Leaflets, pamphlets, invitations, programmes, commemorative publications, newspapers, articles, disputes, memoranda, speeches, occasional poems - each unique - about Cologne, its past and history. I. Imperial city; Icewalk from 1784, funeral service for Emperor Leopold II, Imperial Post Office in Cologne, pamphlet of the evangelicals against mayor and council in Cologne (Wetzlar 1715), municipal lottery, occasional poems for weddings, individual personalities (Jan von Werth, Frhr. Theodor Steffan von Neuhoff); II. Time of the French occupation 1794-1815: opening of the Protestant church (1802), educational affairs (Collége de Cologne, Université), Heshuisian inheritance, secularization, Peace of Tilsit, election of the department 1804; assignates, dentists, liberation wars; successor society of the society at Wirz, Neumarkt (1813); III. Prussian period (1815-1945): Visit of members of the Prussian royal house, imperial birthday celebrations, cathedral, cathedral building, cathedral completion celebration 1880, cathedral building association; Hohenzollern bridge, southern bridge, monument to Friedrich Wilhelm III, Laying of the foundation stone of the Rhine. Appellhofs (1824), building festival for the town hall (1913), town hall, provost's house at St. Maria ad Gradus; suburbs (terrain in Marienburg, parish St. Marien, Kalk: Fabriken, Arbeiter, 1903); travel brochures, city maps, articles on Cologne for tourism; commemorative and public holidays; revolution 1848; parties, elections (centre, liberal parties, social democratic party); Reichstag elections, city elections; city announcements/publications, decrees concerning the city of Cologne. Debt management (1824), rules of procedure of the city council, census, distribution of business in the administration; announcements of the news office; general comptoir or table calendar 1814-1829 (incomplete); programmes of the Konzertgesellschaft Köln and the Gürzenich concerts (1849-1933); programmes of the chamber music concerts (1897-1914); programmes of the Musikalische Gesellschaft (1900-1916), music festivals, etc. Lower Rhine Music Festivals (1844-1910); Cologne Theater Almanach (1904-1908), City Theater, Schauspielhaus, including program booklets and leaflets; Theater Millowitsch; musical performances at celebrations and festivals, concert programs; Cologne Arts and Crafts Association (Annual Report 1912); Rheinisch-Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv: Statutes, Rules of Procedure 1907; Exhibitions, etc. Art in Cologne private possession (1916), Carstan's Panoptikum (1888), German Art Exhibition, Cologne 1906, Deutsche Werkbund-Ausstellung 1914, Exhibition for War Welfare Cologne 1916; Handelshochschule Köln; university courses in Brussels (1918); Women's university studies for social professions (1916/17); music conservatory (1913); grammar schools, further education schools, elementary schools, weaving school in Mülheim, Waldschulhof Brück (1917), elementary school teachers' seminar; scientific conferences: 43. Meeting of German Philologists and Schoolmen 1895, IX. Annual meeting of the Association of Bathing Professionals 1910, 12th Association Day of the Association of German Professional Fire Brigades 1912; occasional poems for family celebrations, weddings; associations; programmes, membership cards, diplomas, statutes of health insurance funds and death funds; Catholic Church: associations, parishes, saints and patrons; Protestant Church: religious service order or Death ceremonies for the chief president Count Solms-Laubach (1822), for Moritz Bölling (1824); inauguration of the new synagogue, Glockengasse (1861); military: regimental celebrations, forbidden streets and restaurants (before 1914); memorandums about the garrison Cologne (1818); food supply in the First World War: food stamps, bread and commodity books, ration coupons and forms, etc.a. for coal purchasing; Einkaufs-Gesellschaft Rhein-Mosel m. b. H.Economy: Stadtsparkasse, cattle market in Cologne, stock exchange, beer price increase 1911; individual commercial enterprises, commercial and business buildings, hotels: brochures, letterheads, advertising cards and leaflets, price lists, statutes; shipping: Rhine shipping regulations, timetables, price lists, memorandums; main post office building, inauguration 1893; Rheinische Eisenbahn, Köln-Gießener Eisenbahn; German-French War 1870/71; First World War, etc.a. Leaflets, war loans, field letters, war poems; cruisers "Cologne"; natural disasters: Rhine floods, railway accident in Mülheim in 1910, hurricanes; social affairs: charity fair, asylum for male homeless people, possibly home for working young girls, invalidity and old-age insurance; St. Marien-Hospital; Sports: clubs, sports facilities, gymnastics festivals; Carnival: programs, carnival newspapers, - songs, - poems; celebrations, ceremonies for imperial birthdays, enthronements of archbishops, celebrations of other personalities; IV. Weimar Republic and National Socialism: floods; churches, treasure chambers; cathedral; individual buildings, monuments, including the old town, town hall, Gürzenich, Haus zum großen Rosendal, Mühlengasse; Revolution 1918: workers' and soldiers' council; gifts, honorary citizenship to NS greats; hanged forced laborers; bank robber Gebrüder Heidger (1928); municipal and other official publications concerning the Weimar Republic and National Socialism. Luftschutz, NSRechtsbetreuungsstelle; Newsletter of the Welfare Office 1937, 1938; Kameradschaftsdienst der Verwaltung für Wirtschaftsfürsorge, Jugendpflege und Sport 1940, 1943, 1944; Müllabfuhr und Müllverwertungsanstalt, Wirtschaftspolitik, Industrieansiedlung, Eingemeindung von Worringen, Erweiterung des Stadtgebiets; political parties: Advertising flyers for elections, pins, badges of DNVP, NSDAP, SPD, centre; camouflage letters of the KPD; appeals, rallies of various political groups, including the Reich Committee for the German Referendum (against the Young Plan, 1929), Reich Presidential Election, referendum in the Saar region, Working Committee of German Associations (against the Treaty of Versailles); Municipal Stages: Periodical "Die Tribüne", 1929-1940, annual reports 1939-1944, programme and cast sheets for performances in the opera house and the Schauspielhaus, also in the Kammerspiele; Lower Rhine music festivals; galleries (Dr. Becker, Goyert), Kölnischer Kunstverein: Invitations to exhibitions (1934-1938), circulars to members; art auctions at Fa. Math. Lempertz (1925-1931); music performances, concerts: Kölner Männer-Gesang-Verein, municipal orchestra, concerts of young artists, Concert Society Cologne; Millennium Exhibition 1925; museums: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Kunstgewerbemuseum (among others monuments of old Russian painting, 1929), Schnütgen-Museum, art exhibitions, among others. Arno Breker (NSDAP-Gaupropaganda-Amt Gau Köln-Aachen), exhibition of works by West German artists (Deutsche Arbeitsfront), Richard Seewald, Deutscher Künstlerbund, Ausstellungsgemeinschaft Kölner Maler; universities, including the University of Cologne (lecture timetables, new building, anniversary 1938), Hochschule für Musik bzw. Conservatory of Music in Cologne; Reich activity reports of the foreign office of the lecturers of the German universities and colleges (1939-1942); Lower Rhine music festivals; scientific and cultural institutions and events and events in the region.a. Petrarca-Haus, German-Italian Cultural Institute, Volksbildungsstätte Köln, German-Dutch Institute, Cologne Meisterschule, Vereinigung für rechts- und staatswissenschaftliche Fortbildung in Köln, Austrian Weeks, Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur e.V.Conferences (Westdeutscher Archivtag 1939, Deutsche Anthropologische Gesellschaft 1927, Rheinische Siedlungstage 1925, Conference for Monument Conservation and Cultural Heritage Protection, Grenzland-Kundgebung der Beamten der Westmark, Cologne 1933, Internationaler Brieftauben-Züchter- Kongress (IBRA) 1939; Schools: Invitations, Testimonials Concerning the German Anthropological Society 1927, Rheinische Siedlungstage 1925, Conference for the Preservation of Monuments and Cultural Heritage, Borderland Demonstration of the Officials of the Westmark, Cologne 1933, Internationaler Brieftauben-Züchter-Kongreß (IBRA) 1939; Schools: Invitations, Testimonials Concerning the German Anthropological Society 1927, Rheinische Siedlungstagestage 1925, Conference for the Preservation of Monuments and Cultural Heritage, Borderland Demonstration of the Officials of the Westmark, Cologne 1933, International Brieftauben Congress (IBRA) 1939) Elementary schools, vocational schools, grammar schools; Sports: Vaterländische Festspiele 1924, Zweckverband für Leibesübungen Groß-Köln, 14th German Gymnastics Festival 1928, II German Fighting Games 1926, Leichtathletik-Welt- und Länderkämpfe, Westdeutscher Spielverband, Hockey-Damen-Länderspiel Deutschland- Australien 1930, Excelsior-Club Köln e.V., XII. Bannerspiele der weiblichen Jugend der Rheinprovinz 1926; Catholic Church (official announcements and publications, e.g. Kirchlicher Anzeiger für die Erzdiözese Köln; pamphlets; programme, prayer slips); British occupation, French colonial troops in the Rhineland, identity cards, passports; British World War I pamphlets; Liberation celebration in Cologne 1926; Second World War: appeals, leaflets concerning the Second World War; information leaflets concerning the Second World War: "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution", "The German Revolution". Air raids, defence, low-flying combat, darkening, etc.; newspaper articles about air raids on Cologne; advertising: leaflets, leaflets of the advertising office, the Cologne Week publishing house and the Cologne Tourist Association for Cologne, including the surrounding area and the Rhine Valley; invitations, menus to receptions and meals of the Lord Mayor Adenauer (1927-1929); pay slips, work certificates, work books of Cologne companies; Cologne Trade Fair: Programmes, brochures, adhesive stamps, catalogues for trade fairs and exhibitions (1924-1933); food stamps and cards for World War I; announcements; clothing cards, basic cards for normal consumers for World War II; vouchers for the city of Cologne (emergency money) from 1920-1923, anniversary vouchers for Gewerbebank eGmbH Köln-Mülheim, also for Dellbrücker Volksbank eGmbH; savings banks: Annual reports of the Sparkasse der Hansestadt Köln; documents, savings books of the Spar- und Darlehnskasse Köln-Dünnwald, the Kreissparkasse des Landkreises Köln, Bergheim und Mülheim, also the branch Köln-Worringen, the Bank des Rheinischen Bankverein/Rheinischen Bauernbank; Köln-Bonner-Eisenbahnen: Annual reports, balance sheets (1939-1941); trams: Annual Report, Annual Report (1939, 1940), Ticket; Köln-Frechen-Benzelrather Eisenbahn: Tariffs; Shipping: Preussisch-Rheinische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft zu Köln, Dampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft für den Nieder- und Mittelrhein zu Düsseldorf (Annual Reports 1938-1940), Köln- Düsseldorfer Rheindampfschiffahrt, Weber-Schiff (Timetables); Kraftverkehr Wupper-Sieg AG, Wipperfürth (Annual Reports 1939, 1940, Advertising Brochure 1937); Advertising brochure of the Airport Administration Cologne (1929); Individual Companies: House announcements, advertising leaflets, cards, brochures, adhesive stamps, receipts from industrial companies (Ford Motor Company AG, Glanzstoff- Courtaulds GmbH, Herbig-Haarhaus, department stores). Department store Carl Peters, insurance companies, newspapers, publishing houses, bookstores, craft businesses, shops (tobacco shops); Cologne bridges (Mülheimer bridge), post office, restaurants, hotels; invitations to festivals, events, anniversaries of associations, programmes; professional associations; cooperatives (Cologne-Lindenthal cooperative savings and building association (1930-1938); social affairs: Cologne emergency aid, housing assistance, sending of children (mostly official printed matter); collecting cards from Cologne and other companies, above all from the food and luxury food industries, such as coffee and tobacco companies, etc.a. the companies Haus Neuerburg, Himmelreich Kaffee, Stollwerk AG, König

The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) is one of the largest "robbery organisations" of the "Third Reich". Equipped with the authority to "secure" material in the occupied territories for the fight against the "ideological opponents" of National Socialism, he brought countless books, documents and other cultural assets from the possession of libraries, institutes, archives, private individuals, etc. into his hands in the occupied western and eastern territories; in addition, he was actively involved in art theft. The evaluation of the cultural property to be captured and secured by the ERR was to be carried out by the "Hohe Schule" or the "Institut zur Erforschung der Judenfrage" in Frankfurt, at least as far as research on the "Jewish question" could be useful, to which even "materials" of an incommensurable scope were then directed. The haste with which the "seizures" had to be made within a few years or months in areas often far from the borders of the German Reich, made final decisions about the whereabouts of the captured property, especially in the territory of the Soviet Union, at most theoretically visible; in its mass it remained in the territories cleared by German troops. In addition to the Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question, the East Library and the Central Library of Rosenberg in Berlin were the main places of reception, apparently for material on the "Study of Bolshevism". There were also numerous other recipients, such as the Wehrmacht (for entertainment literature, but also for "military files and archive material" from the occupied Eastern territories, which had to be handed over to the Danzig branch of the Army Archives). The following decrees are the basis for the establishment and mission of the task force: Führererlass of 29.1.1940 concerning the establishment of the "Hohe Schule": The Hohe Schule is to become the central site of National Socialist research, teaching and education. Their construction will take place after the war. However, in order to promote the preparations that have begun, I order Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg to continue this preparatory work - especially in the field of research and the establishment of the library. The services of the Party and the State shall give him every assistance in this work. Decree of the chief of the OKW of 4.7.1940 to the commander-in-chief of the army and the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht in the Netherlands: Reichsleiter Rosenberg has applied to the Führer: 1. to search the state libraries and archives for writings of value to Germany, 2. to search the chancelleries of the high church authorities and lodges for political actions directed against us, and to confiscate the material in question. The Führer has ordered that this proposal be complied with and that the Secret State Police - supported by archivists of the Reichsleiter Rosenberg - be entrusted with the investigation. The head of the security police, SS-Gruppenführer Heydrich, has been notified; he will contact the responsible military commanders for the purpose of executing the order. This measure will be implemented in all the territories we occupy in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. It is requested to inform the subordinate services. Order of the chief of the OKW of 17.9.1940: To the commander-in-chief of the army for the military administration in occupied France In addition to the s.Zt. The Führer has decided, on the basis of the instructions given by the Führer to Reichsleiter Rosenberg to search lodges, libraries and archives in the occupied territories of the West for material of value to Germany and to secure it through the Gestapo: "The conditions before the war in France and before the declaration of war on 1.9.1939 are decisive for the possessions. After this deadline, transfers of ownership to the French Reichsleiter Rosenberg have been completed. State or the like are void and legally ineffective (e.g. Polish and Slovak library in Paris, holdings of the Palais Rothschild and other abandoned Jewish property). Reservations regarding search, seizure and removal to Germany on the basis of such objections shall not be accepted. Reichsleiter Rosenberg or his representative Reichshauptstellenleiter Ebert has clear instructions from the Führer personally regarding the right of access. He is authorised to transport the cultural goods that appear valuable to him to Germany and to secure them here. The Führer has reserved the right to decide on their use. It is requested that the relevant military commanders or services be instructed accordingly. Führer decree of 1.3.1942: Jews, Freemasons and the ideological opponents of National Socialism allied with them are the authors of the present war directed against the Reich. The systematic spiritual combat of these powers is a task necessary for war. I have therefore commissioned Reichsleiter Rosenberg to carry out this task in agreement with the head of the OKW. Its task force for the occupied territories has the right to investigate libraries, archives, lodges and other ideological and cultural institutions of all kinds for corresponding material and to seize it for the ideological tasks of the NSDAP and the later scientific research projects of the high school. The same regulation applies to cultural objects which are in the possession or property of Jews, of stray origin or of origin which cannot be clarified unobjectionably. The implementing regulations for cooperation with the Wehrmacht are issued by the head of the OKW in agreement with Reichsleiter Rosenberg. The necessary measures within the Eastern territories under German administration are taken by Reichsleiter Rosenberg in his capacity as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. For a short time the full name of the office was "Einsatzstab der Dienststellen des Reichsleiters Rosenberg für die besetzten westlichen Gebiete und die Niederlande", then "Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg für die besetzten Gebiete". The addition "for the occupied territories" was omitted according to the order of the Joint Staff Committee of 17.11.1944. The headquarters of the Joint Staff Committee was initially Paris. The expansion of the tasks made it necessary to relocate her to Berlin, where she temporarily stayed in the office building at Margarethenstrasse 17. The later office in Berlin, Bismarckstraße 1, was destroyed by an air raid. Organisation and structure: The structure of the ERR consisted in its main features of staff management, main working groups and working groups (set up regionally), occasionally also special detachments, branch offices, etc. The ERR was structured in such a way that it was able to provide a clear overview of the various departments. In addition, there were special staffs which were mainly charged with the "recording of cultural assets", which took place in constant collision with the equal interests of other authorities, such as the Reich Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda (in France with regard to the recording of musical works, musical manuscripts and instruments by the Special Staff for Music) and the Reichsführer-SS (for example with regard to the recording of prehistory and early history). The organisation and distribution of responsibilities of the staff management were adapted to the respective tasks of the ERR institution, which were constantly expanding until 1943 and have been changing ever since. The constant change of tasks, organisation and personnel conditions became a principle for the large number of the departments themselves active in the "worked" areas, which were also completely dependent on the politico-military and administrative conditions in these areas, caused by the respective military, civil or national administrations, and not least by the perpetual conflicts of competence of the party and imperial authorities touching or fighting each other in their areas of interest and ambitions. The development of the ERR began in France with the institution "Einsatzstab Westen" under the leadership of Kurt von Behr. Soon the "Westen" task force was divided into three independent main working groups: France (Paris), Belgium and Northern France (Brussels), Netherlands (Amsterdam). At the same time, V. Behr was the head of the Western Office, which was responsible for securing furnishings for the occupied eastern territories, the so-called M Action. This office was in itself "detached" to the East Ministry; according to Rosenberg's order of 24.11.1944, it was "taken back" to the task force. In the first half of 1944, both the M campaign and the "art collection campaign" were extended to southern France. Probably related to this is the establishment of the South of France Working Group, which finally set up a branch office in Nice and an external command in Marseilles. From the very beginning of its activity in France, the ERR had not confined itself to securing only material from libraries, archives, etc. for the "ideological struggle". He also began to collect and secure art treasures and thus entered into a certain competition with the actions carried out on behalf of Hitler ("Linz" Führer order) and Göring as well as with the art protection carried out by the military commander. Institutionally, he created a special task force "Fine Arts" (SBK) for this task, to which the collection points for fine arts in the Louvre and Jeu de Paume belonged. The Special Staff was only responsible for securing and inventorying the objects