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Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Abt. Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg, E 191 · Fonds · 1816-1971
Part of State Archives Baden-Württemberg, Dept. State Archives Ludwigsburg (Archivtektonik)
  1. on the history of the central management: The founding meeting of the central management of the charitable association took place on 29 December 1816 in the old castle in Stuttgart. Queen Katharina called together a circle of distinguished men and women to communicate her plan for a "charity society", drawn up with the permission of her husband, King Wilhelm I. After further meetings, the central management of the charity was constituted on 6 Jan 1817, approved by royal decree the following day, and the first public call for the formation of local and regional authorities was made. The new institution grew out of an older root. Already in 1805 a "private society of voluntary friends of the poor" had come together in Stuttgart, which wanted to alleviate the plight of the poor in the city by providing public food and employment. But in the inflation of 1816/17 their strength was by far not sufficient. On the one hand, the population in the flat countryside suffered, on the other hand, the society itself in the city of Stuttgart could only inadequately fulfil its self-imposed task. The members of the central administration were appointed and appointed by the queen, after her death by the king; they were active in an honorary capacity and were supposed to represent all strata of the population. The direct leadership had been reserved for the Queen; her deputy in the chair and her successor as president of the central leadership was Privy Councillor August von Hartmann (1819-1847). The office rooms were provided by the state and the reporters and civil servants were paid from the state treasury. The accounts were therefore subject to State control. Central management was not a government agency. As a special institution under the king's control, it was nevertheless able - in accordance with the queen's wishes - to make far-reaching decisions quickly and found the necessary support from the state administrative authorities during its implementation. It was active in the country through the "District Charity Associations", which were formed in the upper districts from the heads of the church and secular administration and in some cases also through "Local Charity Associations" in individual towns. In the city of Stuttgart, the "Lokalwohltätigkeitverein" (local charity association), which emerged from the "Privatgesellschaft" (private company), took over the tasks of a district charity association (see F 240/1), while a separate district charity association was set up at the Stuttgart office - as was the case with other higher offices. In addition to providing the population with food and clothing in years of need, the fight against beggars on the one hand and job creation on the other formed the focal points of their activities. To stimulate savings activity, the "Württembergische Sparkasse in Stuttgart" was founded with an announcement dated 12 May 1818, the supreme supervision of which was transferred to the central management (see portfolio E 193). On 16.5.1818 the "Royal Army Commission" (see fonds E 192) was established as a collegial state authority to carry out state tasks in the promotion of the poor and the economy. Practically only members of the central management belonged to it, so that a very close personal dovetailing with this was given. The central management not only wanted to eliminate current emergencies, but also to get to the root of the problem. For example, industrial and work schools have already been set up for children in order to promote diligence and manual skills through straw and wood work, to prevent neglect and to help them earn some money. In 1849, these existed in 99 towns of Württemberg and employed 6400 children. Vocational training for the next age group was promoted with apprenticeship contributions. Emergency shelters were built for girls at risk, sick and hard-to-reach people were supported in institutions and homes, trade and commerce were supported with loans. In cooperation with the Central Office for Trade and Commerce, the central management (see inventory E 170) introduced new branches of work into the Württemberg economy and promoted the sale of its products. Since 1823, the impoverished communities have been given targeted help in the form of a special state aid and improvement plan; the implementation of these measures was the responsibility of the Armenkommission. Since the middle of the 19th century, the fight against the consequences of natural disasters and war emergencies, as well as disease control, has slowly come to the fore of the central management's activities. The necessary funds were raised from collections and annual state contributions and have been held in an emergency fund since about 1895. In the time of crisis during and after the First World War, the central management used all means at its disposal to help steer the need. At the same time it was the office of the National Committee for War Invalidity Welfare, the National Foundation for the Survivors and the National Office for Homeworking Unemployed Women, organised large collections of money for the benefit of children's, middle-class, old-age and homeland emergency aid and managed the distribution of donations from foreign relief organisations in cooperation with the district charity associations. In addition, she conducted the business for social charitable associations and for national collections, in particular for the Landesverband für Säuglingsschutz und Jugendfürsorge, the Verein für entlase Strafgefangene, the Heimatnothilfe, the Künstlerhilfe and took over the tasks of numerous welfare associations and foundations that had entered into the inflation period (see For more than a century, the central management of the charitable association was and remained