History of the Inventory Designer: Established in August 1920 as a domestic political information and news agency; unter‧richtete the Reich Government on all political endeavours and events affecting the internal situation of the German Reich; dissolved in 1929; tasks taken over by Nachrichtensam‧melstelle in the Reich Ministry of the Interior; in 1933 the office at Gehei‧men Staatspolizeiamt went to inventory description: Established in August 1920 as a domestic information and intelligence agency; informed the Reich government about all political endeavours and events affecting the internal situation of the Reich; dissolved in 1929; tasks were taken over by the intelligence collection agency in the Reich Ministry of the Interior; in 1933, the agency merged with the Secret State Police Office. Characterization of content: Part 1 (formerly: ZStA, 15.07): 1919-1933 (1.584): Administration of offices 1920-1930 (11), police and armed power, intelligence 1919-1930 (38), legal norms 1920-1930 (50), international negotiations and treaties 1920-1929 (6), surveillance of foreign activity in the Reich 1920-1930 (59), defence 1920-1930 (12), traffic with weapons 1920-1930 (23), economic conditions in their effects on public order 1920-1929 (19), political movement 1920-1933 (52), elections, election results, government formations 1920-1930 (19), parties 1920-1930 (8), the International 1925-1929 (2), organizations and movements of a political nature au‧ßerhalb of the parties 1920-1930 (126), Unions 1921-1929 (7), international Ver‧bindungen with economic organizations 1921-1927 (2), officers and Soldatenverei‧nigungen 1921-1930 (10), unemployed movement and demonstrations 1920-1925 (2), organizations, institutes and movements with specific individual goals 1920-1931 (13), pacifist movement 1922-1927 (2), press 1920-1924 (2), occupied as well as ceded territories, East Prussia 1920-1928 (12), foreign countries 1920-1929 (32), files on certain individual events 1922-1933 (55), collection of material on certain individuals 1920-1933 (978), personal files, etc.Dat. (44) Part 2 (formerly: BArch, R 134): 1920-1933 (99): Situation reports 1920-1929 (57), Reports of the News Collection Agency 1929-1933 (42) Part 3 (formerly: ZPA, St 12): 1919-1931 (297): Communist Party of Germany (KPD) 1919-1931 (203), Communist International and Foreign Communist Parties 1920-1927 (10), KPD-related Organisa‧tionen 1921-1930 (52), other parties and organizations 1920-1934 (16), photographic index of the news agencies of the countries 1924-1929 (2), personal files 1920-1933 (14) State of development: Part 1 (formerly: ZStA, 15.07): Findbuch (1940) Teil 2 (vormals: BArch, R 134): Publikationsfindbuch: Lageberichte (1920-1929) und Meldungen (1930-1933) des Reichskommissars für Überwachung der öffentlichen Ordnung und Nachrichtensammelstelle im Reichsministerium des Innern. Stock R 134 of the Federal Archives in Koblenz. Mikrofichesausgabe, edited by Ernst Ritter, Munich 1979 Part 3 (formerly: ZPA, St 12): Findbuch (1968) Zitierweise: BArch, R 1507/...

Contains: Printed matter (minutes of meetings and other materials from the Reichstag, the Bundesrat and the Reichstag Commission for the Reich Budget).

