Preliminary remark: Very probably at the suggestion of Heeresarchivrat Knoch, who worked from June 1936 to autumn 1943 at the Reichsarchiv branch or at the Heeresarchiv Stuttgart, the Heeresarchiv Stuttgart collected excerpts from newspapers and military journals during these years. The collection, which also contains pieces from earlier years and which has also occasionally included other printed matter and copies of official letters from the Army Archives, primarily comprises documents on general military matters, on war history and on individual military personnel, especially those of the 19th and 20th centuries. As the archival term "Auskunftei" (information agency) (cf. e.g. no. 196) suggests, the Wahl collection was created with the intention of creating a quick and easy means of information for the employees of the army archives. It does not contain any significant individual pieces, nor does it carry much weight overall. If it was nevertheless rearranged and listed, it is because it can still serve its original purpose today and because it is also revealing to the spirit which prevailed at least among some of the staff of the Heeresarchiv Stuttgart during the National Socialist era. These were marked with the respective keyword and partly with detailed information about the excerpts contained in them. The envelopes were arranged in the alphabetical order of the keywords, but the entire collection was unlisted. In the present order and indexing, the previous order was essentially retained; however, where necessary, the keywords were specified or - in individual cases - changed. The purpose of these notes and cross-references is to facilitate the use of the holdings; life data are only given for persons if they could be determined with a justifiable amount of work. The holdings (389 numbers; 0.70 m) were indexed in March and April 1975 by the archivist. Herrmann under supervision of Oberstaatsarchivrat Dr. Fischer, who also completed the present repertory.Stuttgart, June 1975(Fischer)
The holdings J 150 (pamphlets - collection) were mainly formed from estates and foundations of former officers, as well as from other private donations. A large number of brochures originate from the collection campaign for field libraries in the First World War. These writings have not been incorporated into the Army Archives Manual Library in order not to complicate the clarity of the holdings. For this reason alone, it seemed advisable to structure the material in a separate collection and thus make it accessible for research. Major General z. V. Sieglin had begun his sighting in February 1939. The collection was set up and indexed the following year by the archive employee Martin. Since in many cases an author or editor is not named, the classification of the pamphlets into keyword groups was justified. The list also includes keywords for which no writings are yet available, but in whose groups access can be expected. For this reason, there are also gaps in the consecutive sequence of numbers, the closure of which depends on the later use of new keywords. The alphabetical order could thus be maintained in the directory. The indexing took place in the Allegro library database. The holdings can be searched both with the library program and via the online find book. Contents and Evaluation The collection essentially contains state and military policy writings from the time of the First World War and the immediate post-war period; there is particularly abundant material on questions of war guilt and war causes, on questions of food and raw materials in war, and finally on the Versailles Peace Treaty and its effects and consequences. The collection also reflects the psychological and moral attitude of the German population in the war and post-war years. Also strongly represented is the disarmament problem up to the time of National Socialist freedom of the armed forces and the question of security in the victorious states. There is also a large amount of Allied writings from the time of the First World War. These are mostly leaflets that were dropped over the trenches. Among the foreign-language writings are those published on behalf of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and written in Arabic or Turkish. The collection also contains material on the National Socialist state, propaganda writings and the events of the time. The collection consists mainly of brochures and sheets with mass circulation. However, there is no lack of general historical, military and cultural writings, as far as their external presentation made an integration into the pamphlet collection appear expedient. For the same reasons, individual journals and newspapers were included in the collection if they were incomplete. Among these most represented journals are the "Süddeutsche Monatshefte" (Süddeutsche Monatshefte) (often with marginal comments by the Württemberg general Gerold von Gleich) and the "Deutsche Flugschriften" published by the national-liberal journalist Ernst Jäckh in the First World War. The weekly publication "Am heiligen Quell Deutscher Kraft", published by General Ludendorff, was also accepted. The writings in question can be used as source material for research purposes in war and military science and for dealing with historical-political questions of the Weimar Republic and National Socialism, especially about Germany's political situation and its struggle for equal rights. During the Second World War the stock was moved to Neuenstein Castle. After the pamphlets had been returned, it was discovered that the collection had been rummaged through by unknown parties and had become disordered. The reorganisation required as a result resulted in the loss of a number of pamphlets as well as certain deficiencies which made a change in the previous arrangement appear necessary. For the purpose of simplification and to achieve a better overview, individual sections, especially the pamphlets listed under "World War" such as "Nutrition, Finances etc.", were dissolved and included under the corresponding headings of the general collection for the sake of simplification and to achieve a better overview, all the more since the separation had not always been strictly carried out from the beginning and therefore numerous publications referring to the First World War were already listed in the general index. The holdings are also documented in the library catalogue of the Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart.