Welcome
The archive holdings
Learn about the different record groups and the online guide to holdings.
Record groups
The Political Archive holdings cover 26,000 linear metres (lm). The material is divided as follows into three main record groups:
| Reference code | Provenance | Period | Scope |
| B | Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany | 1949/51 ff. | 13,000 lfm |
| M | Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the GDR | 1949-1990 | 3 000 lfm |
| R | Foreign Office of the German Reich | 1870-1945 | 8 000 lfm |
Other archival materials include:
- international treaties
- personnel records
- personal papers
- documentation on the construction of the Reichsbank building
- collections
Search online in our guide to holdings
An overview of all archive holdings, including detailed information, can be found online in the Archives Portal Europe. You should not start working in the reading room until you have done your research at the guide to holdings. This overview does not provide concrete references, but allows you to
- place available sources in historical context,
- search only in promising record groups once you are in the reading room,
- find record groups with the same topic.
Please use the treeview on the left-hand side of the browser window to navigate between record groups.
Aids
Please read the introductory text (“scope and content”) on the homepage of our guide to holdings in the Archives Portal Europe. It explains how the guide is organised and gives important information about the record groups. The guide is also the basis for the research guidelines we offer for each of the three main holding groups. In these guidelines you will learn what happens in the reading room after your online research.