History of the Inventory Designer: Mirbach's Telegrafisches Büro (MTB) was founded at the beginning of the 20th century in the Rhineland as a small news agency by the editor Mirbach. Together with Professor Arthur Jung, he owned the "International Telegraph Agency (ITA)" in Cologne until November 1920. After separating from his cooperation partner Jung, Mirbach initially resumed work in his former correspondence office. The situation in the German Reich at that time played an important role in the further development of the MTB. After the defeat of the Imperial German Empire in World War I, the newly created Saar region, consisting of the southern part of the Rhine Province as well as the Saarpfalz and the western part of the Bavarian Palatinate, was separated from the German Empire by the territorial provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1920 it was placed under French administration with a mandate from the League of Nations. The occupation of the Saar region by French troops was accompanied by the spread of French propaganda (1). This was mainly due to the purchase of some German newspapers, such as the "Südwestdeutsche Abendzeitung" by the French military administration (2). Renamed "Neuer Saar Kurier", the newspaper now appeared bilingual and was supplied with information by French news services. The German Reich government and the Foreign Office felt compelled to counteract France's efforts to separate the Palatinate. Similar efforts of the occupying powers could also be observed in the other ceded territories of Alsace-Lorraine, Rhineland, Eupen-Malmedy, Posen, North Schleswig, in parts of Upper Silesia and in the border regions. In order to counteract the propaganda of the occupying powers, the Reich government agreed to the proposal of the publishing director Kristian Kraus to create an intelligence service that would supply the ceded and occupied as well as the border regions with news from the German Reich. Kraus had been organizing the intelligence service for the Saar region and occupied areas of the Rhineland on behalf of the Reich government since 1919. This intelligence service should be further developed. Mirbach's telegraphic office was considered at that time to be the "management of the Rheinische Korrespondenz"(3). Kraus was interested in taking over the MTB, as he explains in a letter to the press department of the Reich government. After the negotiations between Kraus, Mirbach and the government the MTB was integrated into the "Reichsstelle zur Versorgung der besetzten und abgetretenen deutschen Gebiete mit deutschen Nachrichten". From 1920 to 1929, Kraus was the managing director and literary director of this Reich office, also known as the "Allgemeines Politisches Informationsbüro G.m.b.H." (General Political Information Office G.b.H.), based in Berlin (4). At the same time, the news agency Polwona was founded, also managed by Kraus, which opened several branches in the occupied and ceded German territories (5). These news agencies were outwardly issued as private-sector enterprises, but were financially dependent on the Reich. Daily messages were transmitted by telephone from Berlin to the Polwona branches. These were established in Frankfurt am Main (Frankfurter Depeschenbüro), Mannheim (Oberrheinisches Nachrichtenbüro), Saarbrücken (Saarkorrespondenz), Cologne (Mirbachs Telegraphisches Büro), Königsberg (Norel - Ost Korrespondenz) and Flensburg (Korrespondenzbüro Nordschleswig) (6). From there, the news was forwarded to the provincial press in the area. Thus the citizens in the occupied or ceded territories remained informed about politics, economy and current issues in the German Reich and were also strengthened in their sense of belonging to the German Reich. In return, the branches had the task of sending news from the occupied territories to Berlin, in particular interviews with important representatives of the occupying powers. Comments: (1) BArch R 8028 / 1 fol. 139, 166. (2) BArch R 8028/ 1 fol. 139. (3) BArch R 8028/ 1 fol. 92. (4) BArch (former BDC, RKK/ RSK Personal- und Sachakte, Kraus, Kristian. (5) BArch R 8028/ 1 fol. 180. (6) BArch R 8028/1 fol. 42. Abbreviations: MTB - Mirbach's Telegraphic Office Polwona - Political West - East - News Agency O.N.B. - Upper Rhine News Agency W.T.B. - Wolff's Telegraphic Office S.C.B. - is not clearly identifiable from the files, probably "Saar Correspondenz Büro" "Dako" - "Danziger Korrespondenzbüro" Description of the holdings: Inventory history The holdings were confiscated by the Red Army towards the end of the Second World War and handed over to the German Central Archive (later: Central State Archive of the GDR based in Potsdam) in the 1950s in the course of file returns from the Soviet Union. The inventory signature there was 61 Mi 1. With the transfer to the Federal Archives, the inventory signature was changed to R 8028. Archive processing In the course of the processing of the inventory, a finding index was created in the Central State Archives of the GDR, on the basis of which the present finding aid book with the database BASYS-S was compiled. The existing classification has been adopted. In the course of processing, series and tape sequences were created. After the inspection of the files some editorial and contentwise revisions at the data records already existing in BASYS -S were made. There were no cassations or additions. Citation BArch R 8028/........................................................... State of development: Online-Findbuch (2008) Citation method: BArch, R 8028/...