of art; the right of disposal over the objects of art - including those seized by the Office of the West in the course of the M Action and handed over to the Special Staff - had been reserved to the "Führer", a demand that was later extended to all works of art "that were or will be confiscated by German authorities in the territories occupied by German troops". The SBK maintained its activity in France to a certain extent until its dissolution. The struggle for responsibility for seized works of art continued until the end of the war, up to and including issues of relocation to Germany (Führer construction and salvage sites such as Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee, etc.) and ultimately works of art to be seized in Austrian mines (Alt-Aussee). The activities of the Italian working group are described in the report of its leader of 28.8.1944 as follows: "The procurement of material on the activities of ideological opponents will continue to be at the forefront of our work in Italy. In the form of translations, reports and evaluation work, this material is prepared by AG Italy and forwarded to the management. At the beginning of 1941, the ERR extended its activities to the Balkans and further to Greece. A Sonderkommando Greece was formed, which was dissolved in 1941. A Sonderkommando Saloniki is still provable until 1942. ERR services were also established in 1941 in Serbia - Special Staff of the Commanding General and Commander of Serbia, an Agram Liaison Office and a Belgrade Liaison Office for the Yugoslav Territories. Efforts to gain a foothold in Hungary failed apparently because of the resistance or influence of the envoy Dr. Veesenmayer. Later, a main working group for the southeast (Belgrade) can be proved, which was formed with effect from 15 February 1944 from the working group for the southeast, which in turn could have originated from the command "Southeast", proven for 1942, which was transferred from Belgrade to Thessaloniki on 10 July 1942. In Denmark, the ERR established a service in Copenhagen. Any approach to "profitable" activity was soon nullified by Dr. Best, representative of the German Reich in Denmark: "Confiscation in the style of the other occupied territories would never come into question". Immediately after his appointment as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories (RMbO), Rosenberg began to direct the initiative of his task force to the eastern territories as well. On April 2, 1941, Rosenberg had already conceived a Führer's order to instruct him "to carry out the same tasks as in the occupied western territories in all the countries occupied or still occupied by the German Wehrmacht within the framework of this war". Until the Führer's order of 1 March 1942 was issued, Rosenberg referred to "the orders issued by the Führer for the West and the tasks carried out in the Western territories by the departments of Art, Archive and Library Protection within the framework of military administration". Rosenberg's guidelines on the protection of cultural assets for "research into the activities of opponents of National Socialism and for National Socialist research" were issued to the Reichskommissariate Ostland and Ukraine on 20.8.1941 and 3.10.1941 respectively. By decree of 27.4.In 1942 Rosenberg finally commissioned the RKO and RKU as the RMbO to once again expressly "commission the ERR for the occupied Eastern territories with the recording and uniform processing of cultural assets, research material and scientific institutions from libraries, museums, etc.", which are found in public, ecclesiastical or private spaces". With the same decree, a central office was founded for the collection and recovery of cultural assets in the occupied Eastern territories. A special department for the collection and recovery of cultural assets was set up at the Reichskommissariaten (Imperial Commissionariats), whose leadership was entrusted to the head of the responsible main working group. For the two Reichskommissariate the main working group Ostland (Riga) with the working groups existed at first: Estonia (Reval), Lithuania (Vilnius), Latvia (Riga), White Ruthenia (Minsk) and the main working group Ukraine (Kiev, later Bialystok). With effect from 1.5.1943 the AG Weißruthenien was elevated to the main working group Mitte. In all HAG areas, in addition to the working groups, mobile staffs, known as "Sonderkommandos" or "Außenstellen", whose activities extended as far as the Crimea and the Caucasus region, worked directly under their command or under the command of the staff. The special staffs included, among others "Sonderstab Bildende Kunst", "Sonderstab Vorgeschichte", "Sonderstab Archive", "Sonderstab Sippenkunde", "Sonderstab Wissenschaft", "Sonderstab Volkskunde", "Sonderstab Presse" (founded 1944), "Sonderstab Dr. Abb", "Sonderstab Musik", "Sonderstab Zentralbibliothek" of the "Hohen Schule" (ZBHS), "Sonderstab weltanschauliche Information in Berlin". Structure of the staff leadership 1942 Staff leader: Utikal deputy: Ebeling 1st Division Organisation: Langkopf Group Indoor Service Group Human Resources Group Procurement Group Readiness to drive 2nd Division West and Southeast: by Ingram Group Planning Group Report 3rd Division East: Dr. Will Group Planning Group Report 4th Division Evaluation: Dr. Brethauer; Deputy: Dr. Wunder; from 1.11.1942: Lommatzsch Group General Group Library Group Inventory Group Photograph 5 Dept. Special Tasks: Rehbock Structure of the staff leadership 1944 Staff leader: Utikal representative: The senior head of department department I (head of department I: SEF Rehbock; head of department z.b.V.: SEF Brethauer) group I/1 personal adviser of the chief of staff: Rehbock group I/2 mob- and locksmith matters: Rehbock Group I/3 Personal Representative of the Chief of Staff for the Art Recording Action and Head of the Louvre Working Group: Rehbock Group I/4 Defense Representative of the Operational Staff: HEF Braune Group I/5 Procurement, Courier Service, Supply: OEF Jach Group I/6 Publications: HEF Tenschert Group I/7 Special Reports: EF Tost Division II (Head of Division: OSEF Dr. Will; Deputy: SEF Dr. Zeiß) Division IIa: Western Division, covering France, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Southeast: SEF Dr. Zeiß Division IIb: Division East, covering the occupied territories of the Soviet Union: OSEF Dr. Will Division III (Head of Division: SEF Zölffel) Division IIIa: SEF Zölffel Group III/1 Legal Affairs, Orders and Communications: SEF Zölffel Gruppe III/2 Wehrmachttfragen, Marschpapiere, Veranstaltungen, Marketenderei: HEF Gummert Abteilung IIIb: HEF Webendoerfer Gruppe III/3 Personal: HEF Sklaschus Gruppe III/4 Business Distribution: HEF Webendoerfer Gruppe III/5 Registratur: OEF Hechler Hauptabteilung IV (Head of Department: OSEF Dr. Wunder; Deputy: SEF Lommatzsch) Translation Office: OEF Dr. Benrath Gruppe IV/1 Archiv: HEF Dr. Mücke Group IV/3 Material preparation: HEF Reichardt Group IV/4 Evaluation by scientists: HEF Rudolph Group IV/5 Book control centre: HEF Ruhbaum Group IV/6 East Library: HEF Dr. Müller Abbreviations DBFU The commander's representative for the supervision of the entire intellectual and ideological training and education of the NSDAP EF Einsatzführer ERR Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg HAG Hauptarbeitsgruppe HEF Haupteinsatzführer IMT Internationales Militärtribunal MTS Maschinen-Traktoren-Station NKWD Volkskommissariat für Innere Angelegenheiten NSDAP National Socialist German Workers' Party NSPO National Socialist Party Organization OEF Upper Operations Leader OKH Army High Command OKW Wehrmacht High Command OSEF Wehrmacht Upper Staff Operations Leader RKO Reichskommissar für das Ostland RKU Reichskommissar für die Ukraine RMbO Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete SEF Stabseinsatzführer WKP (b) Communistische Partei der Sovietunion ZbV zur besonderen Verwendung Inventory description: Inventory history In the 1960s, scattered files of the ERR were brought into the Federal Archives, with various returns of written material from the USA and predominantly in association with other provenances from the Rosenberg business area as well as with individual levies from the Rehse Collection, which were formed into an inventory there. Most of these files are written documents which were last found in the alternative office of the ERR in Ratibor. A part of the staff and the management of the Ostbücherei with large stocks of books were evacuated from Berlin to there. The remains of documents rescued by the members of the HAG Ostland, Ukraine and White Ruthenia were also recorded in Ratibor. The preserved files should come from holdings that were moved from Ratibor to the west. Subsequent additions to the holdings were mainly made by levies from the military archives, by re-enlargements of microfilms from the YIVO Institute, New York, by late recorded files from American repatriation, by three volumes from the dissolved holdings of the Rosenberg offices of the Central State Archives of the GDR (62 Tue 1) and by personal documents from the so-called "NS Archive of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR". The documents preserved at the end of the war and accessible to the Western Allies were used as evidence for the IMT process. The essential components were then left to the Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine (CDJC), Paris. ERR documents can also be found today in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, in the YIVO Institute for Jewish Reserch, Washington, and in the Nederlands Instituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (NIOD), Amsterdam. Documents from Rosenberg offices also reached archives of the former Soviet Union. An extensive collection (especially the provenance ERR) is kept in the Tsentral`nyi derzhavnyi arhiv vyshchykh orhaniv vlady ta upravlinnia Ukraïny (TsDAVO Ukraïny) in Kiev, further files in the Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi voennyi arkhiv (RGVA) in Moscow and in the Lithuanian Central State Archives, Vilnius. The Federal Archives, Bildarchiv, holds an extensive collection of photographs from the ERR (holdings Fig. 131). Inventories, directories and transport lists by the ERR of "seized objects" are contained in the holdings of B 323 Treuhandverwaltung von Kulturgut. Archive processing The NS 30 collection is a conglomerate of scattered files and individual documents. In the interest of rapid utilisation, the documents were recorded provisionally without costly evaluation and administrative work. Mrs. Elisabeth Kinder produced the preliminary finding aid book in 1968, from which essential elements of this introduction are taken. The "new entries" were recorded by the undersigned in 2003/2004. Citation method BArch NS 30/ .... State of development: Findbuch (1968/2005), Online-Findbuch (2004). Citation style: BArch, NS 30/...