the switchboard for welfare work in Württemberg. The central management has always been in close contact with the institutions and associations and has turned its special attention to them by giving suggestions or making significant contributions to numerous foundations. She promoted them by regular contributions and helped by advice, especially in financial terms. The "Blätter für Wohltätigkeit in Württemberg", today "Blätter der Wohlfahrtspflege", published since 1848, spread far beyond the immediate sphere of activity of the central management, but with the expansion of the state tasks the central management gradually lost its independent position. In 1921 it became an institution under public law under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior and was now called "Central Management for Charity". During the National Socialist era it was renamed "Zentralleitung für das Stiftungs- und Anstaltswesen" (Central Management for Foundations and Institutions), with corresponding restrictions on its scope of duties, since the "National Socialist People's Welfare Office" reserved for itself the more popular areas, in particular emergency aid ("Winterhilfswerk"). After the end of the 2nd World War, the scope of the central management was expanded again and its sphere of activity extended to the former Prussian administrative district of Hohenzollern. But it could no longer attain its former significance. In 1957 it became the "Landeswohlfahrtswerk für Baden-Württemberg" in the form of a foundation under civil law with its registered office in Stuttgart, Falkertstr. 29. 2. On the history of the registry: the first office of the central management of the charitable association was established in the summer of 1817 in the old castle in Stuttgart, in the same place where the constituent meeting of the central management had taken place on 6 January of the same year. The Chancellery, which was also responsible for the business of the agricultural central office, was run from 1817 to 1857 by Regierungsrat Schmidlin as secretary. In 1820 the Chancellery rooms were moved from the Old Palace to the Ministerial Building of Foreign Affairs. In the end, this had an unfavorable effect on the management of the registry and constantly forced compromises to be made. In 1825, 1837 and 1846 Schmidlin had lists drawn up of the files kept in the registry of the Central Management and the Army Commission. The files of both bodies were kept together. The special files (Aalen to Welzheim) were filed in subjects 1 - 66, the general files in subjects 67 - 84. The list of 1837 contains in contrast to the list of 1825, which only describes the general files, also a list of the existing special files and in the appendix a list of the 15 file fascicles handed over in December 1838 by Geh. Rat von Hartmann from the estate of Queen Katharina to the registry of the central administration. Unfortunately, the 1846 directory is no longer available. The connection between the offices of the central management of the charity association and the central office of the agricultural association (with separate registries), which had existed since 1817, was dissolved in 1850 with the transfer of the latter to the Legion barracks, when a second registry was formed for the latter on the occasion of the internal separation of the central management and the Army Commission in 1855; copyist Rieger had great difficulty in dividing up the files and ordering both registries. Due to the close interdependence of the Central Management and the Armed Commission - the members of the Armed Commission were all members of the Central Management - however, a strict separation was not always necessary at that time (and also with the new indexing 1977 to 1979, see E 191 and E 192).1856 In 1857 Chancellor Keller, successor of Secretary Schmidlin in the chancellery, expanded Schmidlin's file plan to accommodate the rapidly growing registry, whereby in particular the various matters previously united under general headings were separated. In the special files, subjects 1 - 66 increased by six to 72, so that the general files were now distributed among 73 - 114 instead of subjects 67 - 84. The files, which were stored in confined spaces in various rooms, could be found quickly on the basis of a central management file directory produced by Keller around 1860 and supplemented up to the beginning of the 20th century, which lists the file subjects in alphabetical order with fan descriptions. Secretary Kuhn undertook a comprehensive reorganization of the registry in 1874. On the one hand, he eliminated 403 file fascicles, mainly local files, for the old registry, which had been completed in 1877, and on the other hand he systematically structured the remaining registry files, leaving out the old subject classification. Obviously this new plan did not come to fruition due to a chronic lack of space, which the Secretariat complained about in a note dated 10 Dec. 1896 to the Ministry of Finance and asked for new premises to be provided. As a result of the sale of the entire property, these offices had to be vacated in 1906; since no suitable state building was available, the private house Furtbachstraße No. 16 was rented. Probably with regard to the move into the house Furtbachstraße, secretary Kuhn designed around 1903 in a modified form a new registry order, which was also then applied in practice. On 26 June 1914 the central administration finally moved into the house at Falkertstraße 29, which it had acquired from the estate of the Kommerzienrat von Pflaum and set up for its purposes. The new accommodation had a favourable effect on the registry conditions insofar as more extensive file accesses could be accommodated in the subsequent period. These were above all the files of numerous associations dissolved as a result of inflation, as well as files from the management of the Central Management for Social Charitable Associations, committees and large relief actions in the emergency years between the two world wars. The storage of these files took place in loose connection with the remaining files. Around 1936, a provisional list of files ("registry plan") was created for the files of the NS-Volkswohlfahrt (National Socialist People's Welfare) with the inclusion of newer files of the central administration. Archival documents on the history of the registry see E 191 Rubr. III 1c Büschel 4532 (offices) and Büschel 4533 (tools). 