulted less frequently by the last royal couple of Württemberg and at that time was primarily active as head of the medical department of the newly created Karl Olga Hospital in Stuttgart. In addition to the diaries on court life, the two volumes with entries on Fetzer's work as senior physician at the Fourth Württemberg Field Hospital in the War of 1870/71 (Volumes 1 and 2), in which he reports on his activities in the field hospitals and in the Solitude reserve hospital - including the operations he performed - also deserve attention. In addition to the above-mentioned entries by Fetzer, all of which are in some way connected with his work as a doctor, the diaries naturally also contain numerous references to his family life and provide insights into Fetzer's personality, his diverse interests and political attitudes. In addition to the sometimes very detailed descriptions of his numerous travels in Germany and other European countries, here are notes and comments on his reading in the fields of medicine and natural sciences. literature, art or art history, philosophy and history. There are also frequent reports in the diaries about visits to theatre, opera and concerts, as well as visits to art exhibitions and museums. They convey an impressive picture of a typical educated citizen of the imperial period and are therefore of importance for cultural, mental and social history. The descriptions of his travels and even more the notes and commentaries on his reading - like a red thread, so to speak - run through almost all of his diaries, whereby in the diaries of the years 1913 to 1925 (volumes 27-40) - possibly due to a lack of reportable external experiences of Fetzer - they occupy a large space. In addition to the diaries, Fetzer also kept pure notebooks with notes for his reading between 1918 and 1923 (vol. 41-45). The estate of Fetzer was recorded in the summer of 1997 by the candidate archive inspectors Nicole Schütz and Andre Kayser. The title recordings were edited by Archive Inspector Eberhard Merk in autumn 1999. The stock comprises 46 title records in 0.3 metres. Stuttgart, November 1999 Eberhard Merk

Inventory description: Abt. 77/14 Turngemeinde 1846 Worms (Dep.) Scope: 107 archive cartons (= 747 units = 12 linear metres) Duration: 1861 - 2007 I. Acquisition and condition Documents on the history of the Turngemeinde (1 archive carton) had been handed over to the municipal archives at an unknown point in time (between 1975 and 1988) without depositary reservation. The actual archives of the gymnastics community were collected on 7 and 16 May 2008 at the gymnastics community Worms 1846 after preliminary talks with the honorary chairman Herbert W. Hofmann and conclusion of a contract with the club, where they had been kept in the basement and in the top floor of the tower of the Jahnturnhalle, at the latter location also in the context of a permanent exhibition in showcases. These two storage locations were, as far as can be reconstructed with certainty after the transport to the city archives, noted in the field "Remark" with "Cellar" or "Tower". A pre-archival order above the file units could only be found on the envelopes for some files of the 1920s (numbering 1 - 44); a registration plan was not available. A brief reference to the reorganization of the archive by Peter Hofmann is contained in the file Dept. 77/14 No. 480. However, the first known overview of the archive is that of Prof. Dr. Harald Braun in his Festschrift der Turngemeinde of 1995 (see below). The preparatory work for this work also includes the copies of Worms and foreign archives, transcriptions and notes summarised in No. 626. The condition of the material is perfect. II Provenances In addition to the actual record keeping of the gymnastics community, other places have contributed to a small extent to the written material and photographic material as it was taken over by the city archives. They were left in the inventory with reference to the respective provenance. Apart from the above-mentioned author of the 1995 commemorative publication, Prof. Harald Braun, recognizable are - above all Nikolaus Doerr, 1st Chairman, of whom there are also files concerning his activities as a member of the City Council and Chairman of the City Sports Association; - Peter Hofmann, 2nd and 3rd Chairman, Altersturnwart as well as expert advisor for physical education at the City Education Authority; - Willi Hein, Oberturnwart, Gaujugendturnwart. With the photo albums and collections private origin is mostly probable. Hermann Fendel, Josef Fischer, Willi Hein, Anton Hilken and Wilma Wolfrath can be identified as previous owners. The archives of the gymnastics department of the F.C. Blau-Weiß Worms of 1933 for the years 1948-49 (Dept. 77/14 No. 588, due to the change of departments of the temporarily forbidden gymnastics community) and of the gymnastics club 1883 Alsheim (Dept. 77/14 No. 217, probably in connection with Peter Hofmann's activity for the club, of which he was an honorary member since 