History of the Inventor: 1867 Interim assumption of the foreign policy tasks for the North German Confederation by the Prussian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; on 1 January 1867, the Prussian Ministry of Foreign Affairs took over the tasks of the North German Confederation. January 1870 Foundation of the Foreign Office of the North German Confederation, 1871 of the German Rei‧ches as a subordinate authority of the Reich Chancellor with the main departments Politics, Han‧delspolitik, Law (from 1885) and News (from 1915); until 1918 at the same time foreign Ver‧tretung Prussia; 1919 appointment of a politically responsible Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs; 1920 extensive reorganization in regional departments and assumption of cultural-political tasks, 1936 dissolution of the regional departments, reintroduction of the departments inventory description: The Foreign Office, which emerged in 1870 from the Royal Prussian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the North German Confederation (since 1867), underwent numerous reforms and restructurings during the Bismarck period and the Wilhelminian Empire, the Weimar Republic until the end of the National Socialist dictatorship. old office) comprise only a fraction of the total volume (approx. 1.6 shelf kilometres) from this period. The largest part (about 18 shelf kilometres) of the files remaining after the losses in the final phase of the Second World War is now in the Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. In the 1920s, mainly for reasons of space, the Political Archive had deposited most of the local archival material in the Potsdam Reichsarchiv (mainly files of the Imperial Office, the Trade Policy Department and the Legal Department). Together with other holdings, the Reichsarchiv also stored these documents in 1944/45 in the salt mine shafts near Staßfurt (Saxony-Anhalt) to protect them from bombing. Confiscated by the Soviet occupying forces, most of the material was transferred after 1949 to the then German Central Archive Potsdam (later the Central State Archive of the GDR, inventory signature 09.01) via the Ministry for State Security of the GDR in several charges, and after the German division was overcome to the responsibility of the Federal Archive. Residual files of the Trade Policy and Legal Departments (Dept. II and III, 1885-1920), which for official reasons had remained in the Political Archives of the AA and had finally been taken to England after confiscation by the British occupying forces, were recorded by the then Federal Archives after their return to the Federal Republic (1957) in October 1962 under the inventory signature R 85. About 350 file units are currently still in the "Special Archive" at the Russian State Military Archives in Moscow under the ("Fund") stock number 1357. They are described there in 3 finding aids (for further information and contact see www.sonderarchiv.de). The Federal Archives have lent important documents and files to the Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin (Auswärtiges Amt, Politisches Archiv, 10117 Berlin; Tel.: 49 (0) 30/5000-3948). They can only be used and evaluated there (see the respective finding aids for further information). Archival evaluation and processing The first archival revision of the volumes took place at the end of the 1950s in what was then the German Central Archive. They were originally described in a total of 44 finding aids from the Reichsarchiv. The file titles of the units of registration recorded in the Potsdam DZA at the time were integrated into the database of the Federal Archives by means of a retroconversion procedure. When processing the data records, numerous corrections were made to the file titles and runtimes. The currently valid archive rules could not always be applied. While maintaining the existing classification, which was predominantly no longer based on the organisational structure of the AA, series or series of bands were formed as required, whereby numerous subordinate series of bands were also created in series. In some cases, the existing factual structure was expanded and supplemented with modern terminology (e.g. legal department). The Potsdam tradition was merged with that of the old Federal Archives in Koblenz (old finding aids for stock R 85, legal department