3. to the order and distortion of the stock: The old files of the central management were handed over to the Ludwigsburg State Archives by the Landeswohlfahrtswerk in 1968 and 1976. In 1976, individual books and periodicals were placed in the service library of the archive from the outset. State Archives Director Dr. Robert Uhland began in 1968 to organize and record the files and volumes, but was already stuck in the early days with this work because of other obligations. As part of a research contract with the support of the Volkswagenwerk Foundation, the holdings were then transferred from 1977 to 1979 under the direction of Senior State Archives Councillor Dr. Wolfgang Schmierer by the scientific director of the Volkswagenwerk Foundation. Employees Dr. Hans Ewald Kessler in cooperation with the archive employees Erwin Biemann and Helga Hecht. The final works, which included the inventory classification and revision of the title records, were carried out from 1981 to 1982 for the inventory group A (files and volumes), Amtsrat Karl Hofer, and for the inventory group B (printed matter), Archivoberinspektorin Regina Glatzle. Since at the beginning of the indexing there were no finding aids available, apart from a very inaccurate index of the older archives, especially for the older ones, it was also not possible to use the older registry data, some of which still existed. The old registers (E 191, Rubr. III 1b Bü 5992 - 5998) were only found during the indexing process. The extensive files and volumes were divided in the course of the indexing work and divorced into the holdings E 191 (central management of the charitable association), E 192 (Armenkommission) and E 193 (central management of the Sparkasse für Württemberg). The external files burst in the registry were excavated and integrated as independent holdings in accordance with their provenance into the corresponding holdings series of the State Archives F 240/1 (Lokalwohltätigkeitsverein Stuttgart), F 240/2 (Bezirkswohltätigkeitsverein Cannstatt), PL 408 (Wichernhaus Stuttgart), PL 409 (Verein zur Unterstützung älterer Honoratiorentöchter), PL 410 (association for artificial limbs), PL 411 (association for worker colonies), PL 412 (association for folk sanatoriums), PL 413 (national association for infant protection and youth welfare), PL 416 (Paulinenverein), PL 417 (Comité zur Beschaffung von Arbeit), PL 418 (association for shameful house arms), PL 419 (harvest association) and PL 705 (estate Heller). All these holdings contain files of originally independent organisations which have been taken over by the central management over time. The inventory E 193 was arranged and registered as a separate file group, which originated at the central management, but concerned its own closed field of work, as a separate file group.15 file fascicles originate from the estate of Queen Katharina and were handed over to the registry of the central management in the year 1838 by Privy Councillor v. Hartmann: they are incorporated in the majority in section I 3 of the inventory E 191. A list of these files is attached to the registry of 1837. E 191 was indexed in individual connected groups according to numerus currens, whereby the title records could only be arranged objectively after completion of the indexing.After several registration plans had been valid for the files of the central management, also different stock groups were not registered by these, the stock E 191 was arranged according to a new stock systematics under consideration of the business circles of the central management and preservation of old registration structures. the stock contains a large number of brochures, above all annual reports and statutes of socially active institutions and associations from the whole German-speaking area. As far as these were collected independently, they were registered under the inventory department B, further are in the associated files. Duplicates as well as the periodical "Blätter für das Armenwesen" and "Blätter der Zentralleitung für Wohltätigkeit in Württemberg", volumes 1890 - 1891, 1896 - 1922 and 1925 - 1939, were taken over to a large extent into the collections (JL 415) or into the service library of the State Archives Ludwigsburg. 7107 numbers in the volume of 97 m were included in the holdings E 191. However, 264 numbers are not documented by subsequent summarization of tufts.Ludwigsburg, March 1982Gez. Dr. Schmierer Supplement 2006: The documents received in 2001, 2004 and 2005 from the Baden-Württemberg Welfare Office were incorporated into the inventory in 2005 (= E 191 Bü 7445-7499).Ludwigsburg, July 2006W. Schneider Supplement 2013: In the course of packaging the inventory in 2010, title recordings and archive units were systematically compared and some errors and inconsistencies were corrected. Stephen Molitor
BArch, R 55 · Fonds · 1920-1945
Part of Federal Archives (Archivtektonik)