Minutes of the following sessions:<br />Section for the Fine Arts, Senate and Cooperative (Participants in varying composition: Alexander Amersdorffer, German Bestelmeyer, Wilhelm v. Bode, Peter Breuer, Adolf Brütt, Otto H. Engel, Reinhold Felderhoff, Philipp Franck, Richard Friese, August Gaul, Hans Herrmann, Ernst Herter, Hildebrand, Ludwig Hoffmann, Hermann Hosaeus, Oskar Hossfeld, Ulrich Hübner, Julius Jacob, Louis Jacoby, Gerhard Janensch, Ludwig Justi, Friedrich Kallmorgen, Arthur Kampf, Heinrich Kayser, Conrad Kiesel, Fritz Klimsch, Georg Koch, Karl Koepping, Max Kruse, Hugo Lederer, Max Liebermann, Hans Looschen, Ludwig Manzel, Meyer, Paul Meyerheim, Ernst Pfannschmidt, Bruno Paul, Fritz Schaper, Schmidt, Franz Schmitz, Walter Schott, Rudolf Schulte at Court, Raffael Schuster-Woldan, Franz Schwechten, Heinrich Seeling, Paul Seidel, Max Slevogt, Constantin Starck, Louis Tuaillon, August Vogel, Hugo Vogel, Anton v. Werner):<br />7 Jan. 1914 (Senate): Introduction of Ulrich Hübner into the Senate; changed award conditions for the Grand State Prize, copy of the ministerial decree of Dec. 9, 1914. 1913; confiscation of postcards with illustrations of sculptural works of art; approval of the elections of the Senate for the Landeskunstkommission; allocation of the surplus of the Great Berlin Art Exhibition to the Kunstausstellungsgelderfonds; award of the title of professor to Ulrich Hübner, Max Uth, Adolf Meyer and Hugo Ungewitter (Bl. 1).<br />30 Jan. 1914 (Senate): Bericht über den Aquarellmaler Max Fritz (Bl. 4).<br />18. Febr. 1914 (Senate): Approval of the proposal list for invitations to the next member exhibition, the proposed collective exhibitions and the inclusion of a small collection of works by the late sculptor Ignatius Taschner; draft regulations for academy exhibitions; Advice on the approval of a Martersteig memorial exhibition and an international exhibition by the Association of Artists and Art Friends; application for the title of professor to the painters Mattschaß, Grotemeyer, Maß and Baurat Seeling; scholarships from the Schmidt-Michelsen-Stiftung for Roloff, Hänsch and Korn (Bl. 5).<br />17 Apr. 1914: Review of the applications for the Grand State Prize; decision on the winners of the State Prize competitions: Painter Paul Plontke, sculptor Otto Placzek, (pp. 8, 10).<br />17 Apr. 1914 (Senate): Assessment of the painter Gustav Richter; award of the title of professor to the sculptors Dammann and Breitkopf-Cosel; election of Heinrich Seeling to the advisory board of experts for the protection of the city of Berlin against defacement; scholarship of the Schmidt-Michelsen-Stiftung for the sculptor Willy Kluck; quarterly award of the studios in Rome (pp. 8, 10). 12).<br />19 May 1914 (Senate): Assessment of the painters Alfred Stöcke, Grotemeyer, and Bielefeld (p. 15).<br />30 June 1914: Decision on the winner of the Dr.-Ing.Paul Schultze Prize for Sculptor 1914: Joseph Sommer (p. 18).<br />30 June 1914 (Senate): Decision on Scholarships from the Louisa-E.-Wentzelschen Stiftung: painter Erich Feyerabend, sculptor Friedrich Heuler, graphic artist Friedrich Maron, architect Hellmuth Korth (p. 19).<br />13 July 1914 (Senate): Application for the title of professor to sculptor Joseph Limburg, painter Hans am Ende, painter Otto Modersohn; prize assignment for the Dr.-Ing.Paul Schultze Prize 1915; Amersdorffer's expert opinion on the painter and architect Dreßler (page 22).<br />27 Oct. 1914: Decision to transfer the surplus from former Great Berlin Art Exhibitions to the Academic War Aid Fund; Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1915 (page 27).<br />27 Oct. 1914: Decision to transfer the surplus from former Great Berlin Art Exhibitions to the Academic War Aid Fund; Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1915 (page 27).<br />27 Oct. 1914: Decision to transfer the surplus from former Great Berlin Art Exhibitions to the Academic War Aid Fund. 1914 (Senate): Re-election of the vice-president of the Senate Schwechten; reappointment of the head of a master studio for architecture, vacant due to the death of Otzen; consultation on the proposed Friedrich Ostendorf; expert opinion by Engel on the painter Gotthilf Schnee; significance of the Prussian Art Association; Election of Liebermann as deputy of Looschen at the Permanent Deputation for Advertising at the Elders' College of the Berlin Merchants' Association; re-election of Kampf and Meyerheim to the Board of Trustees of the Adolph Menzel Foundation, of Hildebrandt to the Board of Trustees of the Adolf Ginsberg Foundation, of Liebermann to the Board of Trustees of the Dr.-Hermann Günther Foundation; question of an invitation to the Academy competitions for 1915; announcement of decrees of the Ministry of Culture (p. 29).<br />27 Nov. 1914: decision on the prize winner of the Dr.-Ing.Hugo-Raussendorff Prize in 1914, the painter Kurd Albrecht, and the winner of the v. -Rohr Prize 1914, the architect Pohle (p. 29).<br />Dec. 21, 1914: Remembrance of Giovanni Sgambati; spring exhibition 1915; composition of the exhibition commission for the Great Berlin Art Exhibition; Menzel Monument; acceptance of the Fischer and Wentzel-Heckmann Foundations; Schwechtens is elected to the expert advisory board of the city of Berlin; Dagnan-Bouveret and Saint-Saëns leave the academy (p. 29). 31f.).<br />15th Jan. 1915 (cooperative): Commemoration of Rudolf Weyr and Anton v. Werner; deficit of the Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1914; election lists for the elections of members (p. 50).<br />22nd Jan. 1915 (cooperative): election of Ernst Pfannschmidt and Friedrich Oskar Hossfeld as new members (p. 55).<br />12th Febr. 1915 (Genossenschaft): Composition of the admission and arrangement commission for the Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1915; demand for greater competence for the cooperative in the preparation of academic exhibitions (pp. 56-58).<br />17 Febr. 1915 (Senate): Proposals for the succession of the deceased v. Werner as director of the Hochschule für die bildenden Künste: Kampf, Dettmann, Manzel, Kallmorgen; establishment of a commission for reforms of academic teaching (pp. 35, 61).<br />17 Febr. 1915: laureate of the I. Michael-Beer-Prize: painter Berthold Ehrenwerth; no award of the Prize of the II. Michael-Beerschen Stiftung für Kupferstecher (pp. 36, 59).<br />15. March 1915 (Senate): Resolution to award support from the Schmidt-Michelsen-Stiftung to Korn, Brandes, Petrich und Miehe and from the Stadt-Charlottenburg-Stiftung to König und Dahmen (pp. 36, 59). 39, 64).<br />19 March 1915 (cooperative): Introduction of the new members Hossfeld and Pfannschmidt; election of Engel, Meyerheim, Liebermann, Brütt, Seeling and Hoffmann as senate members; discussion and vote on Hoffmann's motion to elect the members of the committee for exhibitions by the cooperative and rejection of 'co-optation' by the senate; motion against the propaganda of the 'Preußischer Kunstverein' (Bl. 65-67).<br />30 Apr. 1915 (Senate): Acceptance of the legacy of Koepping; refusal of the purchase of the v. -Werner portraits of Koner; extension of the register of the master student P. Joseph (Master School Humperdinck); notification of the appointment of Kampf as director of the Hochschule für die bildenden Künste (bl. 41, 73).<br />30 Apr. 1915: adjournment due to lack of quorum (bl. 72).<br />18. May 1915 (cooperative): commemoration of Oskar Frenzel; election of Friedrich Kallmorgen as chairman, of Hans Meyer as deputy chairman (p. 76).<br />4 June 1915 (Senate): entrusting of the committee for academic exhibitions with the submission of proposals for the purchase of works of art; Dr.-Ing.Paul Schultze Prize 1916; election of Franck to the Commission for the Guidance of Questions on the New Regulation of Academic Teaching (pp. 45, 78).<br />11 June 1915: Division of the Dr.-Ing.Paul Schultze Prize 1915: Herbert Garbe and Willy Kluck (pp. 46, 79).<br />16 June 1915: Splitting of the Sheet Metal Prize for Landscape Painters 1915: Erich Feyerabend and Erich Müller; Helfft Prize 1915 for Adolf Harten (pp. 47f., 80f.).<br />23 June 1915 (Senate): Acceptance of the S. -Fischer-Stiftung; list of suggestions for the purchase of works of art (p. 84).<br />28 Oct. 1915 (Senate): Election of Manzel as deputy chairman of the Senate; resolution of an exhibition of war pictures in the Academy; proposals for the purchase of works of art; appointment of Liebermann to the board of trustees of the Adolph Menzel Foundation and the Dr.-Ing.Hermann-Günther-Stiftung, von Hildebrand on the board of trustees of the Adolf-Ginsberg-Stiftung; travel report of the scholarship holder Adolf Harten (p. 93).<br />Dec. 21, 1915: Schmidt-Michelsen prizewinner: Walter Miehe (p. 96).<br />Dec. 11, 1916 (Senate): Introduction of Hans Herrmann; proposal for reoccupation of the v. Werner's master studios: Slevogt, Hugo Vogel, Dettmann; election of Hübner to the board of trustees of the Adolph Menzel Foundation (p. 98). <br /> Feb. 23, 1916 (Senate): support from the Schmidt-Michelsen Foundation for Korn, Douzette, and Brandis; protest against the plan to tax 'living art' through the war profits tax (p. 102).