Find aids: Find book around 1900 (online searchable), partly unexcavated inventory information: After the Anhalt division of 1603/06, the newly formed principalities of Bernburg, Dessau, Köthen and Zerbst developed their own archives in their respective residences. In Köthen, an archive was set up in the palace, which still contained required files from the Anhalt Complete Archive, correspondence and private documents of the Anhalt-Köthen line as well as the court and state authorities of the Köthen part of the country. After the extinction of the Zerbst, Köthen and Bernburg lines in 1863, the country was unified into a duchy. From 1872 onwards, the archives of the Anhalt princes and duchies were brought together in Zerbst Palace to form the "Anhalt House and State Archives", which were preserved in their entirety as separate holdings - the so-called "Departments" of Dessau, Köthen and Bernburg - but which were subdivided into a uniform subject scheme irrespective of their provenance. The "Departments" included, among other things, the files of the highest and upper state authorities, the offices/justice offices and city courts as well as special authorities from about 1606 until the administrative cut after the revolution of 1848 in Anhalt, partly also beyond that. For some of these authorities, provenance inventories have also been handed down. During the Second World War, for security reasons, numerous holdings of the Anhaltisches Staatsarchiv Zerbst, including the archives of the Köthen Department, were relocated to other locations. A not inconsiderable number of these files have been lost or are considered lost since the end of the war. Occasionally, the present stock is also affected. Additional information: The stock was filmed as part of the GDR backup filming (so-called Fercher films). Included cards: 12

Find aids: Find book around 1900 (online searchable), partly unexcavated inventory information: After the Anhalt division of 1603/06, the newly formed principalities of Bernburg, Dessau, Köthen and Zerbst developed their own archives in their respective residences. In Bernburg, a "main archive" was set up in the palace, which contained the files still needed from the Anhalt General Archives, correspondence and private documents from the Anhalt-Bernburg line as well as from the court and state authorities of the Bernburg region. After the extinction of the Zerbst, Köthen and Bernburg lines in 1863, the country was unified into a duchy. In the years 1872 to 1875, the archives of the Anhalt princes and duchies were merged in Zerbst Palace to form the "Anhalt House and State Archives", which were preserved in their entirety as separate holdings - the so-called "Departments" of Dessau, Köthen and Bernburg - but which were subdivided into a uniform subject scheme irrespective of their provenance. This order could not be implemented for the Anhalt-Zerbster stocks. The "Departments" included, among other things, the files of the highest and upper state authorities, the offices/justice offices and city courts as well as special authorities from about 1606 until the administrative cut after the revolution of 1848 in Anhalt, partly also beyond that. For some of these authorities, provenance inventories have also been handed down. During the Second World War, for security reasons, numerous holdings of the Anhaltisches Staatsarchiv Zerbst, including the archives of the Bernburg Department, were relocated to other locations. A not inconsiderable number of these files have been lost or are considered lost since the end of the war. This applies in particular to the present stock, since the classification groups C 3 to C 8 belong entirely to these war losses. Additional information: A large part of the stock was filmed as part of the GDR backup filming (so-called Fercher films). Included cards: 20