History of the inventor: Joseph Goebbels, who had already been head of the NSDAP's Reich Propaganda Department since 1929, had certainly developed plans for a Ministry of Propaganda even before the seizure of power.(1) The Reichskabinett (Reich Cabinet) dealt with the issue of the Propaganda Department on 11 September. The arguments for the foundation, which the Reich Chancellor (Hitler) himself presented, sounded extremely harmless ex post and far from future realities: "One of the predominant tasks of this ministry would be the preparation of important acts of government. On the oil and fat issue, for example, which now occupies the cabinet, the people should be enlightened in the direction that the farmer would perish if something were not done to improve the sale of his products. The importance of this matter also for the war measures would have to be pointed out ..." Government action would only begin if the awareness-raising work had taken place and worked for some time. ..."(2) On 16 March 1933, however, Goebbels described the future tasks of his ministry programmatically three days after his appointment in a remarkably open manner in front of press representatives: "If this government is now determined never to give way again, never and under no circumstances, then it need not make use of the dead power of the bayonet, then in the long run it will not be able to be satisfied with knowing 52 percent behind it ..., but it will have to see its next task in winning the remaining 48 percent for itself. This is not only possible through objective work". And about the nature of his propaganda he proclaimed: "Not any aesthete can judge the methods of propaganda. A binding judgment can only be given on the basis of success. For propaganda is not an end in itself, but a means to an end.(3) A timid attempt by Hugenberg to at least delay the decision to establish the Ministry of Propaganda in the cabinet meeting of March 11, 1933 failed miserably. Already on 13 March 1933 the law on the establishment of the RMVP was signed by the Reich President and the "writer" Dr. Goebbels was appointed minister.(4) Almost three weeks later, on 5 April 1933, Goebbels noted in his diary: "The organisation of the ministry is finished".(5) In difficult negotiations(6) with the ministries, which had to cede parts of their competences to the new ministry, the responsibilities were determined in detail. The RMVP was responsible for all tasks relating to intellectual influence on the nation, advertising for the state, culture and economy, informing the domestic and foreign public about them, and the administration of all institutions serving these purposes. As a result, the business area of the RMVP will be: 1. from the business area of the Federal Foreign Office: News and education abroad, art, art exhibitions, film and sports abroad. 2. From the RMI division: General Domestic Enlightenment, Hochschule für Politik, introduction and celebration of national holidays and celebration of national holidays with the participation of the RMI, press (with Institute for Newspaper Science), radio, national anthem, German Library in Leipzig, art (but without art-historical institute in Florence, copyright protection for works of literature and art, directory of nationally valuable works of art, German-Austrian Convention on the Export of Art, Protection of Works of Art and Monuments, Protection and Maintenance of Landscape and Natural Monuments, Nature Parks, Preservation of Buildings of Special Historical Importance, Preservation of National Monuments, Verband Deutscher Vereine für Volkskunde, Reich Memorial), Music Conservation, including the Philharmonic Orchestra, Theatre Matters, Cinema, Combating Trash and Dirt 3. From the business areas of the Reich Ministry of Economics and the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture: Economic Advertising, Exhibitions, Trade Fairs and Advertising 4. From the business areas of the Reich Ministry of Posts and the Reich Ministry of Transportation: Traffic Advertising Furthermore, all radio matters dealt with by the Reich Ministry of Posts and the Reich Ministry of Transportation are transferred from the business area of the Reich Ministry of Posts, unless they concern the technical administration outside the premises of the Reich Broadcasting Company and the radio companies. In matters of technical administration, the RMVP shall be involved to the extent necessary to carry out its own tasks, in particular in determining the conditions for the awarding of broadcasting rights and the regulation of fees. In particular, the representation of the Reich in the Reichsrundfunkgesellschaft and the broadcasting companies is fully transferred to the RMVP. The RMVP is in charge of all tasks, including legislation, in the designated areas. The general principles shall apply to the participation of the other Reich Ministers." (RGBl. 1933 I, p. 449) These competences were exercised by seven departments, so that the business distribution plan of 1 Oct. 1933 (7) shows the following picture: Ministerial office (with five employees), directly subordinated to the Minister. State Secretary, at the same time Head of Press of the Reich Government I. Administration and Law with one main office Administration, three departments as well as the registry II. Propaganda with 10 departments 1. Positive world view propaganda, shaping in state life, press photography 2. Jewish question, foundation for victims of work, Versailles treaty, national literature, publishing etc. 3. Demonstrations and regional organisation 4. Opposing world views 5. German University of Politics 6. Youth and sports issues 7. Economic and social policy 8. Agricultural and eastern issues 9. Transport 10. Public health III. Broadcasting with three sections 1. Broadcasting 2. Political and cultural affairs of broadcasting 3. Organisation and administrative issues of German broadcasting IV. Press, simultaneously press department of the Reich government with eleven papers V. Film with three papers VI. Theatre, music and art with three papers VII. Defence (defence against lies at home and abroad) with eight papers Goebbels was obviously not satisfied with the official title of his ministry. The extensive tasks in the fields of culture and the arts did not come into their own and the word propaganda, of which he was aware, had a "bitter aftertaste" (8). His proposal to rename his department "Reichsministerium für Kultur und Volksaufklärung", however, met with Hitler's rejection. (9) In July 1933, a circular issued by the Reich Chancellor drew the attention of the Reich governors to the exclusive competence of the Reich or of the new Ministry for the above-mentioned competences and called on them to cede to the RMVP any existing budget funds and offices of the Länder. (10) At the same time, 13 regional offices were established as the substructure of the Ministry, the sprinkles of which corresponded approximately to those of the regional employment offices, and 18 imperial propaganda offices, which subdivided the territory of the regional offices once again. After the Reichspropagandastellen were already converted after short time (approx. 