1936, can be found of foreign clubs. III. archival indexing The indexing took place in 2008/09. Due to the quite clear delimitability of the older part of the tradition from the beginnings up to prohibition and reestablishment of the gymnastics community after World War II on the one hand and the following time up to today on the other hand, the stock was divided into an older (up to 1945) and a newer part (from 1945) during the preparation of a file plan. For a certain part of the material a new formation was necessary, which is then marked with "NF" after the serial number. IV. Cassations of documents in the amount of 7 archive boxes was collected after review by Mr. Herbert W. Hofmann, honorary chairman of the gymnastics community. V. Literature: - Philipp Baas, Geschichte der Turngemeinde Worms von Weihnachten 1846 bis Ostern 1908, Worms 1909 - Festschrift zum 110jährigen Jubiläum der Turngemeinde 1846 Worms, Worms 1956 - Schmahl, Hans J., 125 years of the gymnastics community in 1846 Worms, Worms 1971 - Harald Braun, Geschichte der Turngemeinde Worms e.V. von 1845/46 bis 1995/96, Alzey 1995 (in it a first short, incomplete overview of the archive of the gymnastics community) as well as numerous publications to the individual departments and printed statutes etc., which are proven in this stock in the printed publications or in the file context and in the online catalogue of the city library. There are no restrictions on use. Martin Geyer, Worms City Archive, May 2009

Preliminary remark: Karl Ludwig Eugen Schall (born on 25 November 1885), died on 30 January 1980) joined the Grenadier Regiment of Queen Olga (1st Württembergische) No. 119 in 1904 as a junior flag officer, reached the rank of lieutenant general there until World War I, after the outbreak of the war took part as company officer in the battles of the regiment on the West and East Front and was wounded twice. From 1915 Schall worked as a captain and general staff officer, often occupying changing general staff positions at General Command XIII Army Corps, at the 26th Infantry Division, the 14th Infantry Division, General Command V, and at the General Command of the German Armed Forces. Army Corps, 18th Reserve Division, General Command IV Reserve Corps and 10th Reserve Corps. He participated in the fights in Flanders, in the Somme, in the Champagne, in the Ardennes and Argonne, in the Meuse and near Verdun until his demobilisation in 1918. He was mainly concerned with strength and loss reports, interrogation of prisoners, evaluation of aerial photographs, mapping, position building and pioneer questions. From 1933 he again held several changing positions in the General Staff of the V. Army Corps as a Major, in 1939 was Commander of the Stuttgart II Military District as Lieutenant Colonel, from 1940 as Lieutenant Colonel, later as Colonel General Staff Officer in the 554th Army Corps. Infantry Division, with the Army Group A, with the Commander-in-Chief in Serbia, then Chief of the Field Commandantur 747 in Nîmes and was last transferred in 1944 against his own wishes as a war history teacher to the Kriegsakademie. As a pensioner Schall still studied archaeology in Tübingen until his doctorate. Further information on Karl Schall's life can be found in a handwritten curriculum vitae in Bü. 182, in the diaries in Bü. 181 and in the personal file in stock M 430/2, Bü. 1804 with information on his military career until 1919.Parts of the estate of Karl Schall, above all written material from his military service and extensive collections, were offered to the Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart by his son Brigadegeneral a.D. Wolfgang Schall in March 1980 and, after an initial inspection at the estate's premises in April 1980, were handed over to the library of the Hauptstaatsarchiv and the archival records in Department IV (Military Archives) have since formed the M 660 estate of Karl Schall. Since the estate of Karl Schall got into complete disarray and no pre-archival classification scheme was recognizable, it was necessary to develop a classification scheme after the indexing, which should do justice to the multi-layered structures and most different documentation forms, particularly since in the Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart no uniform classification scheme for estates finds application. The documents from the officers' activities, correspondence and personal papers, which besides their general historical significance have a close personal connection to the deceased, were clearly separated from the multi-layered collections. The structure of the documents from the officer's activity reflects the military career of Schall. These are mostly personal copies of official documents in the form of hectographies, prints and other copies, as well as drafts and private documents. A document, which had been taken from the business transactions of the office, was reintegrated into the relevant holdings of the military unit in the Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart. There is a reference in this repertory. The private correspondence was sorted according to correspondent groups and correspondents. Posters and wall attacks, military maps and non-military maps were incorporated into the corresponding collections of the Main State Archives J 151, M 640 and M 650 mainly for conservation reasons. Nevertheless, these pieces have also been incorporated into the present repertory in the form of references, whereby the ordering scheme of the map holdings M 640 for military maps and M 65 0 for non-military maps has been adopted. Maps which have a recognisable connection to documents in Part A have been left there or reunited and have also been incorporated into the collections of the estate as references. For the collection of newspaper clippings, individual newspapers, printed publications and manuscripts from the fields of history, contemporary history, politics, religion, language, literature, science and technology, it seemed necessary to develop as finely structured a classification scheme as possible, since this collection, with approx. 500 numbers, represents the largest part of the collection and was previously only divided into the categories1. Military, 2nd Politics and Contemporary History, 3rd Science and within these categories only chronologically ordered, which made the chronological classification of the frequently undated newspaper clippings possible. It seemed appropriate to make the very multi-layered estate accessible by means of as comprehensive a list of subjects, places and persons as possible. Only a few small map sections from maps that are already available, sketches and notes that seemed to be no longer comprehensible individually and were not in any recognizable connection to other documents, file folders and packaging material were collected. The estate of Karl Schall contains above all informative material about the type of warfare in the First World War. Of particular importance is also the material on non-Württemberg units, most of whose records were destroyed in a bombing raid on Potsdam in April 1945. The drawings on the maps from World War I provide extensive information on the course of the front, combat directions, troop movements, position building and destruction in the front areas and thus complement the M 640 map holdings well. Also noteworthy is the extensive written material on the trials before the military tribunal in Nuremberg against the generals Curt Ritter von Geitner, Hubert Lanz, Karl von Roques and Eugen Wössner, which contains excerpts from the indictments and defence material. In the collections the history of the 20th century up to the 70s is reflected in an astonishingly comprehensive and descriptive way. The collection is not subject to any restrictions of use. In January and February 1984, the M 660 estate of Karl Schall was listed and arranged by Markus Baudisch, a candidate archive inspector, as a rehearsal work in the context of the state examination for the upper archive service and comprises 697 books in 1.55 metres.

Inventory description: Abt. 242 Gemeindearchiv Nieder-Flörsheim Scope: 162 archive boxes and 1 linear metre of oversized formats (= 763 units of description) = 21.5 linear metres (additional m. N) Duration: 1705 - 1945 Place of storage: Ernst-Ludwig-Schule Zur Ortsgeschichte The town of Nieder-Flörsheim was first documented in 768 in a deed of donation in the Lorscher Codex. "On 05.11.768 Gerolf and his brother Emino awarded their parents and their sister Seghelinda a farm ride, 10 days work of arable land and field suitable for planting a vineyard on it for the salvation of their souls. Mention of the vineyard proves that at that time the Franks were already engaged in viticulture and could dispose of their estates. The place used to be called Fletersheim, Flaridesheim, Ilersheim, Nieder-Flersheim. In addition to Lorsch, the Cyrikusstift Neuhausen also owned estates in Flörsheim. Nieder-Flörsheim belonged to the cathedral of Worms since the Middle Ages. In the 13th century Philipp von Falkenstein depressed the monastery and settled in the village. In 1349 the monastery took over the patronage of the Leiningen family and in 1400 it transferred half of the village to the Palatine Count Ruprecht III in ownership. The other half of the village and the bailiwick belong to the monastery of Neuhausen and when this monastery was abolished by Elector Frederick III in 1566, the other half of the village also came to the Palatinate. It was assigned to the Chief Alzey Office. In 1792 the southwest was again involved in the war, when French revolutionary armies occupied the left bank. Again it came to plunderings and tribute payments at money and Naturalien. The later Rheinhessen and the Kurpfalz formed the Donnersberg department, to which the 24 municipalities of Rheinhessen also belonged. Administrative reform and economic upturn in agriculture shaped people's lives. After Napoleon's defeat Nieder-Flörsheim came to the Grand Duchy of Hesse. 