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Photos from German colonies. Currently available: Cameroon, Yaoundé Station, 1889nnScope, storage unitsn 0nnnProvenance informationnnnnNamen ReichskolonialamtnExistence periodn 1874 - 1942nInstitutional historynnn1907 Formation of the Reichskolonialamt from the Colonial Department of the Foreign Office, which had existed since 1890; 1919 Transformation into a Reich Colonial Ministry and takeover of the settlement business for the former German colonial territories; after its dissolution in 1920, the Reich Ministry for Reconstruction (Central Colonial Administration) took over the tasks until its dissolution in 1924; thereafter, colonial affairs were again handled by the Foreign Office.

History of the Inventory Designer: Generalmajor Description of the Inventory: Mainly diary entries and letters mainly from his service as commander of the Imperial Protection Forces for Cameroon before and during World War I; records of the Cameroon campaign (1914-1916); lecture manuscripts citation method: BArch, N 521/...

Correspondences and notes on the history of the German colony of Cameroon; reports on district trips; materials on the transfer to the Spanish Rio Moni colony (1916). (as of 1977)

Photos from the time of the German colonial rule in Cameroon: Yaoundé and surroundings (buildings, visits, festivals), "natives", travels in Cameroon, transfer of the colonial administration to Rio Muni (Spanish possession)

The collection documents primarily the settlements of Germans abroad together with their social and landscape environment in accordance with the objectives of the Institute. At the same time, however, the pictures illustrate the life, culture and customs of the respective people in whose country the photographs were taken. The photographs also offer insights into the regional economy and architecture, the flora and fauna and the transport system of the respective regions. Furthermore, the photographs also convey a picture of the political and social events and conditions.

Federal Archives, BArch, BILD 105

History of the Inventory Designer: 17.03.1880 - 29.04.1958, Polizei-Oberst Description of the Inventory: Memoirs of the activities in Togo (1908-1914) and Cameroon (1914) as well as advisor of the Croatian police to the commander of the Ordnungspolizei in Croatia (1943-1944) with numerous picture albums; correspondences and reports from the period of service in Togo and Cameroon. Citation style: BArch, N 279/...

Inventory description Inventory history The entire file inventory was essentially the old file registry of the Buea governorate, which had been left there when it was evacuated in 1914. The holdings were later divided between the English administration in Buea and the French administration in Yaounde and merged in 1974 in the National Archives in Yaounde. After the evacuation of Yaounde on 1 January 1916, after the destruction of the unneeded parts, the files went to Spanish-Muni, from there via Fernando Poo to the seat of the Madrid embassy governorate. In 1919 the files were transferred to the Reichsarchiv, where a large part was destroyed as not worthy of preservation. The rest fell victim to a bombing raid on Potsdam on 20 April 1945. Thus the files kept in the National Archives in Yaounde - apart from the preserved files of the R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t - constitute the only official written record of the period of German colonial rule in Cameroon. Archival evaluation and processing The Federal Archives' efforts to secure and film the files stored in Cameroon from the time of the German colonial administration date back to 1970. Through the mediation of the Federal Foreign Office and the German Embassy, the Federal Archives were able to offer the Director of the National Archives in Yaounde Cameroon the opportunity to send a German archivist to Cameroon for a limited period of time in order to arrange and record the German holdings together with local staff. The project was approved on 6 August 1971. After solving various organizational, financial and personnel problems, the project was realized in 1974/75. In a subsequent phase of the project, beginning in 1983, the files were to be filmed by means of microfilm exchange, whereby the technical equipment was to be left to the National Archives, after local staff had received appropriate training during the filming campaign. The films exposed in Cameroon were developed, controlled and duplicated in the Federal Archives. The National Archives in Yaounde received a duplicate film.

History of the Inventory Designer: Writer Description of the Inventory: Notes on her stay in Cameroon (around 1910); diary notes (1919-1925, 1932-1936, 1943-1953) and other documents from political and literary activities, including on the resistance of the Black Front against the NSDAP and on the Moringen camp (Northeim district). (as of 1977) Citation method: BArch, N 1121/...