1934) to Landesstellen, in each Gau of the NSDAP a Landesstelle of the RMVP was located. Their leaders were in personal union at the same time leaders of the Gaupropagandaleitungen of the NSDAP, which in its leadership, the Reichspropagandalleitung, was also perceived by Goebbels in personal union. (11) As a result, conflicts of loyalty between the Gaupropaganda leaders/leaders of the RMVP regional offices were unavoidable in disputes between Goebbels and individual Gauleiters. According to theory, the regional offices were supposed to monitor and implement the political decisions made in the ministry in the individual districts, but in practice their heads were often more dependent on their respective Gauleiter than on the ministry due to the above-mentioned personal union. By the Führer decree of 9 September 1937 (RGBl. 1937 I, p. 1009), the Landesstellen were renamed Reichspropagandaämter and elevated to Reich authorities. After the integration of Austria there were no less than 42 Reichspropagandaämter with 1400 full-time employees. (12) In addition to the state offices and Reich Propaganda Offices, a whole range of offices, organizations, associations, societies and societies soon developed, which are to be counted to the subordinate area of the Ministry. (13) Despite the apparently clear regulation on the responsibilities of the RMVP, the 13 years of its existence were marked by disputes over responsibilities with other ministries, in particular with the ministers Rust, Rosenberg and Ribbentrop, of whom Goebbels, as is known, held very little personally. Successes and failures in the competence disputes cannot be followed in detail here; they depended to a large extent on Hitler's relationship with Goebbels. For example, Goebbels did not succeed in extending his competence in theatre to the Prussian State Theatres in Berlin. By contrast, in 1943 the RMVP assumed responsibility for carrying out the Eastern propaganda, while Rosenberg, as Reich Minister for the occupied Eastern territories, was left with only the authority to issue guidelines. (14) In the conflict with the Federal Foreign Office over the delimitation of responsibilities for foreign propaganda, an arrangement was reached in a working agreement in October 1941. (15) Wehrmacht propaganda also remained long and controversial. Despite many efforts (16), Goebbels did not succeed in making a decisive break in the competencies of the OKW/Wpr department until the end of the war in March 1945. Propaganda into the Wehrmacht and about the Wehrmacht at home and abroad was then to be taken in charge by the RMVP. It is not possible to determine whether the planned organizational consequences have yet been implemented. (17) Another major success for Goebbels was the establishment of the Reichsinspektion für zivile Luftschutzmaßnahmen (Reich Inspection for Civilian Air Defence Measures), which was headed by the RMVP (18), and his appointment as Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War Operations by Führer Decree of 25 July 1944 (19). For the last months of the Third Reich, Goebbels had reached the zenith of power with this function, apart from his appointment as Reich Chancellor in Hitler's last will and testament of April 29, 1945, which had become effective only theoretically. As Reich Plenipotentiary for the total deployment in war, he had extremely far-reaching powers over the entire state apparatus with the exception of the Wehrmacht. (20) Until that date, the competences of the RMVP had changed only slightly in the main features of all disputes over jurisdiction. That it nevertheless grew enormously and steadily until 1943 (21) was mainly due to diversification and intensification in the performance of its tasks. After 1938, the expansive foreign policy of the Third Reich necessitated further propaganda agencies to direct and influence public opinion in the incorporated and occupied territories. In the occupied territories with civil administrations, "departments" (main departments) for "popular enlightenment and propaganda" were usually set up in the territories with military administration, "propaganda departments", which exercised roughly the functions of the Reich Propaganda Offices. Their position between their superior military services and the RMVP, which sought to influence the content of the propaganda and from where part of the personnel came, was a constant source of conflict. As an indication for the weighting of the individual areas of responsibility of the Ministry in relation to each other, the expenditures for the individual areas in the 10 years from March 1933 to March 1943 are mentioned. With a total volume of 881,541,376.78 RM (22), the expenses for the Active propaganda: 21.8 Communications: 17.8 Music, visual arts, literature: 6.2 Film: 11.5 Theatres: 26.4 Civil servants and equipment: 4.3 Salaries, business needs, including film testing agencies and RPÄ: 12.0 By 1942, the RMVP and its division had been continuously expanded, before facilities in the subordinate area were shut down and departments in the ministry were merged as part of the total war from 1943 onwards. The business distribution plan of Nov. 1942 was as follows: (23) Ministerial Office, reporting directly to the Minister with adjutants, personal advisers and press officers of the Minister, a total of 10 employees State Secretaries Leopold Gutterer, Reich Press Head Dr. Otto Dietrich, Hermann Esser Budget Department (H) with 11 departments; reporting to the Head of the Department, the Main Office and the House Administration Personnel Department (Pers) with seven departments Legal and Organisation Department (R) with three departments Propaganda Department (Pro) with the following ten departments: 1. Political Propaganda 2. Cultural Propaganda 3. Propaganda Exploration 4. Public Health, Social Policy 5. Economy 6. Imperial Propaganda Offices 7. Major Events 8. Youth and Sports 9. Representation 10. Budget of the Department, Preparation of the Peace Treaties, Stagma and other Press Department of the Imperial Government I. Department German Press (DP) with 13 Speeches II. Foreign Press Department (AP) with 19 papers III. Journal Press Department /ZP) with five papers Foreign Press Department (A) with the following five groups: 1. Organization 2. Europe and Middle East 3. Non-European 4. Propaganda Media 5. Deployment abroad and in the Reich Tourism Department (FV) with four units Broadcasting Department (Rfk) with the following eight units 1. Coordination, Interradio and others 2. Broadcasting Command Office 3. Mob Department 4. Broadcasting Programme Support 5. Foreign Broadcasting 6. Broadcasting Industry 7. Broadcasting Organisation 8. Rundfunk-Erkundungsdienst Filmabteilung (F) with five departments Schrifttumsabteilung (S ) with eight departments Theaterabteilung (T) with seven departments Bildende Kunst (BK) with four departments Musik-Abteilung (M) with ten departments Reichsverteidigung (RV) with six departments Abteilung für die besetztischen Ostgebiete (Ost) with twelve departments Generalreferate with State Secretary Gutterer directly subordinated: 1. Exhibitions and Fairs 2nd General Cultural Department (General Cultural Department for the Reich Capital) 3rd General Department for Reich Chamber of Culture Matters 4th Technology (propaganda, radio, film, sound, stage, press, service installations of the RMVP) Press Recording Office for the PK reports of the Press Department of the Reich Government (directly subordinated to the Reich Press Head) A major change in this distribution of responsibilities took place in September 1944 (24). The art departments of theatre, music and visual arts were dissolved and merged into a single department of culture (cult). The East Department was integrated into the Propaganda Department as a main department, the Tourism Department was shut down and the General Departments of the Reich Cultural Chamber, Armaments and Construction and Propaganda Troops were dissolved. Notes (1) J. Goebbels: Vom Kaiserhof zur Reichskanzlei, p. 28. (2) R 43 II/1149, p. 5, excerpt from the minutes of the ministerial meeting of 11 March 1933. (3) R 43 II/1149, pp. 25 - 29, wording of Goebbels' speech of 16 March 1933 according to W. T. B. (4) R 43 II/1149, RGBl. 1933 I, p. 104 (5) J. Goebbels: Vom Kaiserhof zur Reichskanzlei, p. 293 (6) In an elaboration presumably by Goebbels on a "Reichskommissariat für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda" to be created (R 43 II/1149, pp. 49 - 53) further competences had been demanded. In particular, additional responsibilities were demanded of the German section of the RMI and section VI of the AA, as well as in foreign propaganda. (7) R 43 II/1449, pp. 126 - 133. Heiber gives a diagram of the organisational development of the RMVP at department level with the names of the department heads on the inside of the cover of his Goebbels biography. (8) See speech to representatives of the press on the tasks of the RMVP of 16 March 1933 in R 43 II/1149. It was not without reason that there was a language regulation for the press according to which the term propaganda was to be used only in a positive sense (R 55/1410, Decree of the RMVP to the RPA Nuremberg, 8 Nov. 1940). (9) R 43 II/1149, p. 169, Note by Lammers of 9 May 1934 on a lecture to the Reich Chancellor. (10) R 43 II/1149. (11) After the establishment of the Reichskulturkammer organization, they were also state cultural administrators in the substructure of the RKK. (12) Boelcke, Kriegspropaganda, p. 185. (13) Ebendort, p. 136 ff. there are hints for some institutions. (14) The Führer's order concerning the delimitation of responsibilities dated 15 Aug. 1943, cf. R 55/1435, 1390. (15) Boelcke, Kriegspropaganda, p. 126/127. (16) Lochner, Joseph Goebbels, p. 334, p. 442. (17) R 55/618, p. 123; cf. also the depiction of Hasso v. Wedel, the propaganda troops of the German Wehrmacht. Neckargemünd 1962, Die Wehrmacht im Kampf, vol. 34 (18) Führer decree of Dec. 21, 1943, R 55/441 (19) RGBl. 1944, p. 161, R 43 II/664 a. (20) This competence is virtually not reflected in the RMVP files available in the BA. However, it is well documented in R 43 II. See R 43 II/664 a. (21) See the annual budget negotiations on increasing the number of posts in R 2/4752 - 4762. (22) R 55/862, Statistical overview of monetary transactions. Accordingly, 88,5 % of the expenditure was covered by the licence fee. It remains unclear whether the old budgetary expenditure has been taken into account. (23) R 55/1314 According to this schedule of responsibilities, the files held in the Federal Archives were essentially classified. (24) Newsletter of 13 Sept. 1944 in R 55/441. Inventory description: Inventory history The RMVP records have suffered substantial losses, although the main building of the Ministry, the Ordenspalais am Wilhelmplatz, was destroyed relatively late and almost accidentally in March 1945. Large parts of the old registries, including the previous files from the Federal Foreign Office and the Reich Ministry of the Interior (1), had already been destroyed by air raids in 1944. Moreover, in the last days of the war before and during the conquest of Berlin by the Soviet Russian army, files were also systematically destroyed. (2) In view of the total collapse and devastation of Berlin by the air war, it is not surprising that hardly any manual or private files of RMVP employees have been handed down. Notable exceptions are, in particular, documents from Ministerialrat Bade (press department) (3) and hand files of the head of the broadcasting department, Ministerialdirigent Fritzsche. In this context, the diaries of Goebbels