and trade policy department). Characterization of content: Traditional focus Office of the Reich Foreign Minister 1928-1943: Minister's Office and Personal Staff 1928-1944, Personal Press Archive of the Minister 1934-1943 Personnel and Administration Department (incl. Protocol) 1876-1944 [loaned to Political Archive AA] Commercial Policy Department 1869-1920: Exhibition 1875-1920, Service 1885-1914, Railways 1866-1915, Fisheries 1903-1913, Trade, Generalia 1884-1921, Trade, Countries 1868-1920, Foreign Trade 1867-1922, Trade and Shipping, Generalia 1862-1906, Trade and Shipping, Countries 1858-1909, Agriculture 1868-1920, Literature 1847-1917, Marine 1853-1913, Weights and Measures 1911-1920, Medical 1868-1913, Coinage 1867-1913, Minting 1853-1913, Trade, Generalia 1884-1920, Trade, Countries 1868-1909, Agriculture 1868-1920, Trade and Shipping 1847-1917, Marine 1853-1913, Weights and Measures 1911-1920, Medical 1868-1913, Coinage Shipping, Generalia 1887-1914, Inland Navigation, Countries 1907-1913, Shipping, Countries 1844-1913, River Navigation 1869-1913, Telegraphing 1866-1913, Transportation 1890-1920, Insurance 1895-1920, Economics, Generalia 1887-1920, Economics, Countries 1881-1920, Water Management 1907-1913, Customs and Tax, General 1910-1919, Customs and Tax, Countries 1902-1920 Commercial Policy Division 1936-1945: Exhibitions 1936-1943, emigration 1937-1943, railway 1921-1943, finance 1936-1943, fishing 1936-1943, business 1937-1943, health 1937-1942, trade 1936-1945, industry, technology, Trade 1936-1943, Internal Administration of the Länder 1936-1943, Motor Vehicles 1936-1942, Agriculture 1936-1943, Politics 1941-1942, Post, Telegraph and Telephone 1936-1943, Legal 1936-1942, Raw Materials and Goods 1936-1943, Shipping 1936-1943, social policy 1941-1942, taxation 1936-1943, transport 1936-1945, veterinary 1936-1942, roads 1936-1942, economy 1936-1944, customs 1936-1945, trade in war equipment 1936-1944, Handakten 1920-1944, telegram correspondence with the German representations, offices and commercial enterprises 1941-1943 Länderabteilung II und III (1920-1936) [loaned to Political Archive AA] Rechtsabteilung 1858-1945: Emigration, General 1868-1932, Citizenship and Liquidation 1928-1944, Emigration, Countries 1858-1932, International Law Differences 1867-1920, Clergy, School and Abbey Matters 1867-1933, Border Matters 1862-1944, Hand Files 1900-1926, Internal Administration of Individual Countries 1862-1940, Intercessions 1871-1932, Art and Science 1865-1914, Mediatized 1866-1913, Militaria 1869-1942, News 1869-1936, neutrality 1854-1918, passport matters 1816-1932, police matters 1865-1937, postal matters 1829-1932, press 1861-1931, cases, general 1836-1944, cases, countries outside Europe 1869-1936, cases countries Europe 1869-1936, international law 1941-1945, delivery of documents and orders 1937-1945 news and press department 1915-1945: General 1915-1938, war 1914-1921, colonies 1915-1920, head of state 1910-1919, parliaments 1910-1921, state parliaments 1917-1921, imperial government 1916-1924, revolution 1910-1921, League of Nations 1918-1920, parliamentarization and democratization 1918, right to vote 1917-1918, armistice and peace 1914-1923, news about individual countries 1918-1921, news 1914-1921, Business files of the Press Department 1939-1945, German News Office 1940-1943, Interception Service 1942-1943, Foreign Agencies 1942-1945, Own Service 1942-1943, News Material 1933-1945, Press Attachments 1939-1944, Press Archive 1927-1945, Press Information Service 1936-1945, Foreign Information Bodies 1934-1945, Central Office for Foreign Service 1912-1922: Service and business operations 1914-1921, personnel affairs 1912-1921, passport affairs 1917-1920, budget and cash affairs 1914-1922 , relations with institutions and individuals 1914-1920, libraries, publishing houses, bookshops and art dealers 1915-1920, Economic, Political and Military Situation 1915-1920, Propaganda 1914-1921 Department of Cultural Policy 1865-1945 Department of Broadcasting Policy 1939-1945 Department D (Germany) [Liaison Office to the NSDAP] 1939-1943 State of Development: Files from the Personnel and Administration Department and the Country Department were transferred to the Political Archive of the AA as a permanent loan to supplement the holdings there. Citation style: BArch, R 901/...