History of the Inventor: After the German Reich had abandoned an active colonial policy in the first years of its existence due to foreign policy considerations, this changed in 1884. The colonies Deutsch-Südwestafrika, Togo, Cameroon, Deutsch-Neuguinea, Deutsch-Ostafrika and Samoa, formally referred to as "protectorates", emerged. The governorates of these protectorates established in the following period were first under the control of the Colonial Department in the A u s w ä r t i g e s A m t and finally of the resulting R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t . The Kiautschou leasehold in China, acquired in 1898, was subject to the R e i c h s m a r i n e a m t . From the very beginning it was necessary to be able to assert and protect the interests of the empire in the colonies by military force. In the initial phase, this task was performed by ships and landing commands of the Imperial Navy. In the German South Sea colonies this remained so until the end. In the African colonies there was a development of their own. In 1889, a troupe of German volunteers with a contract under an active officer (Captain Curt von François) was formed in D e u t s c h - S ü d w e s t a f r i k a , which was initially only to perform police duties. In 1889, in D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a, the Reich Commissioner Captain Herrmann Wissmann set up a troop of recruited Africans to suppress the "Arab Uprising" that broke out in 1888. With the law of 22 March 1891 the "Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika" was finally formed from volunteers of the army and navy as well as recruited volunteers, followed by the "Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika" and the "Schutztruppe für Kamerun" with the law of 9 June 1895. A protection force for Togo was planned at times, but was not formed, just as there were no protection forces for German New Guinea or Samoa. Only police troops were formed there. In the respective protectorates the governor held the highest military power, the commander of the protection troop was subordinated to him. The protection troops were responsible for maintaining security and public order. At times the individual protection troops were exclusively occupied with the suppression of insurrections of the indigenous population. To this end, some considerable personnel reinforcements were recruited from Germany. The Schutztruppen were first led by the Reichsmarineamt. With the "Gesetz betreffend die Kaiserlichen Schutztruppen in den Afrikanischen Schutzgebieten und die Wehrpflicht daselbst" of 18 July 1896, the Schutztruppen were subordinated to the Reich Chancellor, administered by the Colonial Department in the Foreign Office. In the Colonial Department, the Department M - Military Administration (Command or High Command of the Protection Forces) was responsible. The Prussian War Ministry (Army Department) took over the organizational support. Command affairs were handled by the Director of the Colonial Department, with Division M as his military staff. With the establishment of the R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t by the Most High Decree of 17 May 1907, the command of the Schutztruppen was placed under its control, now as a military command staff with responsible command power. Like the Navy, the Schutztruppen were under the supreme command of the Emperor. Its members were volunteers of the army (or armies of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg) and the navy, who retired from the respective army or navy for the time of their service in the Schutztruppen and then returned there again. The male German population in the protectorates was subject to compulsory military service. The conscripts in the Schutztruppen were able to meet these demands. In 1913 the Schutztruppe included the following personnel: - Command of the Schutztruppe in Berlin: 80 men - Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika: 2758 men (266 Germans, 2492 natives) - Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika: 1970 Mann (German) - Schutztruppe für Kamerun: 1471 Mann (171 German, 1300 indigenous) During the Herero Uprising, the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika's personnel strength in 1907 was approx. 15,000 men. The outbreak of the First World War hit the German colonies unprepared. Defensive measures against other colonial powers had never been seriously considered, the Imperial Government had assumed that in the event of a European conflict the colonies could be kept out of the fighting according to the agreements in the Congo Act of 1885, despite warning voices from the colonies themselves. On 1 August 1914, therefore, only a state of emergency was declared in the protectorates. It was not until mid-August 1914 that mobilization began in the protectorates, but the armed units there (Schutztruppen, police troops, naval units present) were ultimately without a chance compared with the opponents who were far superior in terms of numbers and materials. The following were lost, partly after fierce fighting, partly without a fight: - on 27 August 1914 Togo - on 7 September 1914 Samoa - on 17 September 1914 Deutsch-Neuguinea - on 9 July 1915 Deutsch-Südwestafrika - in February 1916 Cameroon The Kiautschou leasehold area under the control of the Navy had capitulated after heavy fighting on 7 November 1914. It was only in D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a that the Schutztruppe was able to hold its ground to the end and thus bind considerable enemy forces. Their commander, Major General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, only laid down his weapons on 25 November 1918 on order from Berlin. Processing note: The stock RW 51 was originally created as stock for the "imperial protection troops and other German land forces overseas" and comprised 29 units. In 2010, the documents of the East Asian Expeditionary Corps were extracted and, together with the corresponding new additions, formed the newly created holdings RW 61. Since then, the holdings of RW 51 have consisted exclusively of documents of the Imperial Protection Forces and were subsequently fundamentally revised and developed further. Some new additions were added. Description of the holdings: The collection contains the documents of the Imperial Schutztruppen for D e u t s c h - S ü d w e s t a f r i k a , D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a and Cameroon, as well as the command of the Schutztruppen, as far as they are available in the military archives. Characterization of content: The inventory contains only a few real fact files. It consists above all of a compilation of commandos of the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika from 1907 to 1914, as well as a file of the same commandos with reports of subordinated units and offices from 1916. In addition there are documents on organization and supply in Deutsch-Ostafrika and Deutsch-Südwestafrika and in particular some hand-drawn maps. Only two documents have survived on Cameroon. State of development: The inventory RW 51 was originally created as an inventory for the "imperial protection troops and other German land forces overseas" and comprised 29 units. In 2010, the documents of the East Asian Expeditionary Corps were extracted and, together with the corresponding new additions, formed the newly created holdings RW 61. Since then, the holdings of RW 51 have consisted exclusively of documents of the Imperial Protection Forces and were subsequently fundamentally revised and developed further. Some new additions were added. Pre-archival order: The tradition of the Schutztruppen In the Bundearchiv military archive is purely fragmentary. The Schutztruppen archive in the Heeresarchiv was destroyed during the air raid on Potsdam in April 1945. This applies to the personnel files of the Schutztruppen and to the records in the archives of the Schutztruppen in the colonies themselves. The tradition of the command of the Schutztruppen is essentially in the R 1001 R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t . The documents of the protection troops remaining in Africa after the First World War are now in the national archives of Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), Namibia (Windhoek) and Cameroon (Duala). In addition, the Belgian Imperial Archives in Brussels contain documents of the Rwandan Schutztruppen. Films on the documents in Windhoek and Dar es Salaam can be found in the Federal Archives in Berlin. Replacement records of the Schutztruppen and their deployments can be found above all in the documents of the Imperial Navy, which as a rule acted in a supportive capacity or, during uprisings, also issued landing commands. In addition, reference should be made to the tradition of the contingents of protection troops in the respective state archives provided by Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg. Scope, explanation: 30 AU Citation method: BArch, RW 51/...

History of the inventor: born 8.3.1840 in Saarlouis; died 17.2.1920 in Berlin; last position: Kdr. Admiral and Chief of the Imperial OKM Processing note: Search index Inventory description: Personalia: Curriculum vitae; Patents and transport documents, 1859 - 1893; Commandments and appointments, 1871 - 1903; Acknowledgements, rebukes, instructions, complaints, 1870 - 1896; Farewell petition by Knorr and replies from Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1898 - 1899; Award and ownership documents, 1864 - 1913; 5 volumes of memoirs, 1840 - 1889; Correspondence and appointments, 1871 - 1903; Acknowledgements, rebukes, instructions, complaints, 1870 - 1899; Award and ownership documents, 1864 - 1913; 5 volumes of memoirs, 1840 - 1889; Correspondence and appointments, 1871 - 1903a. with associations and as secular third class canon of the cathedral Brandenburg/Havel; Appendix: Awards for the wife Luise Viktoria von Knorr, 1870 - 1898; Press article on naval matters, 1855 - 1915; Plans for a sanatorium ship, 1904; Letter with list about estate of the admiral E.v.Knorr, 1944 citation: BArch, N 578/...