should also be mentioned, which, with the exception of those edited by Lochner in 1948, had been lost for almost 30 years. (4) The bulk of the volumes available in the Bundesarchiv Koblenz until 1996 was transferred from Alexandria (cf. Guide No. 22) and from the Berlin Document Center to the Bundesarchiv in the years 1959 - 1963. The personnel files still held back were added to the portfolio in 2007. The RMVP files kept by the Ministry of State Security of the GDR (mainly personnel files, personnel processes of the theatre, music and defence departments), which were stored in the so-called NS archive until 2006, are also assigned to the holdings. Not in Allied hands was only a small collection from the Music Department and some documents from the German Press Department, which were transferred to the Federal Archives in 1969 as part of the land consolidation with the Secret State Archives of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Some original RMVP files can still be found at the Hoover Institution Standford, the Yivo Institute New York and the Wiener Library London. Fortunately, all three institutions were willing to produce microfilms for the Federal Archives (5). In 1974, the Rijksinstitut voor Oologsdocumentatie Amsterdam (Rijksinstitut for Oologsdocumentatie Amsterdam) kindly handed over some original fragments of files to the Federal Archives. In 1946, officers of the French and Soviet secret services found films of about 35,000 documents that had been filmed in the RMVP and buried near Potsdam at the end of the war with the help of an American mine detector (6). The films were taken to Paris to make re-enlargements of them, and it is possible that they will still be kept in the French secret service. The Americans apparently did not receive copies because they had withheld from the French documents of other provenance found in the CSSR. Only incomplete information is available about the content of the films; it can be assumed, however, that not exactly unimportant files have been filmed. Notes (1) Only a few handfiles and a few volumes on the promotion of music have survived. (2) Files of the Reichsfilmarchiv that had been moved to Grasleben/Helmstedt were even to be destroyed by agents of the RSHA when they threatened to fall into the hands of the English (cf. R 55/618). (3) Cf. Kl. Erw. 615, which is a selection of the bath papers from the time around 1933 in the Hoover library. (4) Frankfurter Allgemeine, 21 Nov. 1974, reader's letter. Insignificant fragments from Goebbels' estate from his student days can be found in the Federal Archives under the signature Kl. Erw. 254. (5) A collection of newspaper clippings concerning Goebbels in the amount of 82 Bde for the years 1931 - 1943 was not filmed at the Yivo-Institut. (6) See the documents in: National Archives Washington, RG 260 OMGUS 35/35 folder 19. Archival processing The order and indexing work on the holdings was relatively time-consuming and difficult, as the order of the files was extremely poor. On the one hand there were no detailed file plans or other registry aids for the mass of files from the budget and personnel departments, on the other hand the file management in the ministry, which at least in its development phase was always deliberately unbureaucratic, left a lot to be desired. Especially during the war, when inexperienced auxiliaries had to be used more and more during the war, the Ministry's staff often complained about the inadequacy of the registries. The organisation of the RMVP's records management showed typical features of office reform (1): Registries were kept on a departmental basis, with each registry having a "self-contained partial list of files". The documents were stored in standing folders (System Herdegen). Instead of a diary, an alphabetical mailing card was kept, separated according to authorities and private persons. The reference numbers consisted of the department letter, file number, date as well as an indication, on which card of an order file the procedure was seized. All in all, the files of the Budget and Human Resources Department were in a certain, albeit unsatisfactory, state of order when they entered the Federal Archives. Numerous volumes from the other departments, on the other hand, were formed in a chaotic manner, possibly as a result of a provisional recording of loose written material when it was confiscated. These were often amorphous and fragmentary materials that lacked the characteristics of organically grown writing. So it was practically impossible to form meaningful band units in all subjects. In the case of some "mixed volumes" with written material on numerous file numbers, only the most frequent ones were noted in the finding aid book. Due to the high loss of files, no strict evaluation standard was applied to the files. The main items collected were volumes from the budget department on preliminary checks in the subordinate area and individual procedures for the procurement and management of managed goods for the purposes of the Ministry. Formal records of non-compliant positions in the business division and a number of unarchivalable documents from the Human Resources Department will still be kept for the foreseeable future for the purpose of issuing service time statements. It is not listed in this guide. Preparatory work for the indexing of the Koblenz part of the stock was carried out by Mr. Oberarchivrat Regel (1967) with regard to the files of the budget department on the Reich's own film assets, Mr. Ltd. Archivdirektor Dr. Boberach (1966) with regard to correspondence and the reference files of the head of the broadcasting department, Hans Fritzsche and Ms. Archivoberinspektorin Schneider, née Fisch (1966) for files of the propaganda department. In 2005, the inventories of the finding aids of both sections of the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda were imported into the database of the Federal Archives via a retroconversion procedure. The data records were then combined in a classification. Despite the inhomogeneity of the traditions of most specialist departments, it was advisable to maintain the division by departments. (2) Within the departments, the structure was essentially based on file numbers and factual contexts. The file numbers used in the RMVP were - as far as possible - used as aids for further subdivision. The final step was the integration of the personnel files and personal documents from the NS archive (approx. 