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On April 21, 1933, Hitler appointed his personal secretary Rudolf Hess, the former head of the "Political Central Commission" of the NSDAP, as "deputy of the Führer" and authorized him to decide in his name on all matters concerning the leadership of the party. The main task of the deputy leader and his staff, formed at the headquarters of the NSDAP in Munich, was to "align the Gauleitungen, divisions and affiliated associations of the NSDAP uniformly and to give them political guidelines"(1) This function of a central authority of the internal party leadership had to be fought for and defended first and foremost against the resistance of the Reichsorganisationsleiter Robert Ley, who regarded himself as the main heir of Gregor Strasser and his concentration of power within the party. (2) The "NSDAP liaison staff" set up on 24 March 1933 in the former building of the Prussian State Ministry in Berlin was subordinated to Hess and subsequently served as the Berlin office of the Führer's deputy, without achieving or even exceeding the importance of the Munich staff, also with regard to the later coordination functions vis-à-vis the Reich government. As was already the case when Hess was commissioned to head the Central Political Commission, which had been created at the end of 1932 after Gregor Strasser's dissolution of the Reichsorganisationsleitung, which had developed into a central party-internal power apparatus, as a supervisory organ for its previous main departments III and IV,(3) Hitler's appointment of his private secretary as deputy to the leader was by no means intended to strengthen the position of the party or its Reichsleitung within the National Socialist power structure. While the comparatively generous endowment of the deputy leader's central authority of the party leadership should undoubtedly also serve to curb the power ambitions of other, personally stronger party leaders, the personality of Hess, who had always been a devoted follower of his leader without any independent power within the party leadership, offered a guarantee that a center of power alongside Hitler, as it threatened to develop in the short term in 1932 with Gregor Strasser's rise to "a kind of general secretary of the party with comprehensive powers of attorney" (4), could no longer emerge in the future. Hess could not speak of a supremacy over other "law firms" (law firm of the leader of the NSDAP, Reich Chancellery and - after Hindenburg's death - Presidential Chancellery). Even the later use of the central competences of the office of the deputy of the Führer under the energetic and ruthless leadership of Martin Bormann to develop his known personal position of power could only succeed, since Bormann consciously built up his position, but never only that of Hitler. Rudolf Hess, who was personally rather weak, was, however, granted comprehensive powers in state affairs by the Law of 1 December 1933 on Securing the Unity of Party and State. Like Röhm, the head of the SA staff, Hess was appointed Reich Minister without a portfolio in order to "ensure the closest cooperation between the Party and the State".(5) The position of the deputy leader was decisively strengthened by Hitler's unpublished circular of 27 March, which was issued by the Reichsminister in Berlin. On July 7, 1934, "the deputy of the Führer, Reich Minister Rudolf Hess", was given the position of a "participating" Reich Minister in the legislation without exception.(6) This gave Hess the opportunity to comment on all drafts of laws and ordinances and to assert the party's position. By the "Erlass über die Beteiligung des Stellvertreter des Führers bei der Ernennung von Beamten" (Decree on the Participation of the Deputy Fuehrer in the Appointment of Civil Servants) of 24 September 1935 (7), Hitler also ordered Hess to participate in the appointment of Reich and Land officials in such a way that he received a copy of the proposal for promotion or appointment with more detailed information about the civil servant and was granted a reasonable period of time to comment. As a rule, this deadline was used to obtain the opinion of the local party organisation, particularly on the political position of the candidate. After this decisive expansion of competence, the office of the deputy leader, whose staff comprised "two, three men" when Martin Bormann took over the leadership of the staff in July 1933, (8) took on firmer contours. In 1937, the deputy of the Führer or his staff leader, Reichsleiter Martin Bormann, was headed by Rudolf Mackensen, the staff manager, and a number of clerks, representatives, special representatives, heads of offices, and other officials, only some of whom served exclusively on the staff of the Führer's deputy, while the vast majority headed party institutions that only formally served Hess or (9) The latter included (1937): Main Archive of the NSDAP: Head of Headquarters Dr. Uetrecht The Head of the Foreign Organization of the NSDAP: Gauleiter Bohle The Commissioner for Foreign Policy Issues: Ambassador von Ribbentrop The Commissioner for all Issues of Technology and its Organization: Head of Headquarters Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. G. Bohle The Commissioner for Foreign Policy Issues: Ambassador of Ribbentrop The Commissioner for all Issues of Technology and its Organization: Head of Headquarters Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. G. Bohle The Commissioner for Foreign Policy Issues: Ambassador of Ribbentrop The Commissioner for all Issues of Technology and its Organization: Head of Headquarters Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. G. Todt Der Sachbearbeiter für alle Fragen der Volksgesundheit: Hauptdienstleiter Dr. Wagner Commission for Higher Education Policy: Haupttellenleiter Prof. Dr. Wirz The representative for the new building of the Reich: Gauleiter Adolf Wagner The official for questions of job creation, for financial and tax policy: Hauptdienstleiter State Secretary Reinhardt The official for art and culture: Amtsleiter Schulte-Strathaus The official for music: Head of main office Adam The clerk for school questions: Head of main office Wächtler The clerk for practical-technical questions: Head of office Croneiß Party official examination commission for the protection of Nazi literature: Reichsleiter Bouhler The representative for building industry: General Building Inspector Head of Office Speer In 1938, the following were added: Central Office for the Economic Policy Organisations of the NSDAP: Head of Main Office Keppler Commission for Economic Policy: Head of Office Köhler. In addition to the already mentioned office of the deputy of the Führer in Berlin (liaison staff under head of the main office Stenger), there were also: Special representative of the deputy of the Führer: head of the main office Oexle Representatives for special use (e.g. V.): head of the main office Brockhausen and head of the main office Seidel (Nazi camp for civil servants in Tutzing and Reich camp for civil servants in Bad Tölz). De facto, the Munich office of the deputy leader's deputy consisted essentially of two parts, in addition to the leadership of the staff and the adjutants: Internal party affairs and constitutional issues. According to the published organisational overviews, they were headed by 'clerks', referred to as 'Division II or Division III' in the secret business distribution plans (10 ). During the preparation of this finding aid book, a business distribution plan (1938) of Division II, headed from March 1934 until the end of the war by Helmuth Friedrichs, former Gaug Managing Director of the NSDAP in the Gau Hessen-Kassel region, was determined for the first time for the office of the deputy leader's deputy. There the organisational level below the department level was also called "department" instead of "group" or "main office" as was later the case. Division II - Internal Party Matters - Field: Political Issues of the Party and the State Staff: Head of Main Office Helmuth Friedrichs Division II A Establishment and Expansion of the Party, its Structures and Associated Associations. Observation of economic, social and agricultural policy issues. Head: Head of Office Albert Hoffmann Representative: Head of Head Office Erich Eftger II A a Head of Head Office Pannenborg Organisational questions of the whole party, orders and orders of the deputy of the leader, as far as they concern organisational questions. Observation of the organizational relations of the affiliated associations and the divisions to the party and among each other. liaison with organisations outside the Party dealing with human leadership, as far as the organisation's issues are concerned. II A b Head of Headquarters Franz Schmidt II Social, economic and agricultural policy issues, labour front and questions of the Reich's nutritional status. Connection to the NSBO main office and the Reichsamt für Agrarpolitik. II A d Head of main office Long connection to the main offices and affiliated associations and their fields of activity; in particular local politics, civil servants, educators, war victims, NSDStB, women's affairs, people's welfare with the exception of the National Socialist Association of Lecturers, the National Socialist Association of Physicians, the German Labour Front, the Office for Agricultural Policy, the Office for Technology. Division II B Observation of domestic political developments and their impact on the party and the state. Head: Head of Office Gerland Representative: Witt II B a Head of Witt Reporting (in cooperation with all departments of the staff); orders of the deputy of the leader, as far as they concern ideological questions. II B b Head of Gerland Propaganda and Press Liaison Office (film, radio, post and celebration). II B c Head of office Schütt Liaison office training (training questions of the party in connection with the Reichsschulungsamt). II B d Head of the Lindhorst office Connection guide to the RAD Schnurbein connection office SA, SS, NSKK, Arbeitsdienst, HJ. II B e Head of department Gerland Liaison office KdF. II B f Head of Office Gerland Lutze Liaison Office Wehrmacht. II B g Office for Guests of Honour R e i c h s p r t a g e s . Department II C Head of Office Opdenhoff Führungsamt und Personalamt des