1816 Canton Pfeddersheim, 1835 district Worms, 1848 administrative district Mainz, 1850 administrative district Worms, 1852 - 1969 district Worms (1946 Rhineland-Palatinate). As part of the administrative reform, the municipalities of Nieder-Flörsheim and Dalsheim were merged to form the new municipality of Flörsheim-Dalsheim in 1969. The parish had a parish church dedicated to St. John which was first mentioned in a document in 1234. During the Palatinate division of the church in 1705, the church fell to the Reformed. The Catholics set up an oratory in the town hall. It became a branch of the Catholic Church in Dalsheim. The Lutherans were awarded a parish in Dalsheim. In Nieder-Flörsheim there were two schools, the Reformed with the school building and the Catholic school. The Israelite community built a synagogue in 1817 (Untergasse 10), but sold it to the Häußer family in 1920. The population grew in 1811 to 596 inhabitants. The archival material in the municipality of Nieder-Flörsheim was attempted to be arranged as early as 1838. From the letter of the district council of the district Worms it appears that Mr. Völker from Wersau (Odenwald) had been commissioned to order the municipal registration of Nieder-Flörsheim (No. 0156, s. 13.03.1838). In 1914 the teacher A. Trieb compiled a file index of the municipal archive Nieder-Flörsheim (see Dept. 206 No. 99). After the dissolution of the administrative district of Worms (1969), the two combined municipalities of Nieder-Flörsheim and Dalsheim initially retained their archives in the town hall (in contrast to all other municipalities of the VG which had already deposited their documents in the town archive of Worms). Only after lengthy negotiations with the municipality in 1998 was the valuable archive material handed over to the municipal archive by the municipality of Flörsheim-Dalsheim together with the archives of Dalsheim after the conclusion of a deposit contract. The relatively undisturbed and rich archive material, especially the older ones, was stored in the cellar of the Ernst-Ludwig-Schule, in contrast to many neighbouring communities in both places. The indexing of both community archives began in autumn 2009. First of all, the documents had been prepared in 2008 according to the order of the 1908 registration plan; in 2009/10 the files were successively brought to the Raschi-Haus for processing and processed there. The duration of the project essentially begins in the first third of the 18th century and usually lasts until 1945. The forests of Nieder-Flörsheim are particularly worth mentioning. The Nieder-Flörsheimer forest served the community as a source of income. Numerous records of timber auctions and counts can be found in the documents of the municipal treasury bills. For reasons of data protection, 2 files were provided with a blocking note for use in accordance with the provisions of the Land Archives Act. After completion of the new indexing (Sept. 2009 - April 2010), the holdings comprise 759 units of description (10.7.2012: 763), which are stored in 162 archive boxes. The files are in good condition. No cassations were made. Because of the different file plans, a new section 242-N was created for the files of the municipality from 1945 to 1969 until their merger with Dalsheim, which is to be used in addition. For Dept. 242 and 243 there is still an extensive and still unseen collection of printed matter, laws and other grey literature in the holdings, which would require separation and indexing. Supplementary archive departments in the city archive: -Abt. 35 Worms Health Department -Abt. 49 Pfeddersheim Municipal Archive -Abt. 180/10 Volksbank Worms-Wonnegau -Abt. 185 Family and company archive Ludwig C. Freiherr von Heyl -Abt. 241 Gemeindearchiv Dalsheim -Abt. 204 Worms Documentation/Collection Literature: BRILMAYER, Karl Johann, Rheinhessen in the past and present, Giessen 1905 KOßLER, Matthias, Chronicle of the territory of the municipality of Monsheim, Mainz 1992 Festschrift der Provinz Rheinhessen zur 100jahrfeier 1816-1916, Mainz 1916 GALLÉ, Völker, Rheinhessen. Discovery trips in the hills between Worms and Bingen, Mainz and Alzey, Cologne, 1992 KORB, Willi, Nieder-Flörsheim. From the history of a wine village in Rhinehesse. Studies commemorating the 1200th anniversary, Westhofen, 1968 Worms, April 2010 Magdalena Kiefel

Hammer, Annetraut (Anna Gertrud) (26.01.1905 - 14.1.1992), 1933-1945 District leader (chief of staff) of the Reich Labour Service Female Youth in Württemberg: Documents about the service as district leader in the Reichsarbeitsdienst Weibliche Jugend 1933-1945, cooperation in the "Notgemeinschaft ehemaliger Arbeitsdienstangehöriger" 1947-1975; material about the chronicle of the district XII Württemberg of the Reichsarbeitshauptdienstes weiblicher Jugend; correspondence with members of the Reichsarbeitsdienst; photo albums and collections; memorabilia; publications of the Reichsarbeitsdienst as well as literature about it

1. about sermons on corpses: There have been sermons on corpses as eulogies or sermons in the church since the Middle Ages. There are already approaches to this in pre-Christian antiquity. The custom of writing them down and later printing them, however, did not emerge in Lutheran Protestantism until shortly after the Reformation. The Catholic Church opposed - above all the lavish - funeral orations to prohibitions. After all, there is also evidence of sermons on corpses for Zwinglians, Calvinists and Catholics, albeit to a lesser extent. Because of the financial expenditure corpse sermons were printed above all for wealthy aristocrats and citizens. The heyday of printed funeral sermons was the decades before the 30 year war and the turn from the 17th to the 18th century. Around the middle of the 18th century, the custom of printing sermons on corpses declined sharply. There are also sermons on corpses from the 20th century, but these are much simpler than specimens from the heyday. Depending on the time of origin, but also on the social status of the deceased, the sermons can be more or less lavish. They range from the simple printed sheet with a maximum of four pages to the large folio-format volume with 200 or more pages, decorated with several copper engravings, notes and many different mourning texts. Some funeral sermons are also divided into several volumes, e.g. the Epicedia or only certain Epicedia separately bound. Such sumptuous writings are, of course, only conceivable in the heyday of sermons on corpses and only for people from high social status. Sermons on corpses contain different components. The actual sermon on the dead, i.e. the sermon at the funeral, forms the core of Scripture. Often it is based on a specific biblical passage as a leitmotif which the deceased could determine for himself or which has a relation to the activity of the deceased. A scripture may contain several such sermons which may have been delivered at the funeral, funeral service or other funeral service. In comparison, sermons on corpses often contain a curriculum vitae of the deceased (referred to as "Personalia" or "curriculum vitae"), which was read out during the celebrations and cannot describe the person of the deceased too negatively for reasons of piety. The third component is Epicedia, the mourning poems of relatives, friends or - in the case of aristocrats - high-ranking servants. Elaborate copper engravings - quite a majority - can decorate a funeral sermon. Often the deceased is depicted with a portrait, sometimes also in an allegorical representation. With several copper engravings the funeral procession (= corpse procession) can be represented or the coffin in different views. Music is relatively rare. The lyrics of sung mourning songs can be found more often, notes of such songs or even other musical performances at mourning ceremonies are already a precious rarity (cf. the separate list in the appendix). The present collection comprises a total of 2098 funeral sermons. Without consideration of the duplicates there are 797 different pieces. They can be divided into three groups, into sermons on corpses of members of the House of Hohenlohe (188 without duplicates), into sermons on corpses of other aristocrats who were frequently either related, in-laws or neighbours (332), and into sermons on corpses of commoners (277). Among the latter group, servants and other employees of the various high-wage houses predominate. Also included are - albeit with a rather small proportion - other personal writings, such as poems on the occasion of a birthday, a wedding or an anniversary, "Leichenge poems" (identical with Epicedia) and also writings on the occasion of celebrations in Hohenlohe on the occasion of the death of the emperor, etc. The collection of sermons represents a selection of material from several Highlohic archives. The origin of the individual funeral sermons can usually no longer be determined. Naturally, the funeral sermons must be seen as a relevant source of sepulchral culture. They are also indispensable for genealogical and other research, not least because of the often included curriculum vitae. The contained genealogical information is absolutely reliable, even if the evaluations in a funeral sermon cannot be too negative. General expressions about piety, lifestyle and virtues of the deceased, on the other hand, are not to be taken too literally. Sermons on corpses are also valuable sources for the history of art, literature and music as well as for theology, and social and economic history is increasingly devoting itself to them. Because of the biographies of counts and princes of the House of Hohenlohe, their wives and children and because of the copper engraved portraits they are valuable sources on the history of the House of Hohenlohe. Servants and other servants of Highloh courts are also documented by them, as are friends, relatives and neighboring nobles. The materials about funeral ceremonies at Highloh courts, which contain some of the collected funeral sermons, touch on