History of the Inventory Designer: General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck Life data 20.03.1870 born in Saarlouis 09.03.1964 died in Hamburg Career 1881 Cadet 1884 Main Cadet Institute Groß-Lichterfelde 07.02.1888 Portepee-Fähnrich at the 4.Garderegiment on foot 1889 Sekondeleutnant 1895 Premierleutnant 1900/01 Participation in the Boxer Movement China; Promotion to Captain 1904-1906 Deutsch-Südwestafrika; First Adjutant in the staff of the commander of the Schutztruppe "Lothar von Trotha" and as Company Chief at the suppression of the uprising of the Herero 1906 Kommandierung to the Großer Generalstab 1907 Promotion to Major; Adjutant of the Generalkommando des 11. Army Corps 1909 Commander II Sea Battalions in Wilhelmshaven 1913 Promotion to Lieutenant Colonel 18.10.1903 Commander of the Imperial Protection Corps for Cameroon 13.04.1914 Commander Protection Corps D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a 1918 Promotion to Major General Apr. 1919 Command of the Guard Cavalry Shooting Corps under the Marine Division Oct. 1919 Leadership of the Reichswehr Brigade 9 of the "Transitional Army" in Schwerin 1920 Characterisation as Lieutenant General and dismissal from the Reichswehr 1923 Wholesale merchant 1928-1930 Member of Parliament of the conservative German National People's Party in the Reichstag 1930 Change to the People's Conservative Union 1933 State Council in Bremen 27.08.1939 (so called Tannenbergtag) Character of a general of the infantry 1956 Honorary citizen of his birth town Saarlouis Awards 04.11.1916 Pour le Merite 10.10.1917 Eichenlaub zum Pour le Merite 30.01.1920 Ritterkreutz der sächsischen Militär-St.-The estate contains personal papers, documents on military and public honours, private and private correspondence, diary notes and memoirs as well as elaborations on various topics and photographs from the life of General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (20.3.1870-9.3.1964). The collection documents the personal and military career of Lettow-Vorbecks, including his participation in the Boxer War in China (1901-1904) as an adjutant of the 1st East Asian Infantry Brigade, his deployment in the command of the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika (1905-1906) and as commander of the Schutztruppe Deutsch-Ostafrika (1914-1918). In addition, Lettow-Vorbeck's activities as a war veteran and member of the Reichstag of the DNVP in the Weimar Republic and the reactions to his death in 1964 will be highlighted, as will his work on colonial history and documentations on political topics from the time of the Weimar Republic, in particular the Reichswehr and the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch. References to other holdings, in particular RM 5 - Navy Admiral Staff; RW 51 - Imperial Protection Forces and other Overseas Forces; R 1001 - Reichskolonialamt; R 1002 - Authorities of the former protectorate Deutsch-Südwestafrika; digital photos of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck from the Federal Archives' image holdings can be found in the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia Content Characterization: Because of its great importance and the intensive demand for it from researchers, the estate was processed and recorded in the archives soon after it was handed over to the Federal Archives at the end of the 1960s. In 2008, the indexing of the holdings was fundamentally revised while retaining the older archival order. Pre-archival order: The estate of Paul von Lettow-Vorbecks was transferred to the Federal Archives in August 1964 by the daughter of Countess Heloise von Rantzau-Pronstorf, who died in the same year. It had initially been deposited there as a deposit, on 31 December 1999 the documents became the property of the Federal Archives. The holdings contain self-testimonies and autobiographical records at various stages of their development; the classification features of the archival indexing could not always be clearly assigned due to the specific character of the documents. Citation style: BArch, N 103/...

History of the Inventory Designer: In 1885, the New Guinea Company was formed in Berlin from the consortium that had undertaken numerous voyages of discovery in New Guinea between 1884 and 1885 under the direction of Adolph von Hansemann. The aim was to establish a state in the South Seas with its own sovereign rights under the protection of the German Reich; in May 1889, the German Reich temporarily took over bisSept. In 1892 the administration of the protectorate, the costs continued to be borne by the company; when the investments in 1893 increased to 7 million. In April 1895 the administration was transferred to the German Reich; the company thus became a purely private acquisition company, which in 1900 was transformed into a German colonial company; its headquarters became Rabaul; after the ownership of the New Guinea company had been confiscated by Australia in 1920, it sought a new field of activity in Venetzuela and Cameroon. Characterization of the content: Takeover of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands by the German Reich with the help of the New Guinea Company (Imperial Protection Letters); annual reports of the management and business correspondence. State of development: Publication Findbuch and Online Findbuch 2003 Citation method: BArch, R 8133/...

Federal Archives, BArch BILD 163

History of the Inventory Designer: 1907 Formation of the R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t from the Colonial Department of the A u s w ä r t i g e s A m t ; 1919 Transformation into a R e i c h s k o l o n i a l ministry and assumption of the liquidation business for the former German colonial territories; after its dissolution in 1920, assumption of the tasks by the R e i c h s m a r i n a m i n g for reconstruction (Colonial Central Administration) until its dissolution in 1924; thereafter, processing of colonial affairs again by the A u s w ä r t i g e s A m t . Inventory description: Inventory history The files of the central colonial administration of the German Reich have been subject to organisational changes from the subject area or department at kaiserli‧chen Auswärtiges Amt to the Imperial Reichsamt and Ministry of the Wei‧marer Republic and back to the department or department at the Auswärtiges Amt. Many volumes of files or subject series were easily continued organically beyond the verschie‧denen changes; for the period after 1920 this often means that they slowly ebbed away. Real breaks in the Aktenfüh‧rung can usually not be determined. The registry of Reichskolonialmi‧niste‧riums therefore formed a closed one in 1919 and after the extensive loss of colonial political tasks in the eyes of many even closed Kör‧per. The files were distributed according to the former secret registries of the Reichsko‧lonialamts as follows: Secret registry KA I East Africa Secret registry KA II Southwest Africa Secret registry KA III South Sea Secret registry KA IV Cameroon and Togo Secret registry KA V Legal cases Secret registry KA VI Scientific and medical cases Secret registry KA VII General secret registry KA VIII Agriculture Secret registry KA I-VII Foreign Countries and Possessions Secret Registry KB I Budget and Accounting Secret Registry KB II Technical Matters Secret Registry KB III Railway Matters Already in the Cabinet Meeting on 1. In 1919, the Reich Minister of the Interior, Matthias Erzberger, had spoken about the files of the then still existing Kolonialministeri‧ums and had suggested that "the archives of the Reichs‧kolonialamts and the Reich Marine Office should be merged with the corresponding facilities of the Großer Generalstab and an independent Reich archive should be created in a city yet to be determined, which would be directly subordinated to the Reich Ministry [cabinet]". Ministerialdirigent Meyer-Gerhard had contradicted this in his memorandum of 30 Sept. 1919 and demanded that both the files and the extensive library of the R e i c h s k o l o n i a l ministry be handed over to the A u s w ä r t i g e s A m t , where he also wanted to see the permanently preserved Orga‧nisati‧onseinheiten of the Colonial Ministry located. Only the files that were no longer needed were to be destroyed or handed over to the Reich Archives. In fact, the files were initially handed over to the R e i c h s m i n g e r a m i n g for reconstruction and were inspected in 1924 when the Colonial Department was transferred to the Foreign Office. An inventory shows which files were transferred directly to the Reichsarchiv, transferred to the Auswärtiges Amt, or immediately became ver‧nichtet . While only very few files were immediately destroyed and by far the largest part of the files were immediately handed over to the archive, bean‧spruchte the Federal Foreign Office, in addition to some documents of fundamental Be‧deutung, even from long chronological volume sequences, mostly only those volumes which were important for the ak‧tuellen business and left the older volumes in each case to the archive. However, a large part of the Ak‧ten taken over from the Federal Foreign Office was also handed over to the Reichsarchiv during the course of the continuous reduction process to which the kolonialpoliti‧sche subdivision or the "Colonial Department" was exposed. Remnants of these documents were handed over to the Federal Archives by the Auswärti‧gen Office in February 2000. In 1945 the Reichsarchiv was probably home to a largely complete record of the central colonial administration of the German Reich. The orga‧nische character of the tradition forbid a breakdown of the documents, so that the entire tradition was stored in one inventory at the R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t zusammenge‧faßt . The R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t's destruction of the R e i c h s c h s a f t on 14 April 1945 severely affected the R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t's Ak‧ten . Approximately 30 of the holdings were burnt, including the registries KB I (budget and Rech‧nungswesen), II (technical matters) and III (railway matters). Also the files of the Schutztruppen and the files of the administrations that have reached the Reichsarchiv ein‧zelner Schutzgebiete have completely fallen victim to the flames. Archivische Bewertung und Bearbeitung In the Central State Archives of the GDR in Potsdam, the original registry order was discarded as Klassifika‧tion for the holdings during the processing of the Be‧stands 10.01 R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t . The mixed order, which combined registration, systematic and territorial criteria of order, was replaced by a structure, which arranged the files according to territorial aspects as far as possible. In the course of the revision of the finding aids for the present finding aid, which were compiled in the Central State Archives, the original order of the holdings was restored with the help of the registry aids that had been transferred to Bundesar‧chiv in 2000. The contexts of the original Regi‧straturordnung, according to An‧sicht, provide the author with a better and more systematic overview of the overall tradition than the systematic aspects of ver‧schleiernde "regionalisation" of the holdings. The former "Koblenz" inventory R 101 Reichskolonialamt consisted mainly of copies which the colonial writer Georg Thielmann-Groeg made, mainly in Reichsar‧chiv, from the files of the Reichskolonialamt. The indexing of this collection die‧sem Findbuch, which goes down to the individual file piece, is attached in an appendix because it compiles important documents on German colonial history in compressed form - with a focus on GermanSüd‧west‧afrika. For reasons of conservation, the oversized investment cards were taken from the volumes in inventory R 1001 and replaced by reference sheets. The maps were recorded on color macrofiches and organized in a mapNeben‧bestand under the designation R 1001 Kart. Content characterisation: Colonies and colonial policy, general; military and navy; colonial law, police matters; slaves and slave trade; research, surveying, demarcation; immigration, settlement, support, civil status; economy, trade, customs, taxes; agriculture and forestry; post and transport; missions and schools; health care. Non-German colonies and Liberia: British colonies; French colonies; Portuguese and Spanish colonies; Italian, Dutch, North American colonies. D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a and D e u t s c h - S ü d w e s t a f r i k a: Colonisation, general management and administration, political development; military and police, inspection and information tours; colonial law, criminal cases, inheritance and real estate; slavery and slave trade; research, surveying, demarcation; immigration, settlement, support, civil status; economy, trade, customs, taxes; agriculture, forestry, fishing; postal services and transport; missions and schools; health care. Cameroon: German-West African Trading Company, South and North-West Cameroon Society; colonisation, central and regional administration; political development; military and police, inspection and information tours; colonial law; research, surveying, demarcation; immigration, settlement, support, civil status; economy, trade, customs, taxes, banks, agriculture and forestry, fisheries; postal and transport services; health care; missions and schools. Togo: central and regional administration, political development; military and police, inspection and information missions; colonial law; research, surveying, demarcation; immigration, settlement, support, civil status; economy, trade, customs, taxes, banks; agriculture, forestry, fisheries; postal services and transport; missions, schools, health care. Congo: General; Berlin Conference. New Guinea: New Guinea company; colonization, central and regional administration, political development; military and police; colonial law; research, surveying, demarcation; immigration, settlement, support, civil status; economy, trade, taxes, customs, banks; agriculture, forestry, fishing; post and transport; health care, schools. Caroline, Mariana and Palau Islands: colonisation, general, management and administration, political development; colonial law; research, surveying, demarcation; immigration, settlement, support, civil status; economy, trade, customs, taxes; post and transport; missions, schools, health care. Samoa: colonisation, central and regional administration, political development; military; colonial law, police matters; research, surveying, demarcation; immigration, resettlement, civil status; economy, trade, customs, taxes, banks; agriculture and forestry; post, transport, shipping; missions, schools, health care. Marshall Islands: colonization, general management and administration, political development; research, surveying, settlement, employment; trade, customs, taxes, post, transport; missions, school, health care. Solomon Islands: Kiautschou/China R 1001 Annex: photocopies of documents on the acquisition of German colonial territories; photocopies of documents on Deutsch-Südwestafrika; copies of files of the Reichskolonialamt on Deutsch-Südwestafrika; diary of the Hottentot leader Hendrik Witbooi in Deutsch-Südwestafrika; horse breeding in North Cameroon. Erinnerungen von Kurt Freiherr von Crailsheim; "Kriegsnachrichten" newspaper from Deutsch-Südwestafrika, vol. 1915 no. 3; reproductions of portraits of various persons in Deutsch-Südwestafrika; curriculum vitae of Reichskommissar Dr. jur. Heinrich Goering. State of development: Publication Findbuch (2002); Online Findbuch (2003) Citation method: BArch, R 1001/...

History of the Inventory Designer: The "Reichsstelle für Garten- und Weinbauerzeugnisse" (Reichsstelle) was established on 01 November 1936. The legal basis for the establishment was the Act on the Sale of Horticultural and Viticultural Products of 30 September 1936 (RGBL. I p. 854). The Reich Office carried out a state economic activity. Its main task was to monitor and direct the import of the products farmed, in terms of quantity, place and time, in accordance with the requirements of the internal market and, at the same time, to guide the pricing of these products in such a way as to avoid, as far as possible, disturbances resulting from the difference between world prices and domestic prices. The Reich Office was thus also involved in the internal market equalization process and in stock management. They were the only means by which horticultural and wine-growing products imported from a customs territory or a customs exclusion area could be placed on the market in the customs territory. All horticultural and wine-growing products to be imported from a customs foreign country or from a customs exclusion area which were subject to the Act on the Trade in Horticultural and Wine-growing Products of 30 September 1936 were therefore to be offered for sale to the Reich Agency. The takeover by the Reich Office was effected by means of a takeover certificate, the issuance of which the importer applied for from the Reich Office. The Reich agency was not obliged to take over the offered horticultural and wine-growing products. The import of the goods could therefore be stopped at any time. The horticultural and wine-growing products placed on the domestic market by the domestic producer were not subject to the restrictions of the Horticultural and Wine-growing Products Trade Act in view of the market organisation implemented for them. Only the products imported from a customs foreign country or a customs exclusion area were managed by the Reich Office. Its scope resulted from Article III of the seventh Regulation implementing and supplementing the Law on the marketing of horticultural and wine-growing products of 7 June 1940 (RGBl. I p. 862). The Imperial Agency mainly imported products from the following countries: - European countries of origin: Baltic States, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Spain, Hungary and Portugal. - Non-European countries of origin: Afghanistan, Egypt, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Japan, India, Iran, Cameroon, Canada, Mexico, Palestine, Somalia, South African Union, Syria, Turkey, USA, West Indies and Cameroon. Imported products have been grouped into the following product groups: - Vegetables, fruit, tropical fruits, potatoes, vegetable seeds, flower seeds, tobacco seeds, caraway seeds, azaleas, cut flowers and reindeer lichen. The Reich Office was divided into main departments, departments and subject areas. The division into departments and their subdivision into subject areas resulted from the business allocation plan. The "Überwachungsstelle für Gartenbau-Erzeugnisse, Getränke und sonstige Lebensmittel" (Überwachungsstelle), which was established on 24 September 1934 (Deutscher Reichs- und Preußischer Staatsanzeiger 1934 No. 209), was merged with the Reichsstelle to form the "Reichsstelle für Garten- und Weinbauerzeugnisse als Überwachungsstelle" (Reichsstelle as Überwachungsstelle) by ordinance of 6 December 1938 (Deutscher Reichs- und Preußischer Staatsanzeiger 1938 No. 291). The merger brought together, as far as possible, bodies of the same or a similar nature from the two services, such as money, assets, staff and materials management, registers, the law firm, the post office and the branches located in the same place. The former Main Department III of the Reich Office and the country groups I - VI of the Surveillance Office were also merged, so that the applications for the issue of foreign exchange certificates and takeover certificates could be dealt with in one operation. The Reich Office as a supervisory office was now divided into 5 main departments, 6 departments, 21 subdivisions and 15 subject areas. The range of tasks of the Reich Office as such, however, remained unchanged in principle. In addition, the tasks of the supervisory authority remained essentially unchanged, namely the examination of applications for foreign exchange certificates submitted by importers from a formal and economic point of view, in particular in accordance with the rules on foreign exchange control, the import of vegetables, fruit, juices, wines, tea and live plants, and their allocation. It also issued foreign exchange certificates applied for and checked that the importers used the certificates issued in due time and in the proper manner. The tasks of the Reich Office as a supervisory authority were thus also determined by the Foreign Exchange Control Act. Pursuant to § 2 (2) of this Act, in addition to the foreign exchange offices, the monitoring offices also took their measures and made their decisions in accordance with guidelines drawn up by the Reich Office for Foreign Exchange Management in agreement with the Reich Minister for Economic Affairs and the Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture. These directives delimited the tasks of the supervisory authorities in that they supervised the import and payment of goods and controlled purchase prices. They also had to take measures in the field of internal management (e.g. processing and export bans). The Reich Office as well as the Surveillance Office were corporations under public law, i.e. legal entities of their own, which financed themselves and were not maintained from Reich funds. They were subject to the supervision of the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The Reichstelle, as the supervisory authority, also had to obtain approval for the scale of fees from this authority. Examples of chargeable events were the issue of foreign exchange certificates and the issue of expert opinions on private settlement transactions. However, the monitoring agency carried out book and company audits free of charge, unless the audit revealed that a company had violated official orders. After the outbreak of the war, the Reich Office was confronted with new tasks as a supervisory office with regard to the procurement of goods. All enemy states and a large part of the neutral states failed as suppliers, while the demand for food imports of all kinds grew steadily. As a result, prices abroad also rose sharply, so that the Reich Office's previous task of raising foreign prices to the German price level by means of differential amounts became illusory and was finally reversed in the opposite direction, namely that of reducing the price of imported goods. The other task, the territorial control of the import of goods, had already been transferred to a greater extent to the main associations (e.g.: Main Association of the German Horticultural Industry) at the outbreak of the war, so that only the area of responsibility of the supervisory authority remained. The Reich office as such was therefore closed at the beginning of July 1943. In the course of the effects of the war, the surveillance agency took on ever greater dimensions as the difficulties in procuring goods grew. After the end of the war, the assets of the Reichsstelle were liquidated by the Allies. The storage and import point in Hamburg was authorized by § 5 No. 2 of the Ordinance of the Central Office for Food and Agriculture of 17 August 1946 (Official Gazette for Food and Agriculture No. 2 of 24 August 1946) and by decree of the Food and Agriculture Council in Stuttgart of 04 July 1946 to liquidate the assets of the Reich Office, insofar as they were located in the American and British occupation zone. The branch office in Bavaria was handled by the office of the trade associations. A trustee was appointed to carry out the liquidation, who received his activity permit from the competent British supervisory authority and headed the 'Liquidation Office of the Reich Office for Horticultural and Viticultural Products as a Supervisory Office' in Berlin and the 'Liquidation Office of the Main Association of the German Horticultural Industry and Reich Office for Horticultural and Viticultural Products as a Supervisory Office - Munich Branch'. The final dispute over the assets of the former Reich offices within the four occupation zones was reserved for the decision of the Allied Control Council. Inventory description: Inventory description The files of the Reich Office for Horticultural and Viticultural Products were transferred to the Federal Archives in Koblenz in 1974 from the Oberfinanzdirektion Berlin, which was responsible for handling the Reich's food supply. The 248 files have a term from 1930 to 1973, whereby the mass of the files originated between 1936 and 1945. The documents contain above all documents which have arisen as a result of the Reich Office's business relations with the importers: agreements on quantities and prices for various products, currency certificates and takeover certificates, notes on business trips and company audits. The inventory can also be used to a limited extent as a substitute for the insufficient inventory of inventory R 3601 (Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture) due to war damage. No cassations were made. A file plan for the Reich Office did not exist. There was also no registry in the Reich office. The order of the files and their filing was carried out by the employees of the Reich Office according to their respective tasks and priorities. The rules of procedure are therefore partly unconventional and unsystematic. Consequently, there are documents in the files with different thematic classifications. Only an order according to individual countries is recognizable. The classification in the finding aid is based on this order by country. Only a few files were prearchived with titles. The file titles were therefore formed according to the predominant factual content of the file. The units of description were, if necessary, indexed more deeply by means of contained annotations. Characterisation of content: The main focus of the text is on documents relating to the business activities of the Reich Office, in particular ministerial decrees and materials for foreign trade with European and non-European countries: BArch, R 15-IV/...