Stellvertreters des Führers. Recording and supervision of junior leaders of the NSDAP. Processing the personal files of the political leaders to be confirmed by the deputy leader and the leader. Supervision of the Gauamts- and Kreisleiter detached to the staff. Membership system. Division II D Head of Office Opdenhoff Handling of complaints concerning party departments. Head of the Thurner headquarters Supervision of the junior staff members who have been seconded to the staff for one year. For the Department for Questions of Constitutional Law (Division III) set up in the summer of 1934 after the transfer of the authority to participate in the preparation of state legislation, there is no business distribution plan for the office of the deputy of the Führer. In the 1938 and 1939 National Socialist Yearbooks, in addition to the "official in charge of questions of state law", Hauptamtsleiter Sommer, the heads of the departments Dr. Johann Müller, Heim and von Helms are only listed as heads of department (11) This department, which was responsible for "supervising" the legislation and personnel policy of the Reich government, was subdivided, analogous to the individual ministries, into respective organisational units (groups or main offices, offices, main offices) for domestic, legal and economic policy. Since it could itself be regarded as a part of the state administration in terms of civil servant and budgetary law and had almost exclusively to do with draft laws and civil servant issues, it was obvious for Hess to entrust the work of this department to experienced administrative officials with legal knowledge. At the request of the deputy of the Führer, the officials were transferred from the respective Reich or Land departments to the staff of the deputy of the Führer. Until 1941, Head of Division III was the administrative lawyer Walther Sommer in the rank of Ministerial Councillor; his successor became State Secretary Dr. Gerhard Klopfer in 1941. Due to the composition and origin of the staff, Division III was hardly in a position to bring about the originally intended implementation of a radical party position in state legislation and civil servant policy. Rather, we can speak of a mediating function between party offices and ministries. Within this framework, the public authorities expected "their" officials transferred to the staff of the deputy leader to have a supportive influence on the responsible NSDAP department, which was usually actually exercised (12). Nonetheless, it is beyond doubt that the party's right to participate in the appointment and promotion of civil servants, from which only the Wehrmacht was able to keep itself free, had a considerable influence on the civil service and, among other things, had to impair its traditional view of service. Immediately after the England flight of his deputy Rudolf Hess, Hitler made the order on 12 May 1941 that the previous office of the Führer's deputy should bear the name "Party Chancellery" and be subordinated to him personally. The leader was "as before Reichsleiter Martin Bormann" (13). In his decree of 29 May 1941 "On the Position of the Head of the Party Chancellery" Hitler specified "in order to ensure the closest cooperation of the Party Chancellery with the Supreme Reich Authorities: The Head of the Party Chancellery, Reichsleiter Martin Bormann, has the powers of a Reich Minister, he is a member of the Reich Government and of the Council of Ministers for the Defence of the Reich". Hitler then affirmed that the previous head of staff of the office of the deputy leader's deputy did not receive the title of his former superior, but rather all of his powers: "Where in laws, ordinances, decrees, orders and other orders the deputy leader's deputy is named, he shall be replaced by the head of the Party Chancellery" (14). According to the NSDAP's self-image, the Party Chancellery was Hitler's office in his capacity as leader of the party. Their Hitler leader, who was directly responsible for Hitler, had "to process all fundamental plans and suggestions from the area of the party centrally" for Hitler. The instructions issued by Hitler himself or prepared on his behalf for the entire party were sent exclusively via Bormann to the departments responsible for implementation. Not only the political leadership of the party, but also all work arising from the party's supremacy towards the state was to be done in the party chancellery. During the war, these tasks included, as a matter of course, the "versatile deployment of the party organs in total internal warfare" and the work of the party in the integrated and occupied territories. In addition to the party and the Wehrmacht, the focus of the jurisdiction of the party chancellery was on "securing the unity of party and state" (15). In the Ordinance of 29 May 1941 on the Implementation of the Decree of the Führer on the Position of the Head of the Party Chancellery, the Reich Minister and Head of the Reich Chancellery Lammers and the Head of the Party Chancellery ordered the following on 16 January 1942: (16) The Party's participation in the legislation was to be effected exclusively through the head of the Party Chancellery, unless Hitler determined otherwise in individual cases. Proposals and suggestions from the area of the Party, its divisions and affiliated associations could only be forwarded via Bormann, the responsible ministries and other supreme Reich authorities, as far as the legislation was concerned. This practically amounted to a concentration of power on the person of Bormann. The party also played a central role in processing the personal data of the civil servants. In any case, the head of the Party Chancellery had the position of a b e t e i l t e Reich Minister in the preparation of state legislation in legislative work. This also applied to the laws and ordinances of the provinces and governors of the empire. In addition to these formal competences, it was stipulated that, in matters other than legislative matters, the communication between the supreme Reich and Land authorities, insofar as these were responsible regionally for several districts of the NSDAP, on the one hand, and the services of the Party, its divisions and affiliated associations, on the other hand, took place solely via Bormann if these were "fundamental and political questions". Direct traffic was expressly declared inadmissible. Thus an instrument of power equipped with far-reaching competences came under the exclusive leadership of an energetic party functionary who was just as servile upwards as he was after him under brutally ruthless party officials, who of course used it as far as possible to expand his own position of power, which of course was not exclusively based on his position as head of the party office. Bormann's rise from organizer of illegal Freikorpsgruppen and Feme desk murderers to head of the relief fund of the NSDAP and finally to chief of staff of the Führer's deputy, his constant approach to the person of Hitler - from the administration of Hitler personally from various sources funds available, the conversion of the House of Wachenfeld to the "Berghof" and "Berghof" respectively. the expansion of the entire Obersalzberg complex into Hitler's summer residence, up to Hitler's constant company in the Führer's headquarters or "special Führer train" during the war - cannot be traced here in detail (17). The coupling of these two functions - the leadership of the political coordination centre of the party (staff of the deputy leader or party chancellery) and Hitler's constant support and advice, also in personal matters - formed the basis of Bormann's special position of power, which could not easily be equated with the strengthening of the party leadership as such. Structurally, even an energetic head of staff or head of the party office was unable to change the desolate weakness of the NSDAP's Reich leadership. Even under Bormann, the party chancellery did not develop into an all-powerful, bureaucratic command center comparable to communist politburo. Bormann's special position was based on the personal, independent power of attorney as Hitler's personal clerk, which was institutionalized on April 12, 1943 with Bormann's official appointment as "Secretary of the Führer" (18). From Bormann's dominant position in the Führer's headquarters - not actually from his function as head of the Party Chancellery - the path led to the Super and Control Minister of the Reich Government, when the Bormann was not only seen by dissatisfied party and contemporaries in the final years of the war, but is also portrayed in historical studies on the Nazi regime in general (19). The two-pronged organisational structure of the office of the leader's deputy, which was essentially based on the two departments for internal party affairs and for questions of constitutional law, remained basically unchanged, even under the name of the party chancellery. In Division II, the following groups or main offices were added in accordance with the expansion of the tasks: II M (Reich Defence, Planning of Operations for the War Tasks of the Party), II W (Fundamental Questions of the Wehrmacht, Liaison Office to the OKW), II E (Foreign and People's Growth Work of the Party, including Occupied Territories), II F (Nazi Leadership in the Wehrmacht and Nazi Lead Officers) and II V (Staff Leadership Volkssturm). The offices II C and IID, on the other hand, which dealt with the party's junior leaders and personnel issues, were merged to form the II P office. The organisational overview of Division II given below is essentially taken from a note in Division III of 11 April 1945. The offices II A 2, 3 and 5 as well as II B 6 and II W 1 - 4 no longer listed there were supplemented from earlier business distribution plans from 1942 and 1944. Apart from a few exceptions, the names given as heads of organizational units originate from a plan for the introduction of dictation marks dated 26 March 1942 (20) and a telephone directory of 20 Jan 1945 (21), divided into departments and official groups/main offices. Head of Department: Friedrichs Hauptamt II A Management duties and organisation of the party, its divisions, affiliated associations and organisations Neuburg (1945: Keitel) II A 1: Organisational matters and fundamental questions of party