Highloh cultural history. The funeral sermons show the social circle that was involved in the funeral ceremonies in an exposed way. Literature: Rudolf Lenz: Leichenpredigten als Quelle historischer Wissenschaften, 3 vol., Cologne Vienna 1975-1984, especially: Rudolf Lenz: Gedruckte Leichenpredigten, vol. 1, p. 36 ff. 2. Zur Bearbeitung des Bestandes: As part of a project of the Historical Commission that also included sermons on corpses of other archives and libraries, Dr. Elisabeth Zimmermann recorded the Neuenstein sermons for the first time between summer 1948 and summer 1949. The drawing was done according to the model of Stollberg's catalogue and was comparatively detailed. The result was a card index, which was incomplete at the beginning of the 70s (when the Hohenlohe Central Archive was taken over by the state). The stock had become considerably disordered. In the meantime, further Hohenlohische archives had been relocated to Neuenstein, whose sermons on corpses were also to be integrated into the collection. As a result, the size of the collection had increased considerably. In 1987 the employee Fritz Kempt began a new indexing under the guidance of Oberarchivrat Dr. Moegle-Hofacker, which took into account the entire material at hand. The title recordings were largely completed by Kempt until his retirement in December 1988. The final work including the editing of the find book was done by the undersigned in winter 1994/95. In the present find book the sermons of the corpses are described according to the following scheme. In the upper right corner, the relevant lift-out number for storage in the magazine is indicated. If this is marked with an asterisk (), several copies are available which are listed as duplicates at the end of the description. Alternatively, a duplicate can also be used. The excavation number can be divided into 6, 6 a and 6 b or 6.1 and 6.2. In such a number assignment there should normally be two funeral sermons bound together to form a volume. Bold highlighted, the excavation number is followed by the order number relevant for the arrangement in the finding aid book and then the name of the deceased person as the most important information, as this is used to classify the funeral sermon. As far as known, the "personal data" are added in a separate block: Birth name, Date and place of birth, date and place of death, funeral dates, marriage date, spouse, place of marriage and details of status, occupation, offices and memberships. The second block contains the data for the funeral sermon. This includes the presignature, all sermons for the corpse in the narrower sense (i.e. sermons for the funeral service, burial and other funeral ceremonies) with details of the author and, if applicable, the Bible quotation used. It also contains information on other components of the funeral sermon such as personalia (curriculum vitae), epicedia with information on the authors, copper engravings with picture descriptions, painters and engravers, notes, coats of arms and information on the print and scope of the script. At the end of this block there may be references to literature (autobiographies, lists of writings, etc.). The duplicates may be listed in a third block. The characterization of the persons involved in the creation of the funeral sermons, i.e. the authors of sermons or Epicedia or the artists, is usually taken from the funeral sermon and refers to the time at which it was written. The designations of their functions have sometimes been modernised, especially in Part I. In the second part, which comprises various regions of the former empire, the functional designations are often reproduced as in the sermon on the corpse (abbreviated), since the dissolution and modernization would have required too much special knowledge. The order of the sermons was according to the three groups: Hohenlohe, other aristocrats and commoners. Within these groups, the name alphabet is authoritative. The classification is determined by the name that the person used when he or she died. Married daughters from the Hohenlohe family are therefore no longer to be found under Hohenlohe. However, such references are taken into account in the index by means of references. For emperors and kings the first name is decisive for the classification, for other aristocrats the sex name. The order of the index cannot agree with the storage order for several reasons. Some funeral sermons are bound together with others to form thick volumes, the format of the funeral sermons changes too often. The collection shall also be kept open for further access. Therefore the storage in the magazine takes place according to numerus currens. The stock, which received the designation "GA 90 Leichenpredigten", comprises 2098 volumes in 17.5 linear metres. m.The files in the relevant stocks are to be consulted about funeral ceremonies in the house Hohenlohe beside the funeral sermons also, which can contain also funeral sermons or parts of it.Neuenstein, in December 1996Dr. Schiffer