History of the Inventory Designer: Theodor Seitz, On the Rise and Fall of German Colonial Power. Erinnerungen, 3 Vol., Karlsruhe 1927-1929 Governor of Cameroon and Deutsch-Südwestafrika Inventory description: Diaries on journeys through Cameroon (status: 1977) Citation method: BArch, N 1175/...

Naval officer, Freikorpsführer and writer Bogislaw Selchow Life data July 4, 1877 born in Köslin died February 6, 1943 died in Berlin Military career April 7, 1897 Recruitment as cadet of the Kaiserl. Navy May 1897 Cadet on board of SMS stone 6.12.1897 Participation in the siege of the port of Port au Prince on Haiti with SMS stone 27.4.1898 Promotion to sea cadet Apr. 1898- Sep. 1900 In various functions on board of SMS Moltke, Hela, Mars and Blücher Jan.March 1900 Meningitis, Marinelazarett Kiel 3.9.1900 Ensign at sea 23.9.1900 Transportation to lieutenant at sea Nov. 1900- Nov. 1901 On board of SMS Sachsen, from Oct. 1901 as adjutant; on 4.9.1901 Collision with SMS Wacht near Rügen, which then sinks Nov. 1901- Sep. 1902 Adjutant aboard SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Große 15.3.1902 Promotion to lieutenant at sea Oct.-Dec. 1902 Wachoffizier aboard SM Torpedoboot G 109 Jan.-Apr. 1903 Company officer of the second company of the I. Torpedo Department, in April radio course on SMS Neptun Apr.-Sep. 1903 Watch officer aboard SM Torpedoboot G 109 Oct./Nov. 1903 Departure as passenger to East Asia aboard SS King Albert Nov. 1903- May 1905 Watch officer aboard SMS Hertha in the Asian region with return journey to Kiel via Africa and the Mediterranean Sea 11.9.1904 Award of the Kung-Pai Order of Merit (Chinese Silver Medal of Remembrance) on the occasion of an audience with the Empress's widow and the Emperor of China 11.2.1905 Award of the Royal Siamese Crown Order of the Fourth Class on the occasion of an audience with the King of Siam June-Sep. 1906 Commander of SM Torpedoboote S 29, S 25 and S 30 as well as services in the Mine Company and as First Officer of the Mine Search Reserve Division Oct. 1906 - June 1907 Naval Academy 6.3.1907 Promotion to Captain Lieutenant July 1907 Service on board of SMS Elector Friedrich Wilhelm Aug.Sep. 1907 Service on board SMS Yorck Oct. 1907- June 1908 Naval Academy July-Sep. 1908 Language leave in England 22.8.1908 Appointment as Honorary Knight of the Johanniter Order Oct. 1908 Departure as a passenger to West Africa on SS Lucie Woermann Nov. 1908- Nov. 1909 First officer on board SMS Sperber Nov./Dec. 1909 Return as a passenger to Germany on SS Lucie Woermann Dec. 1909- Jan. 1909- Jan. 1909 1911 Admiral Staff of the Navy Jan. 1911- March 1913 Adjutant of the North Sea Station 19.9.1912 Award of the Red Eagle Order 4th Class Apr. 1913- Nov. 1914 First Officer aboard SMS Victoria Louise 22.3.1914 Promotion to Corvette Captain 17.7.1914 Award of the Royal Crown to the Red Eagle Order 4th Class 10.11.1914- 30.6.1915 Commander of the 1st Btl. of the Sailor Artillery Regiment III (10.-25.11.1914); II. Part of Sailor's Artillery Regiment I (26.11.-31.12.1914); Part of Sailor's Artillery Regiment II (1.1.-4.2.1915); Part of Sailor's Regiment 4 (5.2.-10.5.1915); Part of Sailor's Regiment 5 (III.2.-10.5.1915); Part of Sailor's Regiment 5 (11.11.-31.12.1914).5.-30.6.1915); Field of application: Flanders 1.5.1915 Wound at Het Sas/Belgium by splinters of shell in head, right shoulder, right arm and right leg 7.2.1915 Iron cross II. class Aug.-Dec. 1915 First officer aboard SMS Freya Jan.-March 1916 Reservelazarett Liebenstein Apr. 1916- July 1917 First officer aboard SMS Hannover, in this function participation in the Battle of Skagerrak on 31.5./1.6.1916 30.6.1916 Award of the Iron Cross I. Class 22.8.1916 Award of the Oldenburg Friedrich-August-Kreuz I. and II. Class 14.9.1916 Neurasthenia recognised as war service damage by the Kdo. von SMS Hannover July 1917 - end of war Admiralstab der Marine 1918 Publication of the propaganda "World War and Fleet" 10.4.1918 Austrian Military Merit Cross 3rd class with war decoration 20.5.1918 Award of the Grand Ducal Hessian Medal of Valour 16.11.1918- 20.8.1919 Department head in the Reichsmarineamt 20.8.1919 Promotion to frigate captain Civil life After his departure from the navy, Bogislav von Selchow began studying history in Marburg and was at the same time commissioned by the Reichswehr Brigade Kassel to form a voluntary formation of Marburg students to protect the young republic. Von Selchow founded the Freikorps "Studentenkorps Marburg" (StuKoMa) and subsequently commanded it in the suppression of Spartacist and Council Democratic riots in Thuringia. On 20 March 1920, the so-called massacre of Mechterstädt took place, in which 15 workers suspected of being rebels, who had been arrested by a StuKoMa strike force, were shot - allegedly "on the run". The accused for these killings were acquitted in two sensational trials, the sentences received by the public as an act of class justice with disgust and protest. Von Selchow had stood before his men during the trial, and Marburg University also showed solidarity with its students and rehabilitated them completely. In addition, von Selchow organized himself in the right-wing extremist, later illegal so-called organization Escherich (Orgesch), which he temporarily led in West Germany. The paramilitary organization set up secret arsenals for an expected fight against Bolshevism and was responsible for murders of personalities of the opposing political camp. Disappointed by Escherich's hesitation to take an offensive course against the Republic, he turned away from Orgesch again in December 1922, resigned his command of the StuKoMa and withdrew from the political public until 1933. Bogislav von Selchow received his doctorate from the University of Marburg on 24.1.1923. Already in 1920 he had published his first volume of poems "Deutsche Gedanken", and soon he succeeded with his poems in the right spectrum. He was now active as a writer and philosopher of history and developed, as a child of his epoch, a so-called "Zeitwendemodell", which depicted the spiritual-historical and political development of mankind. Von Selchow defined the ages of the "all-time", the "we-time" and the "ego-time", which were shaped by various social forces. This system of thought became the basis for his works and, together with the topos of the heroic that he repeatedly took up, made him an ideological pioneer of National Socialism. His anti-Semitism and his view of current events after the fall of the old world had brought him close to the NSDAP by 1933 at the latest: although he was never a party member, he developed into a passionate National Socialist and was one of the 48 personalities who publicly called for Adolf Hitler to be elected in 1933. In 1936 the NS-Studentenkameradschaft, which had emerged from the former Marburger Burschenschaft Germania, named itself after von Selchow. On 9.6.1939 he was appointed honorary senator of the Philipps-Universität Marburg. Description of the holdings: The estate consists of two main areas: the so-called logbooks and a literary-philosophical collection of material, which is supplemented by manuscripts. The so-called logbooks are available until 1931 without gaps and reflect individual experiences and facts in partly epic breadth. 