structure, fundamental membership issues, staffing plan in cooperation with II P. Examination of content, coordination and publication of orders, circulars and announcements of the party office. Monitoring and evaluation of the announcements of all other Reich management offices. steering of the party's alignment sheets. Design of the arrangement. Collection of guide words, laws and decrees for evaluation for party work. Welsch (as representative) II A 2: The Party's commitment to economic, agricultural, financial and transport policy affairs Stengel (as representative) II A 3: Social policy affairs Elberding II A 5: Volkstumspolitik Seekamp (as representative) II A 6: General complaints and petitions Gerber Hauptamt II B: Ritterbusch (1945: Wall) II B 1: Propaganda and press, events and lectures Buhler (as representative) II B 2: Training and education in the party, adult education, leader training Schenke (as representative) II B 3: Culture and celebration design, written material Dr. Hammerbacher II B 4: Reporting and information system, events and lectures of the Brandes II B 5: Structure Detering (in representation) II B 6: e.g. V. Haar (in representation) Hauptamt II E II E 1: Party political leadership and organisational questions of the working areas of the National Group Norway and Belgium, the Adriatic Coastal Region, the Alpine Foothills and the Party Liaison Office Prague, as well as their coordination within the party to the national political and Germanic control centre. Refugee issues from evacuation areas outside the empire. Evaluation of the reporting material produced by the party sector. II E 2: Party political leadership issues of the AO National Group, the NSDAP and the Gauinspektionen See-Schifffahrt. Intergovernmental work of the party abroad by coordinating within the party and cooperating with the AA. (Domestic I and II) Align the Party's foreign work with the policy of the people and evaluate the foreign policy material generated in the Party sector. II E 3: Treatment of folklore issues within the Reich through the political orientation of German folk growth, consolidation of the endangered German folk growth and treatment of foreign peoples in the territory of the Reich. German folklore groups abroad, folk-political questions in the Generalgouvernement, Protectorate and in the occupied territories. Racial Issues in People's Growth Work. Corresponding work with: Main Office for Folklore Issues, Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, Reichskommissar für die consolidation deutscher Volkstums, VDA, Kärntner Volksbund, Steirischer Heimatbund, Volkstumsreferenten der Gliederungen und angeschlossenen Verbände. Hauptamt II F NS leading officers as leadership in the Wehrmacht. Rudder (1944/45) Hauptamt II M II M 1: Air war measures and operational planning. Beier (1945) II M 2: Securing personnel and material needs. (UK positions, fuel management, home flak, etc.) Zander Hauptamt II P Personalamt Hesseldieck (1945: Walkenhorst) II P 1: General personnel policy, seniority and service issues, pay and pensions. Young drivers and driver selection. II P 2: Disciplinary and appeal matters, judgments of war courts II P 3 Orders and decorations. care for surviving dependants and general care measures. Personal care for the soldiers of the service. Elections and conscripts to the Reichstag II P 4: Kommandiertenheim Rauchstraße. Hauptamt II V Staff management "Volkssturm" Bofinger (1945) Hauptamt II W Wehrmachtsfragen, at the same time liaison office to OKW Passe II W 1: Fundamental Wehrmachtsfragen. Rodegerts II W 2: Leadership office for Wehrmacht issues in parties, divisions, affiliated associations and supervised organisations. Rodegerts (in representation) II W 3: Special tasks of Rodegerts (in representation) II W 4: Questions of welfare and support for party comrades and people comrades vis-à-vis the Wehrmacht Rodegerts (in representation) The organisational structure and distribution of tasks of Division III are best derived from an undated "Provisional Business Distribution Plan of Division III - Party Law, Economy, Church", which was drawn up before 1944 at any rate: (22) Head: State Secretary Head of Command Dr. Klopfer Representative: Ministerialdirektor Dienstleiter Klemm, (at the same time Head of Group III C) Personal advisor: Oberregierungsrat Mainchnittsleiter Dr. Lincke Personalstelle III PSt.: Regierungsamtmann Klein, Regierungsinspektor Hausrath Special tasks: III V: Government Councillor Section Head Dr Beyer Government Councillor Dr Beyer Lang SS-Hauptsturmführer Will SS-Hauptsturmführer Klauß Affairs of the Security Police and the SD, procurement and evaluation of intelligence material, general questions of competence, political science investigations and research tasks, assessment of the political science literature - cooperation with the Party Official Examination Commission -, magazine and press editorial office of the department, affairs of the Black Corps, archive and map office of department III S: Regierungsrat Bereichsleiter Knöpfel Studienrat Dr. Scheele Lehrer Funk Frau Thomas Special orders of the Reichsleiter, Sonderbücherei, Archiv, Reichsschule Feldafing Gruppe III A: (Internal Administration, Folklore) Leiter: Oberregierungsrat Dienstleiter Ancker Vertreter: Oberregierungsrat Oberbereichsleiter Kap III A 1: Ministerialrat Dr. Dr. Hillebrecht Amtsrat Blankenburg Amtsrat Erler Amtsrat Verwaltungs- und Verwaltungsreformfragen; Administrative simplification; New areas; Reichskanzlei III S 2: Oberregierungsrat Oberbereichsleiter Kap Gemeinschaftsleiter Wöll Volkstumsfragen; Nationality matters; Eastern issues; Sammlungssagen III A 3: Currently unoccupied, distributed among III A 2, 4, 7 Public health (incl. (civil status, special sovereign matters); presidential chancellery (especially decorations); Federal Foreign Office; colonial matters Group III B: (economy, labour, nutrition, transport) Head: Ministerialrat Dienstleiter Dr. Bärmann 1st representative: Oberregierungsrat Oberbereichsleiter Fröhling 2nd representative: Oberregierungsrat Bereichsleiter Dr. Geißler III B 1: Head: Gauhauptstellenleiter Mittag Organisation der gewerblichen Wirtschaft Gauwirtschaftsberater - Ausschüsse III B 1 a: Regierungsrat Section head Dr. Densow Energie; Ostwirtschaft; Preise; Handel; Handwerk; Entjudungen; Allgemeine Wirtschaftsfragen III B 1 b: Regierungsrat Section head Kopp Produktion der gewerblichen Wirtschaft (außer Kohle, Bergbau, Energie); Rohstoff- und Warenbewirtschaftung; Personalien in der gewerblichen Wirtschaft III B 1 c: Reichsbankrat Vellmer Kohle-Bergbau; money and capital markets; banking and credit; insurance; foreign trade; tourism III B 2: Head: Oberregierungsrat Bereichsleiter Dr. Geißler Basic questions of social policy III B 2 a: Regierungsrat Section head Schwingenstein Amtsrat Gemeinschaftsleiter Fiedler Arbeitseinsatz; Sozialversicherung; Versorgungswerk III B 2 b: Regierungsrat Beimes Lohnpolitik; Gewerbeaufsicht; Berufserziehung III B 2 c: Section Head Gölz Construction Industry; Housing and Settlement; Transport; Post III B 3: Senior Government Council Section Head Kok Government Officer Eisermann Food Industry; Agriculture; Forestry; Hunting; Price Policy in Food, Agriculture and Forestry; Reich Office for the People of the Reich; Reich Nutrition Office; Armament of the German Village; Regional Planning; Battle of Production III B 4: Attorney at Law Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. (German Federal Law Gazette) On top of that, support of the Gauwirtschaftsberater; conferences; reporting; newsletter "Der Gauwirtschaftsberater"; editing; economic policy training and propaganda; special assignments III B 5: main editor, section leader Vollmann Wirtschaftswissenschaft; archive; business press and magazines; magazine "Nationalsozialistische Wirtschaftspolitik" Group III C: (Justice, law of the NSDAP) Head: Ministerialdirektor Dienstleiter Klemm Representative: Oberregierungsrat Oberreichsleiter Dr. Enke III C 1: Ministerialdirektor Dienstleiter Klemm Reserved special areas: NSRB; Academy for German Law; Participation in personnel matters of the judiciary III C 2: Oberregierungsrat Oberreichsleiter Dr. Enke Justizinspektor Gemeinschaftsleiter Ungethüm Party Law; Civil Law; Commercial Law; Labour Law; Procedural Law; Voluntary Jurisdiction; Bar Law; Civil Cases; Individual Cases III C 3: Oberlandesgerichtsrat Müller Justizinspektor Gemeinschaftsleiter Ungethüm Criminal Law; Wehrmacht Criminal Law; Juvenile Criminal Law; Grace Cases; Compensation Act; Criminal Cases, Individual Cases III C 4: Prosecutor von Kaldenberg Secondary criminal laws; traffic law; criminal proceedings for racial defilement; criminal procedural law; costs and fees; testimony approvals (interrogation law) III C 5: District Court Council Section leader Klemm-Werner participation in III C 2; industrial property law; copyright and publishing law; shipping law; treatment of hostile property III C 6: Higher Regional Court Council Dr. Hopf Strafsachen, Einzelfälle; Heimtückesachen; study and training reform; prison group III D: (Church, school, university, youth leader of the German Reich, Ministry of Propaganda, organization of celebrations, provision for war survivors) Head: Ministerialrat Dienstleiter Krüger Representative: Oberregierungsrat Reichsleiter Dr. Schmidt-Römer III D 1: Oberregierungsrat Abschnittleiter Dr. Fruhwirth Central steering of political and denominational affairs in the new areas, insofar as they are not dealt with in Divisions III D 2 to III D 4. Confessional contributions; right to leave and enter the church; cemetery law; public holiday law; acquisition of the right of the dead hand; confessional activities in hospitals; church statistics; general legal issues; insofar as they concern political-confessional matters III D 2: Oberlandesgerichtsrat Dr. Birk Steuerinspektor Wischer Allgemeine Kirchenfragen; Special Questions of the Protestant Church; Special Questions of the Catholic Church; Church and Wehrmacht; Other Churches and Sects; God-believers III D 3: Oberregierungsrat Bereichsleiter Dr. Schmidt-Römer Tax Inspector Wischer Finance and Property Affairs of the Churches, including Church Matters of the Reich Ministry of Finance; Church and Economy III D 4: Government Councillor Dr. Schlapper Tax Inspector Wischer Transfer of clergy and