<br />12 May 1916 (Senate): Application to Georg Schmitt, Bennewitz v. Loefen, Max Schlichting, L. Corinth and Felderhoff for the title of professor; submission of Lederer's draft for the university ballot box (page 105).<br />5. July 1916 (Senate): Confirmation of the election of Schwechten as president, of Gernsheim as deputy, re-election of the senators Kallmorgen, Breuer, Kayser and Rüfer; re-election of Kallmorgen and H. Meyer as chairmen and deputies respectively in the Fine Arts Section and of Gernsheim and Rüfer in the Music Section; application for the title of professor to Rudolf Schäfer and Em. Grosser; amendments to the Maeder Foundation's draft statutes; letters of thanks from the Singakademie and Herter (p. 110).<br />Oct. 2 1916 (Senate): Election of Manzel as deputy chairman of the Senate; takeover of the composition of a cantata by Kahn for the emperor's birthday celebration in 1917, speech by Krebs; Max Bernhardt rejects the leadership of the Lippe-Detmoldschen professor title; re-election of Hübner and Liebermann to the board of trustees of the Adolph Menzel Foundation, of Hildebrand to the board of trustees of the Adolf Ginsberg Foundation and of Liebermann to the board of trustees of the Dr.-Ginsberg Foundation.Hermann Günther Foundation; examination of a medal of Eue (Bl. 113).<br />27 Nov. 1916 (Senate): confirmation of the election of Schumann as deputy president; rejection of a Bruno Schmitz exhibition; Boese's request for further use of a state studio; election of Kampf instead of Anton v. Werner to the board of trustees of the Emil Wentzel Foundation (Bl. 120).<br />8 Jan. 1917 (Senate): Remembrance of Dücker, Scholz and Rudorff; exhibition rooms for the Federal Foreign Office for the collection 'Deutsches Bauwesen im Kriege'; planning of an Alfred-Rethel exhibition and a second exhibition of war paintings; proposal for the award of a prize to teachers of the teaching institute of the Verein der Künstlerinnen zu Berlin: Siegert, Seeck and Schottmüller; dedication of Richard Müller's war drawings to the Emperor; re-election of Liebermann and Looschen to the Municipal Deputation for Advertising; election of Schwechten to the Advisory Board of Experts of the City of Berlin; acceptance of the Roeder Foundation; amendments to the statutes of the Wentzel-Heckmann Foundation; rejection of the extension of the matricel of the master student Salingré (Bl. 121).<br />Section for Music, Senate and Co-operative (participants in varying composition: Heinrich Barth, Friedrich Gernsheim, Engelbert Humperdinck, Hugo Kaun, Friedrich E. Koch, Carl Krebs, Hermann Kretzschmar, Philipp Rüfer, Philipp Scharwenka, Xaver Scharwenka, Felix Schmidt, Georg Schumann, Max Seiffert, Ernst Eduard Taubert):<br />17 Jan. 1914 (Senate): Application for the title of professor to Schattschneider and Franz Nekes, for the title of music director to Max Kaden, Krantz, Traugott Heinrich, Fritz Panzer and Schneider; Schumann's delegation to the police headquarters for consultations on regulations for the business operations of concert agents; amendments to the statutes of the cooperative of German composers; assessment of the new 'Euphonion' sound system by August Ludwig, composition by Wilhelm Grimm, ballad by Robert Linarz (Bl. 2).<br />21 Febr. 1914 (Senate): Minister's Notices: Instruction to John to shorten his composition, award of the title of Music Director to Kühn, Krelle, Traugott Heinrich, Adolf Göttmann und Ernst Potthof, of the title of Professor to Leo Zellner; Application for the title of Professor to Moritz Bauer, Heidingsfeld, Binder und Max Krause; Complaint to the Ministry about Breitkopf

History of the inventor: Joseph Goebbels, who had already been head of the NSDAP's Reich Propaganda Department since 1929, had certainly developed plans for a Ministry of Propaganda even before the seizure of power.(1) The Reichskabinett (Reich Cabinet) dealt with the issue of the Propaganda Department on 11 September. The arguments for the foundation, which the Reich Chancellor (Hitler) himself presented, sounded extremely harmless ex post and far from future realities: "One of the predominant tasks of this ministry would be the preparation of important acts of government. On the oil and fat issue, for example, which now occupies the cabinet, the people should be enlightened in the direction that the farmer would perish if something were not done to improve the sale of his products. The importance of this matter also for the war measures would have to be pointed out ..." Government action would only begin if the awareness-raising work had taken place and worked for some time. ..."(2) On 16 March 1933, however, Goebbels described the future tasks of his ministry programmatically three days after his appointment in a remarkably open manner in front of press representatives: "If this government is now determined never to give way again, never and under no circumstances, then it need not make use of the dead power of the bayonet, then in the long run it will not be able to be satisfied with knowing 52 percent behind it ..., but it will have to see its next task in winning the remaining 48 percent for itself. This is not only possible through objective work". And about the nature of his propaganda he proclaimed: "Not any aesthete can judge the methods of propaganda. A binding judgment can only be given on the basis of success. For propaganda is not an end in itself, but a means to an end.(3) A timid attempt by Hugenberg to at least delay the decision to establish the Ministry of Propaganda in the cabinet meeting of March 11, 1933 failed miserably. Already on 13 March 1933 the law on the establishment of the RMVP was signed by the Reich President and the "writer" Dr. Goebbels was appointed minister.(4) Almost three weeks later, on 5 April 1933, Goebbels noted in his diary: "The organisation of the ministry is finished".(5) In difficult negotiations(6) with the ministries, which had to cede parts of their competences to the new ministry, the responsibilities were determined in detail. The RMVP was responsible for all tasks relating to intellectual influence on the nation, advertising for the state, culture and economy, informing the domestic and foreign public about them, and the administration of all institutions serving these purposes. As a result, the business area of the RMVP will be: 1. from the business area of the Federal Foreign Office: News and education abroad, art, art exhibitions, film and sports abroad. 2. From the RMI division: General Domestic Enlightenment, Hochschule für Politik, introduction and celebration of national holidays and celebration of national holidays with the participation of the RMI, press (with Institute for Newspaper Science), radio, national anthem, German Library in Leipzig, art (but without art-historical institute in Florence, copyright protection for works of literature and art, directory of nationally valuable works of art, German-Austrian Convention on the Export of Art, Protection of Works of Art and Monuments, Protection and Maintenance of Landscape and Natural Monuments, Nature Parks, Preservation of Buildings of Special Historical Importance, Preservation of National Monuments, Verband Deutscher Vereine für Volkskunde, Reich Memorial), Music Conservation, including the Philharmonic Orchestra, Theatre Matters, Cinema, Combating Trash and Dirt 3. From the business areas of the Reich Ministry of Economics and the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture: Economic Advertising, Exhibitions, Trade Fairs and Advertising 4. From the business areas of the Reich Ministry of Posts and the Reich Ministry of Transportation: Traffic Advertising Furthermore, all radio matters dealt with by the Reich Ministry of Posts and the Reich Ministry of Transportation are transferred from the business area of the Reich Ministry of Posts, unless they concern the technical administration outside the premises of the Reich Broadcasting Company and the radio companies. In matters of technical administration, the RMVP shall be involved to the extent necessary to carry out its own tasks, in particular in determining the conditions for the awarding of broadcasting rights and the regulation of fees. In particular, the representation of the Reich in the Reichsrundfunkgesellschaft and the broadcasting companies is fully transferred to the RMVP. The RMVP is in charge of all tasks, including legislation, in the designated areas. The general principles shall apply to the participation of the other Reich Ministers." (RGBl. 1933 I, p. 449) These competences were exercised by seven departments, so that the business distribution plan of 1 Oct. 1933 (7) shows the following picture: Ministerial office (with five employees), directly subordinated to the Minister. State Secretary, at the same time Head of Press of the Reich Government I. Administration and Law with one main office Administration, three departments as well as the registry II. Propaganda with 10 