5000 individual transactions) and the former Berlin Document Center (approx. 700 transactions). The documents taken over are mainly documents from the personnel department (in addition to personnel files also questionnaires and index cards), theatre (applications, appointments, confirmation procedures) and imperial defence (applications in propaganda companies). The personal records also contain isolated documents on denazification from the period 1946-1950. Since a relatively large number of individual transactions from the NS archives were often only a few sheets, transactions that objectively related to one transaction (e.g. applications for interpreting) were merged into one file. The names of the individual persons as well as the old signatures from the NS archive can still be traced via the BASYS-P database. Both the files from the NS archive and those from the former BDC are not always filed according to the provenance principle. However, the files were not separated again. Most of the files taken over from the former BDC are personal files and questionnaires as well as personnel index cards of individual employees of broadcasting stations. A search is still possible via the BASYS-P database. The procedures for the donation "Artist's thanks" still present in the personal records of the former BDC concerning the Theatre Department were not adopted in this context (approx. 15,000 procedures). The names are entered in the BASYS-P database and can be searched there. Notes (1) Rules of Procedure and Registration of 8 May 1942 in R 55/ 618. (2) The structure of the business distribution plan of Nov. 1942 was used as a basis. Abbreviations AA = Federal Foreign Office Department A = Department Abroad AP = Foreign Press BDC = Berlin Document Center BdS = Commander of the Security Police ChdZ = Chief of the Civil Administration DAF = German Labour Front DASD = German Amateur Broadcasting Service e.V. DNB = Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro DRK = Deutsches Rotes Kreuz Dt. = Deutsch DVO = Durchführungsverordnung french = French Gestapo = Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt KdF = Kraft durch Freude KdG = Kommandeur der Gendarmerie KdS = Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei Kl. Erw. Small acquisition KLV = Kinderlandverschickung LG = District Court MA = Military Archives, Department of the Federal Archives MdR = Member of the Reichstag MinRat = Ministerialrat MdL = Member of the Landtag NDR = Norddeutscher Rundfunk NSV = National Socialist Volkswohlfahrt o. Az. = without file number or date = without date OKW = Oberkommando der Wehrmacht OLG = Oberstes Landesgericht OLT = Oberleutnant ORR = Oberregierungsrat OT = Organisation Todt PG = Parteigenosse PK = Propagandakompanie RAVAG = Österreichische Radio-Verkehrs-AG Reg. Pres. RMI = Reich Ministry of the Interior RMJ = Reich Ministry of the Interior RMK = Reich Ministry of Justice RMK = Reich Chamber of Music RMVP = Reich Ministry of Education and Propaganda ROI = Reichsoberinspektor RPA = Reichspropagandaamt RPÄ = Reichspropagandaämter RPL = Reichspropagandalleitung RR = Regierungsrat RRG = Reichsrundfunkgesellschaft RS = Reichssender RSHA = Reichssicherheitshauptamt RSK = Reichsschrifttumskammer SBZ = Soviet Occupation Zone SD = Security Service SD-LA = SD-Leitabschnitt SDR = Süddeutscher Rundfunk Sipo = Security Police STS = Secretary of State and a. = among others v. a. = above all VGH = Volksgerichtshof VO = Regulation WDR = Westdeutscher Rundfunk ZSTA = Zentrales Staatsarchiv (Potsdam) citation method: BArch R 55/ 23456 Content characterization: Rounded delivery complexes are available only from the budget department and from the personnel department. From the point of view of financing and personnel management, they illuminate almost all areas of the Ministry's activities. From the specialist departments, the volumes from the Propaganda Department should be emphasized, which document above all the design of propaganda and the propagandistic support of foreign workers and resettled persons in the last years of the war. Also worth mentioning are mood and activity reports of individual RPÄ and suggestions from the population for propaganda and for leading the total war. In the Radio Department there is some material about the design of the radio program and the propaganda reconnaissance with reports about the opposing propaganda, which were compiled from the bugging reports of the special service Seehaus. A separate complex of this department are 14 volumes of pre-files from the RMI with handfiles of the Oberregierungsrat Scholz as representative of the Reich in supervisory committees of broadcasting companies in Berlin from 1926 - 1932. Of the film department there are only a few, but interesting volumes about the film production of the last war years with numerous ministerial documents. The majority of the theatre department's traditions are based on documents on professional issues and the Reich's dramaturgy. From the music department the promotion of musical organizations from the years 1933 - 1935 with pre-files from the RMI, the support and job placement of artists as well as material about the musical foreign relations is handed down. The files of the Department for the Occupied Eastern Territories offer rich sources for questions of Eastern propaganda. The losses are greatest in the departments Law and Organization, Magazine Press, Foreign Press, Foreign Countries, Tourism, Literature and Fine Arts. State of development: Publication Findbuch (1976, reprint 1996), Online Findbuch (2007). Citation style: BArch, R 55/...