church officials to other professions; Personnel and Salary Matters of Political and Denominational Significance III D 5: Head of Office Dr. Wischer Landwehr Reichspropagandaministerium Restriction of confessional propaganda work and deconfessionalization of political and cultural means of leadership (literature, press, music, film, visual arts); celebration design; Reich Aviation Ministry; Confidential Information III D 6: Head of Studies, Section Head Dr. Anton Allgemeine Erziehungsfragen; personal details of teacher training institutions; HJ participation in educational matters at schools; German education abroad and in the areas incorporated into the Reich III D 7: Regierungsrat Section leader Kristandt Allgemeine Verwaltungs- und Rechtsangelegenheiten der Schule; Schule und Kirche; Landjahr; Heimschule; Kinderlandverschickung; Minderheitenschulwesen; Lehrerbesoldung; Jugendführer des Deutschen Reiches III D 8: z. Philipp Government Inspector Gerst University Affairs, including Personal Data; Technical and Vocational Schools; High Command of the Wehrmacht, in particular Wehrmacht Welfare III D 9: Kreisleiter Dr. Kurt Schmidt Displacement of denominational influences, especially denominational influence on youth outside school and on adult education; denominational interventions in hero worship; denominational superstition (miracles, prophecies, chain letters, pilgrimages, processions, etc.).); denominational influence on foreign peoples in the Reich; the abusive use of National Socialist terms, symbols and institutions as well as German customs by the churches; Churches and Party Group III E: (Finances) Head: Ministerialrat Oberbereichsleiter Dr. Gündel Representative: Oberregierungsrat Gemeinschaftsleiter Dr. Brack Financial policy; property and transport taxes; family burden equalisation; customs and excise taxes; monopolies; budget matters, financial equalisation; financial relations with the incorporated territories and with non-German territories and states; Reich assets and Reich debts; compensation issues Group III P: (civil servant matters and participation in state personnel policy) Head: Ministerialrat Dienstleiter Dr. Kernert Representative: Oberregierungsrat Oberbereichsleiter Döll III P 1: Ministerialrat Dienstleiter Dr. Kernert Reserved special areas: III P 2: Landrat Dr. Grazer General and internal administration; questions of junior staff and training III P 3: Landrat Dr. Hoffmann Auswärtiges Amt; Ministry of Labour; Unterrichtsverwaltung III P 4: Oberregierungsrat Oberbereichsleiter Döll Reichsjustizministerium; individual cases according to §§ 42 and 71 DBG III P 5: Oberregierungsrat Abschnittleiter Dr. Grazer Bode Amtsrat Gemeinschaftsleiter Sommer Beamtenrecht; Remuneration Law; Reich Finance Administration; Court of Audit; Prussian Finance Ministry; East Ministry; Colonial Policy Office III P 6: Reich Bank Council Section Head Grimm Reich Economics Ministry; Four-Year Plan; Reichsbank; Freemason Issues III P 7: Oberregierungsrat Section Head Kirn Reich Transport Ministry; Division Reich Minister Speer; Reich Post Ministry III P 8: Head of the section Brändle Beurlaubungen for purposes of the NSDAP; service penal cases - individual cases; civil servants of the simple, middle and upper service of all business areas; OKW; Reich Aviation Minister; Reich Forester III P 9: Regierungsrat Section leader Tent Jewish and mixed-race issues; police, medical, veterinary, and surveying administration; Reich Labor Service; Reich Ministry of Food; Reich Nutrition A business distribution plan for Division I, which was exclusively concerned with the administration of the Reich's agencies and whose leader in the years 1941 - 1943/44 was to be proven to be Hauptdienstleiter Winkler, from 1944 Dienstleiter Zeller (23), could not be determined. Externally, the three departments of the Party Chancellery continued to appear as "managing directors, internal party affairs officers and constitutional affairs officers". In addition to these three departments, which de facto constituted the "Party Chancellery" office, the published organisational overviews also continued to include other institutions de iure as parts of the Party Chancellery, which in practice developed as relatively independent independent entities or whose heads did not appear in their Party Chancellery function or appeared only marginally. Listed are (1942/1944): (24) Special representative at the party chancellery: Oberdienstleiter Oexle Main archive of the NSDAP: Reichsamtsleiter Dr. Uetrecht, from 1944: Bereichsleiter Dr. Uetrecht, from 1944: Head of the Department Dr. Uetrecht, from 1944 on: Head of the Department Dr. Uetrecht, from 1944 on: Head of the Department Dr. Uetrecht, from 1944 on: Head of the Department Dr. Uetrecht, from 1944 on: Head of the Department Dr. Uetrecht, from 1944 on: Head of the Department Dr. Uetrecht. Brügmann The Head of the Foreign Organization: Gauleiter Bohle The Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Popular Growth (from 1944: The Commissioner of the NSDAP for all Popular Issues): Reichsleiter Himmler The Commissioner for the New Construction of the Reich: Gauleiter Adolf Wagner The Commissioner for all Issues of Technology and its Organization: Commander-in-Chief Dr. Todt, Oberbefehlsleiter Speer The official in charge of all public health issues: (Chief) Befehlsleiter Dr. Conti The head of the NSDAP's Race Policy Office: Ober- bzw. Hauptdienstleiter Dr. Groß The head of the Office of Genealogy: Reichsamtsleiter bzw. Hauptbereichsleiter Dr. Mayer Der Beauftragte für Fragen der Finanz- und Steuerpolitik: Fritz Reinhardt, Reichslager of the NSDAP, Bad Tölz: Seidel, Reichsschule of the NSDAP, Feldafing am Starnberger See: Reichsamtsleiter or Oberdienstleiter Görlitz Remarks: (1) Thus the contemporary terminology of the task description in the organization and yearbooks of the NSDAP; here: Organisationsbuch der NSDAP, edited by the Reichsorganisationsleiter der NSDAP, 2.-4. Aufl., Munich 1937, p. 152 (BArch NSD 9/17). (2) On the overall complex of the relationship between party and state during Nazi rule, cf. in particular Martin Broszat, Der Staat Hitlers. Foundation and development of his internal constitution, Munich 8th edition 1979; Peter Diehl-Thiele, Party and State in the Third Reich. Studies on the relationship between the NSDAP and general internal state administration 1933-1945, Munich 1969. (3) Broszat, Staat Hitlers, p. 80, on the structure of the Reichsorganisationsleitung der NSDAP under Gregor Strasser see p. 73 ff. (4) Broszat, Staat Hitlers, p. 80, on the structure of the Reichsorganisationsleitung der NSDAP under Gregor Strasser cf. p. 79. (5) RGBl. I p. 1016. (6) BArch R 43 II/694. (7) RGBl. I. S 1203. (8) Information from the unprinted essay by Kurt Borsdorff: "Mit Reichsleiter Martin Bormann auf dem Obersalzberg" in BArch NS 6/789; cf. Diehl-Thiele, Partei und Staat, p. 218, note 46 (9) See above all the NSDAP Organization Books available until 1941 (BArch NSD 9/16-19) and the National Socialist Yearbooks published until 1938 "with the cooperation of the Reichsleitung der NSDAP" by Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler, from 1939 by Reichsorganisationsleiter Robert Ley (BArch NSD 9/22-26). (10) Organisational overviews and business distribution plans of the department of the deputy leader or of the party chancellery are summarised in NS 6/451. (11) NSD 9/25-26. (12) Cf. Broszat, State of Hitler, pp. 311 ff. (13) Printed, inter alia, in the Organisation Book of the NSDAP, 1943, p. 151 (NSD 9/20). (14) RGBl. I p. 295. (15) Cf. the detailed task description of the Party Chancellery in the National Socialist Yearbook 1944, p. 181 f. (NSD 9/28). (16) RGBl. I p. 35. (17) See above all Josef Wulf, Martin Bormann - Hitlers Schatten, Gütersloh 1962, Lew Besymenski, the last notes by Martin Bormann. A document and its author, Stuttgart 1974, and Jochen von Lang, The Secretary. Martin Bormann: The man who ruled Hitler, Stuttgart 1977. The various depictions of Rudolf Hess concentrate above all or even exclusively on his flight to England, the conviction in Nuremberg and in particular the prison time in Spandau, so that a comprehensive, scientific representation of the "deputy of the Führer" and his activities 1933 - 1941 is basically still outstanding. (18) NS 6/159. (19) Cf. in detail Broszat, State of Hitler, pp. 392 ff. (20) All plans and overviews in NS 6/451. (21) NS 6/138; below the group leader level it was not possible to assign the names listed there to certain organizational units. (22) NS 6/451; there also the less detailed organizational overview printed by Diehl-Thiele, Partei und Staat, pp. 222 ff. For the staff at the beginning of 1945, see also the telephone directory of 20 Jan. 1945 in NS 6/138. (23) In addition to the organizational overviews in NS 6/451, see NS Yearbooks 1942 and 1944 (NSD 9/27-28). (24) NS Yearbooks 1942 and 1944 (NSD 9/27-28). Inventory description: Inventory history of written records management in the party office Although file plans and other registry aids have only been handed down in fragments for certain periods of time, even then, a clear picture of the written records management of the Hess and Bormann offices can be drawn. A file plan from the year 1937 is divided into two main areas (10 party, 20 state) and then divided into four levels according to the subject system. Files that could have been listed according to this plan, which was valid until about 1940, are only preserved in the form of single sheets or small processes, so that this file plan was of no particular importance for the indexing of the holdings. On the other hand, an excerpt from the file plan for matters of Reich defence (1) dating from 1939 proved to be a useful aid. It provides for up to 80 small subject series, of which 3 to 18 each are grouped into five groups (operational planning, subject areas, defence, preparation of mobilisation and general affairs); finally, collective folders for routine processes could be created as required. The systematic weaknesses that are typical of small subject series became clearly apparent in the distortion. The division of the records into "destination files", "auxiliary files" and "files for correspondence" is not convincing and could be neglected in the listing of the files of the competent Division M and Group II M