departments 1. Positive world view propaganda, shaping in state life, press photography 2. Jewish question, foundation for victims of work, Versailles treaty, national literature, publishing etc. 3. Demonstrations and regional organisation 4. Opposing world views 5. German University of Politics 6. Youth and sports issues 7. Economic and social policy 8. Agricultural and eastern issues 9. Transport 10. Public health III. Broadcasting with three sections 1. Broadcasting 2. Political and cultural affairs of broadcasting 3. Organisation and administrative issues of German broadcasting IV. Press, simultaneously press department of the Reich government with eleven papers V. Film with three papers VI. Theatre, music and art with three papers VII. Defence (defence against lies at home and abroad) with eight papers Goebbels was obviously not satisfied with the official title of his ministry. The extensive tasks in the fields of culture and the arts did not come into their own and the word propaganda, of which he was aware, had a "bitter aftertaste" (8). His proposal to rename his department "Reichsministerium für Kultur und Volksaufklärung", however, met with Hitler's rejection. (9) In July 1933, a circular issued by the Reich Chancellor drew the attention of the Reich governors to the exclusive competence of the Reich or of the new Ministry for the above-mentioned competences and called on them to cede to the RMVP any existing budget funds and offices of the Länder. (10) At the same time, 13 regional offices were established as the substructure of the Ministry, the sprinkles of which corresponded approximately to those of the regional employment offices, and 18 imperial propaganda offices, which subdivided the territory of the regional offices once again. After the Reichspropagandastellen were already converted after short time (approx. 1934) to Landesstellen, in each Gau of the NSDAP a Landesstelle of the RMVP was located. Their leaders were in personal union at the same time leaders of the Gaupropagandaleitungen of the NSDAP, which in its leadership, the Reichspropagandalleitung, was also perceived by Goebbels in personal union. (11) As a result, conflicts of loyalty between the Gaupropaganda leaders/leaders of the RMVP regional offices were unavoidable in disputes between Goebbels and individual Gauleiters. According to theory, the regional offices were supposed to monitor and implement the political decisions made in the ministry in the individual districts, but in practice their heads were often more dependent on their respective Gauleiter than on the ministry due to the above-mentioned personal union. By the Führer decree of 9 September 1937 (RGBl. 1937 I, p. 1009), the Landesstellen were renamed Reichspropagandaämter and elevated to Reich authorities. After the integration of Austria there were no less than 42 Reichspropagandaämter with 1400 full-time employees. (12) In addition to the state offices and Reich Propaganda Offices, a whole range of offices, organizations, associations, societies and societies soon developed, which are to be counted to the subordinate area of the Ministry. (13) Despite the apparently clear regulation on the responsibilities of the RMVP, the 13 years of its existence were marked by disputes over responsibilities with other ministries, in particular with the ministers Rust, Rosenberg and Ribbentrop, of whom Goebbels, as is known, held very little personally. Successes and failures in the competence disputes cannot be followed in detail here; they depended to a large extent on Hitler's relationship with Goebbels. For example, Goebbels did not succeed in extending his competence in theatre to the Prussian State Theatres in Berlin. By contrast, in 1943 the RMVP assumed responsibility for carrying out the Eastern propaganda, while Rosenberg, as Reich Minister for the occupied Eastern territories, was left with only the authority to issue guidelines. (14) In the conflict with the Federal Foreign Office over the delimitation of responsibilities for foreign propaganda, an arrangement was reached in a working agreement in October 1941. (15) Wehrmacht propaganda also remained long and controversial. Despite many efforts (16), Goebbels did not succeed in making a decisive break in the competencies of the OKW/Wpr department until the end of the war in March 1945. Propaganda into the Wehrmacht and about the Wehrmacht at home and abroad was then to be taken in charge by the RMVP. It is not possible to determine whether the planned organizational consequences have yet been implemented. (17) Another major success for Goebbels was the establishment of the Reichsinspektion für zivile Luftschutzmaßnahmen (Reich Inspection for Civilian Air Defence Measures), which was headed by the RMVP (18), and his appointment as Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War Operations by Führer Decree of 25 July 1944 (19). For the last months of the Third Reich, Goebbels had reached the zenith of power with this function, apart from his appointment as Reich Chancellor in Hitler's last will and testament of April 29, 1945, which had become effective only theoretically. As Reich Plenipotentiary for the total deployment in war, he had extremely far-reaching powers over the entire state apparatus with the exception of the Wehrmacht. (20) Until that date, the competences of the RMVP had changed only slightly in the main features of all disputes over jurisdiction. That it nevertheless grew enormously and steadily until 1943 (21) was mainly due to diversification and intensification in the performance of its tasks. After 1938, the expansive foreign policy of the Third Reich necessitated further propaganda agencies to direct and influence public opinion in the incorporated and occupied territories. In the occupied territories with civil administrations, "departments" (main departments) for "popular enlightenment and propaganda" were usually set up in the territories with military administration, "propaganda departments", which exercised roughly the functions of the Reich Propaganda Offices. Their position between their superior military services and the RMVP, which sought to influence the content of the propaganda and from where part of the personnel came, was a constant source of conflict. As an indication for the weighting of the individual areas of responsibility of the Ministry in relation to each other, the expenditures for the individual areas in the 10 years from March 1933 to March 1943 are mentioned. With a total volume of 881,541,376.78 RM (22), the expenses for the Active propaganda: 21.8 Communications: 17.8 Music, visual arts, literature: 6.2 Film: 11.5 Theatres: 26.4 Civil servants and equipment: 4.3 Salaries, business needs, including film testing agencies and RPÄ: 12.0 By 1942, the RMVP and its division had been continuously expanded, before facilities in the subordinate area were shut down and departments in the ministry were merged as part of the total war from 1943 onwards. The business distribution plan of Nov. 1942 was as follows: (23) Ministerial Office, reporting directly to the Minister with adjutants, personal advisers and press officers of the Minister, a total of 10 employees State Secretaries Leopold Gutterer, Reich Press Head Dr. Otto Dietrich, Hermann Esser Budget Department (H) with 11 departments; reporting to the Head of the Department, the Main Office and the House Administration Personnel Department (Pers) with seven departments Legal and Organisation Department (R) with three departments Propaganda Department (Pro) with the following ten departments: 1. Political Propaganda 2. Cultural Propaganda 3. Propaganda Exploration 4. Public Health, Social Policy 5. Economy 6. Imperial Propaganda Offices 7. Major Events 8. Youth and Sports 9. Representation 10. Budget of the Department, Preparation of the Peace Treaties, Stagma and other Press Department of the Imperial Government I. Department German Press (DP) with 13 Speeches II. Foreign Press Department (AP) with 19 papers III. Journal Press Department /ZP) with five papers Foreign Press Department (A) with the following five groups: 1. Organization 2. Europe and Middle East 3. Non-European 4. Propaganda Media 5. Deployment abroad and in the Reich Tourism Department (FV) with four units Broadcasting Department (Rfk) with the following eight units 1. Coordination, Interradio and others 2. Broadcasting Command Office 3. Mob Department 4. Broadcasting Programme Support 5. Foreign Broadcasting 6. Broadcasting Industry 7. Broadcasting Organisation 8. Rundfunk-Erkundungsdienst Filmabteilung (F) with five departments Schrifttumsabteilung (S ) with eight departments Theaterabteilung (T) with seven departments Bildende Kunst (BK) with four departments Musik-Abteilung (M) with ten departments Reichsverteidigung (RV) with six departments Abteilung für die besetztischen Ostgebiete (Ost) with twelve departments Generalreferate with State Secretary Gutterer directly subordinated: 1. Exhibitions and Fairs 2nd General Cultural Department (General Cultural Department for the Reich Capital) 3rd General Department for Reich Chamber of Culture Matters 4th Technology (propaganda, radio, film, sound, stage, press, service installations of the RMVP) Press Recording Office for the PK reports of the Press Department of the Reich Government (directly subordinated to the Reich Press Head) A major change in this distribution of responsibilities took place in September 1944 (24). The art departments of theatre, music and visual arts were dissolved and merged into a single department of culture (cult). The East Department was integrated into the Propaganda Department as a main department, the Tourism Department was shut down and the General Departments of the Reich Cultural Chamber, Armaments and Construction and Propaganda Troops were dissolved. Notes (1) J. Goebbels: Vom Kaiserhof zur Reichskanzlei, p. 28. (2) R 43 II/1149, p. 5, excerpt from the minutes of the ministerial meeting of 11 March 1933. (3) R 43 II/1149, pp. 25 - 29, wording of Goebbels' speech of 16 March 1933 according to W. T. B. (4) R 43 II/1149, RGBl. 1933 I, p. 104 (5) J. Goebbels: Vom Kaiserhof zur Reichskanzlei, p. 293 (6) In an elaboration presumably by Goebbels on a "Reichskommissariat für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda" to be created (R 43 II/1149, pp. 49 - 53) further competences had been demanded. In particular, additional responsibilities were demanded of the German section of the RMI and section VI of the AA, as well as in foreign propaganda. (7) R 43 II/1449, pp. 126 - 133. Heiber gives a diagram of the organisational development of the RMVP at department level with the names of the department heads on the inside of the cover of his Goebbels biography. (8) See speech to representatives of the press on the tasks of the RMVP of 16 March 1933 in R 43 II/1149. It was not without reason that there was a language regulation for the press according to which the term propaganda was to be used only in a positive sense (R 55/1410, Decree of the RMVP to the RPA Nuremberg, 8 Nov. 1940). (9) R 43 II/1149, p. 169, Note by Lammers of 9 May 1934 on a lecture to the Reich Chancellor. (10) R 43 II/1149. (11) After the establishment of the Reichskulturkammer organization, they were also state cultural administrators in the substructure of the RKK. (12) Boelcke, Kriegspropaganda, p. 185. (13) Ebendort, p. 136 ff. there are hints for some institutions. (14) The Führer's order concerning the delimitation of responsibilities dated 15 Aug. 1943, cf. R 55/1435, 1390. (15) Boelcke, Kriegspropaganda, p. 126/127. (16) Lochner, Joseph Goebbels, p. 334, p. 442. (17) R 55/618, p. 123; cf. also the depiction of Hasso v. Wedel, the propaganda troops of the German Wehrmacht. Neckargemünd 1962, Die Wehrmacht im Kampf, vol. 34 (18) Führer decree of Dec. 21, 1943, R 55/441 (19) RGBl. 1944, p. 161, R 43 II/664 a. (20) This competence is virtually not reflected in the RMVP files available in the BA. However, it is well documented in R 43 II. See R 43 II/664 a. (21) See the annual budget negotiations on increasing the number of posts in R 2/4752 - 4762. (22) R 55/862, Statistical overview of monetary transactions. Accordingly, 88,5 % of the expenditure was covered by the licence fee. It remains unclear whether the old budgetary expenditure has been taken into account. (23) R 55/1314 According to this schedule of responsibilities, the files held in the Federal Archives were essentially classified. (24) Newsletter of 13 Sept. 1944 in R 55/441. Inventory description: Inventory history The RMVP records have suffered substantial losses, although the main building of the Ministry, the Ordenspalais am Wilhelmplatz, was destroyed relatively late and almost accidentally in March 1945. Large parts of the old registries, including the previous files from the Federal Foreign Office and the Reich Ministry of the Interior (1), had already been destroyed by air raids in 1944. Moreover, in the last days of the war before and during the conquest of Berlin by the Soviet Russian army, files were also systematically destroyed. (2) In view of the total collapse and devastation of Berlin by the air war, it is not surprising that hardly any manual or private files of RMVP employees have been handed down. Notable exceptions are, in particular, documents from Ministerialrat Bade (press department) (3) and hand files of the head of the broadcasting department, Ministerialdirigent Fritzsche. In this context, the diaries of Goebbels should also be mentioned, which, with the exception of those edited by Lochner in 1948, had been lost for almost 30 years. (4) The bulk of the volumes available in the Bundesarchiv Koblenz until 1996 was transferred from Alexandria (cf. Guide No. 22) and from the Berlin Document Center to the Bundesarchiv in the years 1959 - 1963. The personnel files still held back were added to the portfolio in 2007. The RMVP files kept by the Ministry of State Security of the GDR (mainly personnel files, personnel processes of the theatre, music and defence departments), which were stored in the so-called NS archive until 2006, are also assigned to the holdings. Not in Allied hands was only a small collection from the Music Department and some documents from the German Press Department, which were transferred to the Federal Archives in 1969 as part of the land consolidation with the Secret State Archives of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Some original RMVP files can still be found at the Hoover Institution Standford, the Yivo Institute New York and the Wiener Library London. Fortunately, all three institutions were willing to produce microfilms for the Federal Archives (5). In 1974, the Rijksinstitut voor Oologsdocumentatie Amsterdam (Rijksinstitut for Oologsdocumentatie Amsterdam) kindly handed over some original fragments of files to the Federal Archives. In 1946, officers of the French and Soviet secret services found films of about 35,000 documents that had been filmed in the RMVP and buried near Potsdam at the end of the war with the help of an American mine detector (6). The films were taken to Paris to make re-enlargements of them, and it is possible that they will still be kept in the French secret service. The Americans apparently did not receive copies because they had withheld from the French documents of other provenance found in the CSSR. Only incomplete information is available about the content of the films; it can be assumed, however, that not exactly unimportant files have been filmed. Notes (1) Only a few handfiles and a few volumes on the promotion of music have survived. (2) Files of the Reichsfilmarchiv that had been moved to Grasleben/Helmstedt were even to be destroyed by agents of the RSHA when they threatened to fall into the hands of the English (cf. R 55/618). (3) Cf. Kl. Erw. 615, which is a selection of the bath papers from the time around 1933 in the Hoover library. (4) Frankfurter Allgemeine, 21 Nov. 1974, reader's letter. Insignificant fragments from Goebbels' estate from his student days can be found in the Federal Archives under the signature Kl. Erw. 254. (5) A collection of newspaper clippings concerning Goebbels in the amount of 82 Bde for the years 1931 - 1943 was not filmed at the Yivo-Institut. (6) See the documents in: National Archives Washington, RG 260 OMGUS 35/35 folder 19. Archival processing The order and indexing work on the holdings was relatively time-consuming and difficult, as the order of the files was extremely poor. On the one hand there were no detailed file plans or other registry aids for the mass of files from the budget and personnel departments, on the other hand the file management in the ministry, which at least in its development phase was always deliberately unbureaucratic, left a lot to be desired. Especially during the war, when inexperienced auxiliaries had to be used more and more during the war, the Ministry's staff often complained about the inadequacy of the registries. The organisation of the RMVP's records management showed typical features of office reform (1): Registries were kept on a departmental basis, with each registry having a "self-contained partial list of files". The documents were stored in standing folders (System Herdegen). Instead of a diary, an alphabetical mailing card was kept, separated according to authorities and private persons. The reference numbers consisted of the department letter, file number, date as well as an indication, on which card of an order file the procedure was seized. All in all, the files of the Budget and Human Resources Department were in a certain, albeit unsatisfactory, state of order when they entered the Federal Archives. Numerous volumes from the other departments, on the other hand, were formed in a chaotic manner, possibly as a result of a provisional recording of loose written material when it was confiscated. These were often amorphous and fragmentary materials that lacked the characteristics of organically grown writing. So it was practically impossible to form meaningful band units in all subjects. In the case of some "mixed volumes" with written material on numerous file numbers, only the most frequent ones were noted in the finding aid book. Due to the high loss of files, no strict evaluation standard was applied to the files. The main items collected were volumes from the budget department on preliminary checks in the subordinate area and individual procedures for the procurement and management of managed goods for the purposes of the Ministry. Formal records of non-compliant positions in the business division and a number of unarchivalable documents from the Human Resources Department will still be kept for the foreseeable future for the purpose of issuing service time statements. It is not listed in this guide. Preparatory work for the indexing of the Koblenz part of the stock was carried out by Mr. Oberarchivrat Regel (1967) with regard to the files of the budget department on the Reich's own film assets, Mr. Ltd. Archivdirektor Dr. Boberach (1966) with regard to correspondence and the reference files of the head of the broadcasting department, Hans Fritzsche and Ms. Archivoberinspektorin Schneider, née Fisch (1966) for files of the propaganda department. In 2005, the inventories of the finding aids of both sections of the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda were imported into the database of the Federal Archives via a retroconversion procedure. The data records were then combined in a classification. Despite the inhomogeneity of the traditions of most specialist departments, it was advisable to maintain the division by departments. (2) Within the departments, the structure was essentially based on file numbers and factual contexts. The file numbers used in the RMVP were - as far as possible - used as aids for further subdivision. The final step was the integration of the personnel files and personal documents from the NS archive (approx. 5000 individual transactions) and the former Berlin Document Center (approx. 700 transactions). The documents taken over are mainly documents from the personnel department (in addition to personnel files also questionnaires and index cards), theatre (applications, appointments, confirmation procedures) and imperial defence (applications in propaganda companies). The personal records also contain isolated documents on denazification from the period 1946-1950. Since a relatively large number of individual transactions from the NS archives were often only a few sheets, transactions that objectively related to one transaction (e.g. applications for interpreting) were merged into one file. The names of the individual persons as well as the old signatures from the NS archive can still be traced via the BASYS-P database. Both the files from the NS archive and those from the former BDC are not always filed according to the provenance principle. However, the files were not separated again. Most of the files taken over from the former BDC are personal files and questionnaires as well as personnel index cards of individual employees of broadcasting stations. A search is still possible via the BASYS-P database. The procedures for the donation "Artist's thanks" still present in the personal records of the former BDC concerning the Theatre Department were not adopted in this context (approx. 15,000 procedures). The names are entered in the BASYS-P database and can be searched there. Notes (1) Rules of Procedure and Registration of 8 May 1942 in R 55/ 618. (2) The structure of the business distribution plan of Nov. 1942 was used as a basis. Abbreviations AA = Federal Foreign Office Department A = Department Abroad AP = Foreign Press BDC = Berlin Document Center BdS = Commander of the Security Police ChdZ = Chief of the Civil Administration DAF = German Labour Front DASD = German Amateur Broadcasting Service e.V. DNB = Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro DRK = Deutsches Rotes Kreuz Dt. = Deutsch DVO = Durchführungsverordnung french = French Gestapo = Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt KdF = Kraft durch Freude KdG = Kommandeur der Gendarmerie KdS = Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei Kl. Erw. Small acquisition KLV = Kinderlandverschickung LG = District Court MA = Military Archives, Department of the Federal Archives MdR = Member of the Reichstag MinRat = Ministerialrat MdL = Member of the Landtag NDR = Norddeutscher Rundfunk NSV = National Socialist Volkswohlfahrt o. Az. = without file number or date = without date OKW = Oberkommando der Wehrmacht OLG = Oberstes Landesgericht OLT = Oberleutnant ORR = Oberregierungsrat OT = Organisation Todt PG = Parteigenosse PK = Propagandakompanie RAVAG = Österreichische Radio-Verkehrs-AG Reg. Pres. RMI = Reich Ministry of the Interior RMJ = Reich Ministry of the Interior RMK = Reich Ministry of Justice RMK = Reich Chamber of Music RMVP = Reich Ministry of Education and Propaganda ROI = Reichsoberinspektor RPA = Reichspropagandaamt RPÄ = Reichspropagandaämter RPL = Reichspropagandalleitung RR = Regierungsrat RRG = Reichsrundfunkgesellschaft RS = Reichssender RSHA = Reichssicherheitshauptamt RSK = Reichsschrifttumskammer SBZ = Soviet Occupation Zone SD = Security Service SD-LA = SD-Leitabschnitt SDR = Süddeutscher Rundfunk Sipo = Security Police STS = Secretary of State and a. = among others v. a. = above all VGH = Volksgerichtshof VO = Regulation WDR = Westdeutscher Rundfunk ZSTA = Zentrales Staatsarchiv (Potsdam) citation method: BArch R 55/ 23456 Content characterization: Rounded delivery complexes are available only from the budget department and from the personnel department. From the point of view of financing and personnel management, they illuminate almost all areas of the Ministry's activities. From the specialist departments, the volumes from the Propaganda Department should be emphasized, which document above all the design of propaganda and the propagandistic support of foreign workers and resettled persons in the last years of the war. Also worth mentioning are mood and activity reports of individual RPÄ and suggestions from the population for propaganda and for leading the total war. In the Radio Department there is some material about the design of the radio program and the propaganda reconnaissance with reports about the opposing propaganda, which were compiled from the bugging reports of the special service Seehaus. A separate complex of this department are 14 volumes of pre-files from the RMI with handfiles of the Oberregierungsrat Scholz as representative of the Reich in supervisory committees of broadcasting companies in Berlin from 1926 - 1932. Of the film department there are only a few, but interesting volumes about the film production of the last war years with numerous ministerial documents. The majority of the theatre department's traditions are based on documents on professional issues and the Reich's dramaturgy. From the music department the promotion of musical organizations from the years 1933 - 1935 with pre-files from the RMI, the support and job placement of artists as well as material about the musical foreign relations is handed down. The files of the Department for the Occupied Eastern Territories offer rich sources for questions of Eastern propaganda. The losses are greatest in the departments Law and Organization, Magazine Press, Foreign Press, Foreign Countries, Tourism, Literature and Fine Arts. State of development: Publication Findbuch (1976, reprint 1996), Online Findbuch (2007). Citation style: BArch, R 55/...

Contains: "Kamerad Sanitätshund", Aug. 2, 1944 "Kampf um den Berg" (a high tour 20 years ago), film by Arnold Fanck and Sepp Allgeier; music: G. Becce), Dec. 4, 1941 "Kaninchen", May 8, 1944 "Der Karpfen", Dec. 31, 1941 "Battle for the Mountain", May 31, 1944 "Battle for the Mountain", May 31, 1944 "Battle for the Mountain", May 31, 1944 "Battle for the Carp", May 31, 1944 "Battle for the Mountain", May 31, 1944 "Battle for the Mountain" (a high tour 20 years ago), film by Arnold Fanck and Sepp Allgeier, Dec. 4, 1941 "Kaninchen", May 8, 1944 "Der Karpfen", Dec. 31, 1944 "Battle for the Mountain", Aug. 2, 1944 July 1944 "Children travel to the holiday country", 1 Dec. 1942 (B58036), 4 censorship cards, 1942-1943 "The little ones from the Gulf of Naples", 24 July 1939 "Crystals", 30 Oct. 1944 "Croatian peasant life", 11 Jan. 1943 "Kitchen magic", manuscript: Martin Rikli, 1943 "Der Kumpel", 12 Apr. 1944 "Land hinterm Deich", 2 June 1944 "Das Land der Motzen" (Romanian State Filmst.), 20 July 1944 "Lustgärten aus galanter Zeit", 14 Oct. 1941 "Lustig sein - fröhlich sein", 21 Aug. 1944 ?? "Masuren - Eine Landschaft in Ostpreußen", July 31, 1944 "Meisterturner unter die Zeitlupe genommen von Kurt Stanke", Oct. 18, 1944 "With Dr. Lutz Heck through Cameroon", Nov. 3, 1939 "Mooswunder", July 2, 1941 (B55603) "Nippon the Land of the Rising Sun", Nov. 4, 1942 (B57783), only 1 censorship card "Nordic Primeval World", Sept. 12, 1941 (B55883), only copy 1 censorship card "Peter Parler" (master builder of the cathedral in Prague), 29. July 1944 "Ponys", without "Post nach den Halligen", 27. Apr. 1944 "Pulsschlag des Meeres" (RG Rikli, KM Stanke), 4. February 1937 (B44646)