39 of the 51 "logbooks contain records of Selchow from his time as an active naval officer and as leader of the "student corps Marburg" in Freikorpseinsatz. In addition there are copies of the logbooks 61 to 68, which only contain illustrations and cover the period from 1935 to 1940. The "logbooks", however, are not diaries in the narrower sense, but rather through-composed memory books. Von Selchow transferred his diary entries recorded on loose-leaf collections - an example of which can be found in the collection folder of the planned "Logbuch" 65 (N 428/86) - into leather-bound folios and decorated his work with artistic watercolour and pen drawings, among other things. Empty places in the logbooks, on which notes on the pictures or drawings to be inserted are entered in pencil, to be traced in N 428/46, indicate this procedure. The basis of the logbooks, the diary pages, but also his correspondence and other documents, which were unfortunately destroyed privately in the 1950s, are lost except for fragments found in the present collection. Von Selchow created the "logbooks" by first collecting and compiling his notes and supplementary material in folders. Based on this, he transferred text and illustration onto sheets which he had incorporated into the high-quality leather covers bearing the coat of arms of the von Selchow family and embossed inscriptions. This procedure can be traced by means of the above-mentioned collection folder, other folders he used again for other material collections, among others, see N 428/75. The source value of the "logbooks" is increased by the more than 1,000 precisely identified pictures and photos that illustrate the text beyond the drawings. The illustrations show places, ships, everyday scenes from the soldier's but also private life in the homeland and in international waters, crews and persons for the time up to 1919. In addition there are various documents like nautical charts, invitations, etc. From the context of the tradition it can be concluded that the "logbooks" in the form presented here were probably written in the 1930s, since volumes 61 to 68 have inscribed illustrations and empty spaces for the text to be entered. Bogislav von Selchow belonged to the Uradel and had a large circle of relatives and acquaintances. The logbooks give an insight into the life of these circles from the imperial era to National Socialism and reflect the wealth of official and social contacts in the written memoirs and the correspondence, some of which is reproduced. Some spectacular insights into naval life are provided by Selchow's memoirs about his active service with the Imperial Navy. They show the diversity of experience and impressions as an officer of the Imperial Navy, which was deployed around the German colonies. For the first years of the Weimar Republic the so-called logbooks give valuable insights into the world of the Freikorps, above all the so-called student corps Marburg and the so-called organization Escherich; but also to the organization Consul von Selchow maintained contacts - to the latter two numerous statements can be found in the "logbooks". However, his notes not only bear witness to the early phase of the Weimar Republic, but also to the soldierly thinking of Selchow. Even after his withdrawal from public life in 1922, he remained a soldier in his basic attitude as a poet, writer and philosopher of history living in Berlin. The "logbooks" give direct and unique impressions of the life of a member of the Imperial Navy Corps of Officers - also a nobleman - and of his reactions to the collapse of the old order. In terms of the history of mentality, this part of the estate is revealing for the transition from the Empire to the Weimar Republic and probably the only one of its kind that provides information about the revolutionary events in Berlin. Its value might increase with the inclusion of Selchow's publications, especially his autobiography "One hundred days from my life" from 1936. The estate illustrates Selchow's relationship to the old and despised new system. The copies of the "logbooks" for the years 1935 to 1940 also document Selchow's proximity to and access to parts of the NSDAP leadership in their illustrations. In addition to the logbooks, the literary-philosophical estate of Selchow forms the second focal point of the collection. As a conservative-nationalist thinker, von Selchow attempted to establish a time model that divided world history into intellectual epochs, to which he assigned certain developmental steps of mankind in intellectual, but also scientific, political, and religious terms. He thus followed a research trend of his time. His legacy from this phase of his life as a humanities scholar includes collections of various, often loose materials, texts, smaller publications, newspaper articles and his own drafts, but also large diagrams which represent the basis or intermediate steps of his literary work: the note box of a conservative-nationalist writer of the 1920/30s, enriched with his own manuscripts, some published, some unpublished. The tradition of this material, which can be understood from the diagrams, is, however, incomplete; materials on individual subject areas are missing, but may simply not have been laid out. Notes on other stocks BArch MSg 100 (Bogislav Frhr. von Selchow: Deutsche Marineoffiziere) BArch N 253/262 (Estate of Alfred von Tirpitz, correspondence, letter S) BArch RM 5/920 (Critique of the corvette captain of Selchow on birthday congratulations of the members of the admiral's staff for Grand Admiral v. Holtzendorff, Jan. 1919) Vorarchivische Ordnung: The so-called logbooks are continuously available for the years 1897 to 1931. The Federal Archives acquired volumes 39 to 54 as early as 1957 together with the non-military estate of Selchow and in 1960 bought the remaining pieces from the Marine-Offizier-Hilfe, today: Marine-Offizier-Vereinigung. The first two volumes and volume 51 of the former 68 logbooks contained information on family history and were already missing when the estate was acquired; while volume 1 remains in family possession, volume 2 has been considered lost since 1945. The same applies to the main estate consisting of documents and letters, which was destroyed privately in 1957. These volumes are supplemented by copies of the "Logbooks" 61 to 68 for the period September 1935 to December 1940. The originals of these logbooks are still in family ownership. They differ from the "logbooks" available for the years up to 1931 in that they have remained without text. Only pictures and photos were pasted here and also only these sides were copied and taken over into the present estate. This addition to the collection was carried out in 1987 in cooperation with Selchow's nephew Wolfgang von Selchow, who owned the "logbooks" 61 to 68 at that time. Despite this addition, there is a gap in the stock which cannot be clarified on the basis of the available information: While information is available on the whereabouts of volumes 1, 2 and 51, the whereabouts and contents of volumes 55 to 60, covering the period January 1932 to August 1935, are unknown. The memory books are joined by the literary-historical-philosophical archives, which cover the intellectual work of Selchow from 1920 onwards. After the military archive moved to Freiburg in 1968, the so-called logbooks and the literary material initially remained at the main office in Koblenz due to the literary portions. Only in 1976 did the estate come to Freiburg, where in the Military History Collection under the signature MSg. 100 the so-called pennant boards as well as the so-called commemorative plaques were stored since 1957 or partly since 1964 - personnel sheets of the German naval officers from 1848 to 1909 or short biographies and pictures of all officers of the navy who died and died between 1914 and 1918 and in the post-war fights. Citation style: BArch, N 428/...