respectively. File plans for the mass of the surviving records, i.e. from the time of the Party Chancellery (1941 - 1945), have not been preserved. After all, Rotulus sheets preserved for a sub-area with titles to essentially completed processes show the systematics of the underlying file plan (2). Rotulus leaves for the file numbers 1010/0 to 3230/4 have been preserved, whereby a further stage in the numerical classification was partly formed. The classification was based on the department principle. The file plan was used until the end of the war, as the comparatively closed tradition from Department III shows, and was observed in principle. The reference number consisted of the name of the respective organizational unit and the file number. The fate of the holdings since the conquest of Germany by the Allies corresponds to the history of German contemporary historical sources in the war and post-war period in general. Perhaps there is a specific feature typical of the existence of a political party in that self-destruction by party functionaries accounts for a larger proportion than destruction by enemy action. Of course, the acts of annihilation cannot be proven in detail. Since 1955, the Federal Archives have received splinter-like remnants and a few closed groups of records, essentially from offices of the victorious powers USA and Great Britain, to a lesser extent from authorities and universities in the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as about two dozen individual donations from private holdings, whereby takeovers from other holdings of the Federal Archives are added. In 1955, the Federal Archives took over copies of letters from the Chief of the Security Police and the SD to Bormann, of judgments handed over to Bormann by the Reich Minister of Justice, and of other documents from the Provenance Party Chancellery, all relating to events in connection with the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944, all of which - supplemented by a small amount of material from private collections - were combined in the NS 6 "Party Chancellery of the NSDAP" as a special "Collection July 20, 1944" due to their common provenance. The originals of these documents, which had already been transferred to the main archive of the NSDAP before the end of the war, were received by the Bundesarchiv in 1962 in the course of the repatriation of German files from the Federal Records Center in Alexandria, Virginia (USA). These historically highly significant materials were already made accessible in detail by Jürgen Huck in November 1955. His title recordings have been completely incorporated into this finding aid book (p. 94 ff.). The other contributions come from the University Library of Heidelberg, the American Document Center in Berlin, the Federal Records Center in Alexandria, Virginia, and the National Archives of the United States in Washington, D.C., the Library of Congress there, and the British file depot in Whaddon Hall. In addition, there were a large number of smaller statements from German authorities and private owners. The holdings received a larger increase in the course of many years of organizing work from other holdings of the Federal Archives, above all from the NS 26 holdings (main archive of the NSDAP) and the "Schumacher Collection", which is to be dissolved altogether. In total, no more than 5 documents of the Party Chancellery should be preserved in the Federal Archives. This rough estimate may disregard the registries of the State Secretary Reinhardt in his capacity as "representative of the deputy of the leader or of the Party Chancellery for matters of job creation, financial and tax policy" and his personal adviser Dr. Hans Gündel, who was head of Group III E Public Finances in the Party Chancellery, remaining in inventory R 2 (Reich Ministry of Finance). Comments: (1) Both file plans in NS 6/69. (2) NS 6/803 - 804. Archival processing While the "Collection 20. July 1944" and which became known according to their core as "Kaltenbrunner Reports", were subjected to a detailed indexing, which already led in 1955 to a finding aid book with a detailed introduction and comprehensive index, the remaining parts of the inventory, fed by a multitude of duties and takeovers, were first recorded in the order of access, provided with provisional signatures, and in some cases marked summarily in terms of content - whereby, if available, the delivery directories of the delivering agency, for example the "Kaltenbrunner Reports", were usually followed. B. of the US Document Center -, Z. T. however, also downright according to archivfachlichen points of view registered. The final organizing and indexing work now carried out on this stock could therefore only partly be concerned with recording a number of accesses that had not been indexed at all up to now. The main task was rather the consolidation, standardisation and, in particular, the overall classification of the archival records - also from other holdings of the Federal Archives - which had been divided into numerous accesses and indexed to varying degrees of intensity up to that point, and which naturally necessitated an examination, but mostly also a reformulation, of the provisional titles found. This applied in particular when, on the one hand, the dissolution of predefined archive units, which had previously only been described in summary form and which had mostly been formed formally in Allied custody, into individual processes was offered, and, on the other hand, the combination of scattered parts of processes into processes or also of scattered individual processes into uniform series, some of which were provided for by the file plan, became possible. The intensive recording to Bormann of the reports of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD on the events in connection with the assassination attempt on 20 July 1944, made almost thirty years ago, was taken over in the finding aid book. Since, of course, it was not necessary to index the remaining components at this extraordinary depth, this complex of archival records described in Section C 8.1 continues to occupy a special position within the holdings, which is also clearly discernible according to formal criteria. This can be justified both on the basis of the exceptional importance of the documented object, proven by the very high user frequency, and on the remarkable quality of the sources. The "originals" of the above-mentioned documents, which arrived in the Federal Archives considerably later (1962) - the indexing in 1955 had been done on the basis of copies taken over from the Federal Archives at the time and made in American custody - had been formed according to American principles of order and were provided with their own provisional archive signatures in the Federal Archives. They have now been adapted to the order and distortion as they were created in 1955 for the distortion of the corresponding copies. This adaptation also extends to the signatures, so that the found distortion of the copies can also be applied without any restriction to the corresponding volume of originals - which now bears the same signature. In principle, attempts were made to adopt predefined registry units, to retain grown processes as archive units, and to use existing titles as a basis for title formation during indexing wherever possible. This attempt, however, could essentially only succeed with the organically grown written material from the years after 1940/41 handed down from Division III in the areas of "Foreign Trade" (C 12), "Money and Capital Markets" (C 14), "Construction Industry" (C 18) and "Housing Construction, Housing Management, Settlements" (C 19) - i.e. from the offices III B 1 and III B 2 - with limitations also in the surviving records of the main offices and the main offices with restrictions. Groups II M (mobilization of the party and distribution of the Reich) and II F (Nazi leadership and education of the Wehrmacht). As a rule, only scattered and incoherent remnants from the other organisational units, i.e. also from the registries of the deputy leader, his staff leader or the head of the party chancellery, the department heads, from the groups II A and II B concerned with the actual party leadership in the narrower sense, as well as from the years 1933 to 1936 in general, reached the holdings. Here, therefore, there was only the choice of registering individual pieces as such - if the historical value made it appear justified - or of combining documents that belonged together thematically or according to formal criteria to form artificial processes in which either the documented object or the formal criterion (e.g. Führer's discussions with Bormann, templates for Reichsleiter Bormann, lectures by Friedrich's head of department to the Führer's deputy) were decisive for the process formation. The relatively complete and complete series of orders, decrees and circulars of the deputy of the leader or of the party chancellery is of central importance not only with regard to the overall wrecked tradition of the entire collection, but also because of its outstanding independent source value. The information contained in these documents (cf. Section C 1) on all areas of the Party Chancellery's leadership and administrative activities was primarily intended for higher Nazi functionaries and constitutes a high-quality collection of sources, both in terms of quality and quantity, for research into the ruling apparatus of both the NSDAP and the Nazi regime in Germany, which could be used not only for special studies on Hess and Bormann's offices, but also for a variety of questions in the research of the Nazi era. It therefore seemed advisable not to leave it - under the influence of the party announcements printed in the Reichsverfügungsblatt - with a conventional recording of titles by volume, which was limited to chronological information, but to make the content of both the subject matter and the text of the decrees, orders and circulars as accessible as possible using the possibilities of automatic data processing. The result of this indexing will be presented in the second part of this finding aid book, while in the first part the series of party announcements will be recorded and listed in purely chronological order within the overall systematics of the stock (Section C 1). As far as possible, the classification of the records is based on the remaining business distribution plans of Divisions II and III. The "regulatory registration principle" was applied insofar as, for practical reasons, it proved necessary to provide for several development sections (Sections C 18 and C 19) at a relatively low organisational level (e.g. head office III B 2 c) in the case of relatively dense parts of the transmission from offices III B 1 and III B 2. In organisational areas with a ruinous tradition, on the other hand, written records of several groups were sometimes combined, e.g. groups II F and II W in section C 5. It goes without saying that in cases in which a classification was not formally possible due to a lack of business signs or due to the dissolution of the registry discipline at the end of the war, a decision was made on the basis of factual aspects. This applies in particular to the documents in connection with 20 July, which went directly to Bormann at the Führer's headquarters without any noteworthy processing by the Party Chancellery and from there went directly to the main archive of the NSDAP. In the classification scheme of the index they now appear under the generic term "Combating political opponents by security police and SD", although an assignment to Bormann's reference files in Chapter B would also have been conceivable. This applies mutatis mutandis to the documents relating to general party management matters, which are combined under "Management, Adjutant's Office" and in Sections C 2 and C 3 and for which there was no recognisable regulatory approach - not even in the form of a reference number - to registration. As it were, those documents were appended to the inventory under the designation "Special Tasks" which did not arise from Bormann's activity as head of the Party Chancellery, but were related to Bormann's activity as an administrator of Hitler's private assets. These are remnants of the traditions of the equipment of the planned "Führer Museum" in Linz and the recovery of the art treasures already "acquired" for this purpose, as well as a few files from the management of the "Führerstiftung Wohnungsbau Linz" and the administration of the "Führerbauten" on the Obersalzberg. A total of three concordances not only ensure that certain signatures of the holdings can be easily identified in the finding aid book (Concordance I), but also guarantee that archival documents cited after Allied signatures (Concordance II), after the provisional numbers of the Federal Archives or after earlier signatures from other holdings of the Federal Archives (Concordance III) remain easily accessible. In principle, an inventory of the Federal Archives is to be used according to the Federal Archives' specially prepared finding aids, since the Allied signatures indicated, for example, in the American "Guides to German Records microfilmed at Alexandria" or other finding aids for confiscated German files, mostly represent an outdated state of order of the files and can only be used for ordering American microfilms. For practical reasons, it should still be possible in individual cases to move from the Allied signature possibly cited in publications to the signature of the original in the Federal Archives. The present finding aid book was created as part of a retro-digitisation project of the Federal Archives and contains the digitised indexing results of the present conventional finding aid. In connection with the planned online launch, the portfolio was revised in 2008. The entire collection was supplemented above all by files and dossiers from the collection "NS Archive of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR". Citation method BArch NS 6/ .... Characterization of the content: The fact that a user of the inventory is repeatedly reminded of the fact that these are only highly unequally distributed debris or even scattered fragments of a formerly quantitatively and qualitatively important registry body, roughly comparable with the inventory of the Reich Chancellery (R 43), is certainly the main reason why considerations of the historical value of the existing traditions must have an ambivalent result. Due to the closed series of the "Verfügungen, Anordnungen und Rundschreiben" and the - admittedly for the most part for a long time published -(1) Überlieferung zum 20. Juli 1944 (1) the holdings certainly belong to the qualitatively most significant from the time of the Nazi rule. However, even against the background of the most recent outstanding importance and competence of the party law firm and in particular of its head, the tradition still received cannot make up for the loss of important parts of the registry. Thus Bormann's much-described closeness and position of trust in relation to Hitler is documented at best in some splintery notes on "Führerbesprechungungen". The party's relationship to the state, Bormann's role in the Nazi power structure, in particular also considerations of the actual power of Hitler's directly assigned offices and the forms of rule exercised by them cannot be conclusively assessed on the basis of Bormann's preserved sources and the party chancellery, in which some important conclusions could rightly have been expected for the aforementioned reason. The fact that, instead, the Nazi regime's efforts to build social housing during the war are very closely documented and can largely make up for the loss of the Reich Housing Commissioner's tradition is a pleasing finding for the detailed researcher in this context, but it is undoubtedly of subordinate importance overall. The question remains as to whether the decisive files - such as the personal registry - will be filed by the applicant.

History of the Inventory Designer: With the "Ordinance for the Reich Weather Service" of 6 April 1934, the responsibility for the weather service, which until then had mainly been the responsibility of the Länder, was transferred to the Reich Minister of Aviation. The weather service comprised the flight, economic, sea, high altitude and climate weather service. The research and teaching tasks performed by the universities remained unaffected by this. The Reichsamt für Flugsicherung was given the designation Reichsamt für Wetterdienst (RfW) by ordinance of 28 November 1934. He was responsible for the operational, technical and scientific management of the Reich Weather Service. The RfW was subordinate to Division LB 3 (Reichswetterdienst) of the General Air Office in the Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM). With the beginning of the war, the "Chef Wetterdienst" (Chief Weather Service) was created at the Luftwaffe General Staff. Most of the tasks of the LB 3 department in the Reich Aviation Ministry were transferred to the Chief Weather Service, among others: - Organisation, operational and technical management of the weather service, - management of weather intelligence in cooperation with the chief of the intelligence unit, - deployment of personnel according to operational needs, - cooperation with weather services of other parts of the Wehrmacht and other states. Division LB 3 of the General Air Office retained the following tasks: - personnel administration including training, - development and supply of weather service equipment, - operating regulations. The Reichsamt für Wetterdienst with its observatories and research centres and the Deutsche Seewarte remained subordinated to the LB 3 department. The Institute for Long-term Weather Forecasts has been assigned to the Chief Weather Service. In order to enable the Chief Weather Service to manage the weather service responsibly despite the division of responsibilities, he received the authority to issue directives to the General Air Office, Department LB 3. As part of the general cost-cutting measures, in 1944 the operational management and training were also transferred to the Chief Weather Service, and in January 1945 the personnel administration. Only the Reichsamt für Wetterdienst and the Deutsche Seewarte remained with the LB 3 department. In urgent cases, however, the Chief Weather Service was entitled, with the approval of Division LB 3, to give immediate instructions to these services. The weather school of the Reich Weather Service was founded in 1935. It was housed in the building complex of the Reichsamt für Wetterdienst. Your duties were: - training of meteorological staff, - refresher courses for meteorologists, - training courses for technical staff, - training courses for supplementary meteorologists, obtained from physicists and geographers of universities and schools. As a secondary purpose, a uniform mode of operation of all weather stations with regard to meteorological-synoptic term formation as well as entry and processing of weather charts should be achieved. In November 1944 the Reichswetterdienstschule was also subordinated to the chief weather service. Tasks of the departments of the Reichsamt für Wetterdienst Presidential Department: It dealt with all personnel and financial matters. Department I: She was responsible for the operational and scientific management of the climate service. The climate network was divided into five climate districts: Königsberg, Berlin, Münster, Dresden and Munich as well as air conditioning branch offices in Breslau and Stuttgart. All the observation material was collected, tested and processed at the services of the climate districts. This resulted in the monthly "Weather Report Services", monthly reports on precipitation and precipitation maps. The department also carried out research tasks on observation methodology, among other things. Division I was subordinate: - Meteorological observatories in Potsdam, Aachen and Wahnsdorf; - Agricultural meteorological research centres in Geisenheim, Gießen, Müncheberg and Trier; - Bioclimatic research centres in Bad Elster, Braunlage, Friedrichroda and Wyk/Föhr; - Mountain observatories on the Brocken, Feldberg, Fichtelberg, Kahler Asten, Kalmit as well as the Schneekoppe and Zugspitze; - 20 health resort climate circle sites. Department II: The tasks included the processing and evaluation of aerological and synoptic observational material from radiosonde, aircraft and captive balloon ascents as well as pilot soundings to supplement the Hollerith archive; the processing of flight climatologies and other reports for local weather characteristics; development of methods for the recording of spatial fields such as air masses, pressure, temperature, wind and water vapour. Division II was in charge: - Aeronautical Observatory in Lindenberg; - Aerological Observatory in Friedrichshafen; - From 1940: Cloud Research Centre Prague (emerged from the cloud physics department of the Aerological Observatory Friedrichshafen). Division III: It was responsible for the central control of the entire development of meteorological measuring instruments and new instrumental research methods, the procurement of the entire instrument requirements of the aeronautical meteorological service, the testing and calibration of the delivered equipment and its supply to the individual requirement points. In addition, the department was responsible for testing equipment and methods as well as training and retraining personnel in these equipment and methods. For development and testing as well as training and retraining she was directly assigned a radiosonde test platoon (mot.) and a Würzburgstellung with balloon troop. For the acceptance, testing and calibration of equipment, it had at its disposal, in addition to its own calibration group, the radiosonde test centre of the Reichsamt für Wetterdienst and the Aeroprüfstelle e.V. (Aeroprüfstelle). The meteorological state institutes in the occupied territories were incorporated into the Reichsamt für Wetterdienst as new branch offices, e.g. the Klimainstitut Minsk. Until 1945, the following branch offices were dissolved: - the Meteorological Observatories Aachen and Wahnsdorf, - the Aerological Observatory Friedrichshafen, - the Agricultural Meteorological Research Centres Geisenheim, Müncheberg and Trier, - the Bioclimatic Research Centres, - the majority of the spa climate district offices. The mountain observatories were reduced to purely synoptic reporting points and subordinated to the ground organisation of the military weather service in the individual air meadows. Inventory description: The existing archival material originates from two file returns from the USA. The first submission was made in 1968 to the Document Centre of the Military History Research Office, from where it subsequently reached the Federal Archives Military Archives. The return of files in 2004 was directly transferred to the Federal Archives Military Archives. The files previously held in the official printed matter (inventory: RLD 28) were transferred to the inventory. Characterisation of content: The holdings contain only splinter-like documents about the service in the Reichsamt für Wetterdienst and the subordinated observatories and research centres. The preserved documents on the construction and operation of precipitation measuring stations and meteorological stations in the area of the Air Force Command III/IV as well as in Alsace, Lorraine and Luxembourg should be emphasised. In addition, studies and elaborations on climatological and meteorological topics are available. Citation style: BArch, RL 40/...

History of the Inventor: On 29.8.1914, the Commander of the Naval Aviation Departments was appointed, who in 1916 became Commander of the Naval Aviation Departments, later Chief of Naval Aviation and to whom the commanders of the aircraft were subordinated. The naval flight chief was responsible for the provision of all flight personnel and for fulfilling the military requirements for seaplanes and ground organisation. The Naval Air Force consisted of seaplane and naval land flight departments, seaplane and naval land flight stations, training and special units as well as front units of the naval pilots. The seaplane stations also included floating seaplane stations, i.e. aircraft mother ships, and the land-based flight stations also included the fortress (land) flight stations and the Wainoden indoor protection station. (Cf. Hildebrand, Hans H.: Die organisatorische Entwicklung der Marine sowie Stellenbesetzung 1848 bis 1945. Volume 2, Osnabrück 2000, p. 8; Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Ed.): Deutsche Militärgeschichte in sechs Voländen, Volume 5, Munich 1983, p. 300f.) During the First World War, seaplane stations were built on the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Some of the stations were located in occupied Belgian territory (e.g. sea flight stations Flanders I and II) and Russian territory (e.g. sea flight station Kerch) or on the territory of allies, e.g. the Ottoman Empire (e.g. sea flight station Chanak). Among the North Sea's seaplane stations were: Borkum Flandern I (=Seeflugstation Zeebrügge) Flandern II (=Seeflugstation Ostend) Helgoland List/Sylt Norderney (See Köhler, Karl: Strukturungs- und Organisationsgeschichte der Marineluftkräfte, Manuskript, 1969, in: MSG 2/1866, S. 5. according to this, the command of the II Seaflieger-Abteilung included the front flight stations Borkum, Norderney, Helgoland and List as well as the air base Tönning. For the history of these sea flight stations see ibid. pp. 20-23 (Borkum), 24-26 (Norderney), 27-29 (Helgoland), 30f (List). For the history of the two naval flying stations in Flanders see Köhler, Karl: Strukturungs- und Organisationsgeschichte der Marineluftkräfte, manuscript, 1969, in: MSG 2/1867, pp. 5-7 (Flanders I), 8-10 (Flanders II). There is no record of the naval flying station Flanders III (naval airfield Nieuwmunster/Neumünster), see ibid., pp. 11-13. On the organisation of the air forces of the naval corps in Flanders see also Hildebrand, Hans H.: Die organisatorische Entwicklung der Marine sowie Stellenbesetzung 1848 bis 1945, Volume 3, Osnabrück 2000, pp. 60-62.) The sea flight stations at the Baltic Sea included: Angernsee (near Engure, west of Riga, Latvia) Apenrade Arensburg (Kuressaare, Ösel/Saaremaa Island, Estonia) Bug on Rügen Flensburg (see RM 113) Hadersleben (moved to Apenrade in March/April 1915), see RM 112/13) (Kiel-)Holtenau Köslin-Nest (Koszalin, Poland) Liebau (Liepâja, Latvia) Papenholm/Papensholm (west of Kihelkonna, island Ösel/Saaremaa, Estonia) Putzig (Puck, Poland (since 1919)) Reval (Tallinn, Estonia) Stralsund and Wiek on Rügen Warnemünde Wiek on Rügen (see Stralsund) Windau (Ventspils, Latvia) (On the history of these naval flying stations see Köhler, Karl: Gliederungs- und Organisationsgeschichte der Marineluftkräfte, Manuskript, 1969, in: MSG 2/1866, p. 46 (Hadersleben), 47 (Apenrade), 48-50 (Flensburg), 51-53 (Holtenau), 56 (Warnemünde), 57f (Bug on Rügen, Stralsund and Wiek on Rügen), 59f (Köslin-Nest), 61f (Putzig), - subsequent stations were built on occupied territory - 75f (Libau), 79-81 (Windau), 82f (Angernsee), 84 (Arensburg), 85 (Papensholm), 87 (Reval).) (Due to unfavourable geographical and meteorological conditions, the main operation of the station was relocated from Stralsund to Wiek on Rügen in 1916. In Stralsund, a partial operation was maintained. See also RM 112/170, Incidents 6 Nov. 1915 and Köhler, Karl: Gliederungs- und Organisationsgeschichte der Marineluftkräfte, manuscript, 1969, in: MSG 2/1866, p. 57.) Among the sea flight stations on the Mediterranean were: Agha Liman and Mersina (southern coast of Anatolia, north of the eastern tip of Cyprus) Chanak (on the southern shore of the Dardanelles near Canakkale) Xanthi (northern shore of the Aegean Sea, Greece (since 1920), see RM 110/22) (On the geographical location and history of the naval flight stations, see Köhler, Karl: Strukturungs- und Organisationsgeschichte der Marineluftkräfte, manuscript, 1969, in: MSG 2/1867, p. 64f, 70f (Chanak), 76f (Mersina). Only the stock RM 110 (RM 110/22) contains a record of the Xanthi sea flight station, for the Xanthi sea flight station see also ibid. p. 79f. For the organization of the seaplanes within the framework of the Sonderkommando Turkey see Hildebrand, Hans H.: Die organisatorische Entwicklung der Marine sowie Stellenbesetzung 1848 bis 1945, Volume 3, Osnabrück 2000, p. 63f.) The seapilot stations on the Black Sea were among the most important: Babadag (Romania) Duingi (near Constanta, Romania) Kawak/Kavak (eastern bank of the Bosporus) Kertsch (Crimea, Ukraine) Konstanza/Constanza (Constanta, Romania) Odessa (Ukraine) Sebastopol/Sewastopol (Crimea, Ukraine) Varna (Varna, Bulgaria) (For the geographical location and history of the sea flight stations see Köhler, Karl: Structure and Organisation History of the Naval Air Force, manuscript, 1969, in: MSG 2/1867, S. 64 and 78 (general), 73 (Kawak), 81f (Varna), 83 (Constanza), 84 (Sebastopol), 85 (Duingi), 86 (Babadag).) The floating seaplane stations included: S.M.H. Answald S.M.H. Glyndwr (see RM 99) S.M.H. Oswald (see also RM 99) S.M.H. Santa Elena S.M.S. Stuttgart (see RM 110/62) (On the history of the floating naval flight stations see Köhler, Karl: Strukturungs- und Organisationsgeschichte der Marineluftstreitkräfte, manuscript, 1969, in: MSG 2/1866, p. 99f (general), 102f (S.M.H. Santa Elena), 104f (S.M.H. Answald), 106 (S.M.H. Oswald), 107 (S.M.H. Glyndwr). The S.M.S. Stuttgart was a Small Cruiser converted into an aircraft mother ship (also known as an aircraft cruiser), see ibid., p. 101.) The naval land flight stations included: Barge Großenhain Hage Kiel Nordholz-Cuxhaven Schlüterhof-Tuckum Speckenbüttel-Geestemünde Tondern Wainoden (see also RM 116/193) Wilhelmshaven-Wangerooge (On the history of the land flight stations see Köhler, Karl: Strukturungs- und Organisationsgeschichte der Marineluftkräfte, manuscript, 1969, in: MSG 2/1866, p. 54f. (Fortress Land Flight Station Kiel); Köhler, Karl: Strukturungs- und Organisationsgeschichte der Marineluftkräfte, manuscript, 1969, in: MSG 2/1867, p. 98-101 (general), 102f (Nordholz), 104f (Barge), 106f (Hage), 108f (Tondern), 110 (Speckenbüttel), 138-140 (Wilhelmshaven). Processing note: The classification of the stock took place in a first step by differentiating between seaplane flight stations, aircraft mother ships (= floating seaplane flight stations) and naval land flight stations in order to show in particular the group of aircraft mother ships separately. The second - and central - classification level is represented by the individual stations or aircraft mother ships. In this way, the overdelivery for a station can be determined. In the case of the maritime stations Flanders I and Flanders II, a more detailed classification at third level was also necessary. In these cases, war diaries, reports and orders/instructions, technical documentation and, in the case of Flanders II, personnel matters, as well as various documents form subordinate classification points. The classification level 'Miscellaneous documents' had to be created because of the heterogeneity of some files. For war diaries in several volumes, corresponding volume sequences were created. The formation of series was dispensed with. In principle, the archival processing was based on the processing of the related stock RM 110 (Command Posts of the Naval Air Force). A provisional finding aid book was available for the inventory, but it did not contain any notes. In addition, titles had to be converted several times (see explanations below). The classification of the preliminary finding aid into seaplane stations and naval land stations was supplemented by the classification point of the floating seaplane stations (aircraft motherships) and deepened in the case of the stations Flanders I and Flanders II (see above). Due to the otherwise retained classification and sorting of the provisional finding aid book, the classification largely coincides with the (ascending) numbering of the files, since the files were sorted and signed on the basis of the stations in the course of the provisional recording. File titles such as "Ganz Geheim" were dissolved and archived titles were created instead. If due to the heterogeneous content only the possibility existed to form a title such as "Various affairs", more extensive content notes were written. In the title field of war diaries, additions such as "Ausfertigung für den Admiralstab der Marine" and "Entwurf" were added in brackets to make it possible to distinguish between the war diaries of the Admiral Staff and those of the respective stations. The latter were only partially identified as drafts by the file-maintaining bodies; an addition to the title of the record was only made in these cases. A further addition to the titles of the war diaries - which necessarily had to be included - was the excerpts. All war diaries were indexed uniformly, taking into account these additions in the title recording. The additions to the title also made it justifiable not to record the organizational unit in charge of the records, since the title specification makes it possible to distinguish between the war diaries of the Admiral Staff and those of the war stations. The (volume sequence) titles each contain the name of the corresponding station; the redundancy with the classification points was accepted in BASYS S for the purpose of searchability. The tape sequence numbers were created for archiving purposes, which can mean that they may differ from those on the file covers. If, for example, only volumes 3, 4 and 5 of a war diary have been preserved, these were recorded as volumes 1, 2 and 3. In the field "File number" in BASYS S only the "Lu", "Ef" and "MK I" file numbers and old signatures (see below) were noted. Other file numbers (e.g.: Ca VIII), some of which also existed, were not included, since they were only present in parts and the field file number in these cases was already assigned the MK I signature. However, the corresponding information can be reconstructed using the file covers. In the case of files in the former folder form, the lid was severed and placed on top in the folder. It is unclear to what extent the MK I numbers are actually file numbers and not rather old signatures. The following indications speak for the latter: - The MK I numbers have been applied in a different colour than the A or C file numbers, which were partly applied in the same colour - and presumably at the same time - with the title - Provided that MK I numbers were present, there was usually also a sticker "Archiv der Marine. War records." the MK I numbers could have been signatures of the Marine Archives. - MK I numbers are comparatively consistently available, as if it were a complete transmission, while large gaps can be observed in the area of A and C file numbers. The latter appears more plausible in view of the cassation decisions made during the (first) archiving in the Navy archives and due to war losses. - A deeper classification or structuring of the MK I signatures does not exist, rather more than 300 consecutive numbers are available, whereas A and C file numbers are partly more deeply structured (e.g. "Ca"). The latter seems more probable for the registry of the Commander of the Naval Corps Fliers (Kofl. M.K.) than a purely sequential numbering. The attempt to reconstruct the file plan on the basis of the preserved file covers appears very difficult, if not impossible, due to large gaps. The F numbers (for files or subject) and any existing PG numbers were entered in separate old signature fields in the Old signature field. It should be noted that an F number usually includes several files; F numbers can therefore occur several times. The old signatures of RM 112/49-56 from the RM 110 inventory were also included (formerly RM 110/612-619). An index of objects, places and persons was not compiled. Description of the holdings: After the end of the First World War, the documents of the disbanded naval stations, including the various commanders of the naval pilots, were collected in the War History Department of the Admiral Staff of the Navy, which had already been established on 15 February 1916, for the purpose of establishing a new naval archive. From 1919 the name of the naval archive was changed to "Head of the Institute for Naval History and Chairman of the Naval Archive". A second renaming took place on 22 January 1936 in "Kriegswissenschaftliche Abteilung der Marine". However, this did not belong to the Reichsarchiv, but was subject until 31 March 1934 to the Inspectorate of Naval Education, then to the Chief of Naval Management, and later as a subordinate authority to the Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine. During the Second World War, naval records were moved to Tambach Castle near Coburg on 22 November 1943. After the end of the war, the archives were confiscated by US troops and taken to London. There the files were filmed on a large scale, combined into bundles, provided with consecutive F-numbers ("Faszikel", "File" or "Fach") and partly with a seven-digit number with the prefixed letters PG ("Pinched from the Germans"). The archives were then handed over to the British Admiralty. In the 1960s, the marine files were returned to the Federal Republic of Germany as part of the file return process and were transferred to the Document Centre of the Military History Research Office (MGFA) in Freiburg. On the basis of an interministerial agreement between the Federal Minister of Defence and the Federal Minister of the Interior from 1968, the files were transferred from the Document Centre to the Federal Archives. They were finally transferred to the Federal Archives Military Archives, which had been moved from Koblenz to Freiburg. (See the inventory description for RM 110; Author: Michael Weins) The inventory comprises 234 storage units from various sea and land flight stations of the Imperial Navy. With two exceptions (RM 112/44, 137), the duration of the files does not extend beyond the period between 1914 and 1918, i.e. the First World War and the immediate post-war period. Most of the war diaries of the individual stations - both the (draft) copies kept at the stations and the copies for the admiral's staff - have survived; only war diaries of several stations are available. An exception to this is the tradition of the maritime flight stations Flanders I and Flanders II, which also contain reports and documents on personnel and technology. The tradition of the Flanders II seafaring station thus forms the largest portion in RM 112 (53 files). Of the sea flight stations (Kerch, Odessa and Sevastopol) which were not put into operation until 1918 as a result of the occupations in the Ukraine, as well as the stations in Turkey (Agha Liman/Mersina, Chanak and Kawak), Bulgaria (Varna) and Romania (Babadag, Duingi and Constanza), only one or two war diaries are available. Content characterization: War diaries, orders of the day, weekly reports and daily reports are available from various sea flight stations. In addition, collections of orders and activity reports, as well as files on weapons technology and questions of deployment and personnel matters have been handed down from the Flemish Flanders II seaport station. The naval land flight stations are represented with war diary documents. A large part of the documents may have been transferred to the Luftarchiv at that time and destroyed in 1945. The war diaries, reports and commands available from several sea flight stations in the eastern Baltic Sea region (Angernsee, Arensburg, Liebau, Papenholm, Windau and floating sea flight stations S.M.H. Answald and S.M.H. Santa Elena) offer partly illustrated information on the preparation and execution of the "Enterprise Albion". In 1916 and 1917 reconnaissance flights and partly also bombing raids took place especially from the Angernsee seaport station on Riga Bay, which were partly documented photographically. The Russian warships off Arensburg were photographed several times (RM 112/2-5), as well as the destruction of the Russian radio station on Runö (RM 112/4). Since the "Company Albion" is to be regarded as the first joint operation of the German armed forces, i.e. a combined army, navy and partly also air force operation, the relevant documents in inventory RM 112 form an important supplement for research, as they document the role of the air forces (operating under supreme command of the Navy). The files on personnel and technical matters received from the Flanders II naval flying station describe - despite the existing gaps in transmission - several aspects of the everyday operation and profile of a naval flying station and can be used as examples for other naval flying stations. However, it must be pointed out that the equipment and operational profile of the maritime flight stations in Flanders differed from those behind the front due to their proximity to the western front. State of development: Online-Findbuch Scope, Explanation: Stock without increase 5.4 lfm 234 AE Citation method: BArch, RM 112/...