The present estate of Friedrich Theodor Althoff (1839-1908), Prussian Ministerial Director in the Ministry of Culture, was given to the Prussian Secret State Archives in 1921 as a gift from the widow Marie Althoff. In 1924, 1935, 1936, 1951, 1958 and 2000 further smaller parts of the estate were transferred to the (Prussian) Secret State Archives (PK). The estate contains primarily personnel documents, comprehensive reference files from official activities, extensive official correspondence with a large number of partners, newspapers and newspaper clippings and a small partial estate of the widow Marie Althoff, mainly with her correspondence after 1908 The correspondence was filed by Althoff himself according to two types, alphabetically according to the names and professions of the senders, so that both groups (by database query) are to be searched. An additional peculiarity is that about 500 letters are enclosed with other correspondences, namely when the letter writers mainly expressed themselves about other, third parties. In these cases, the letters were not filed under the senders, but under the names of those about whom they were written. Modern distortion maintains this order, but ejects the names concerned in the respective distortion titles. (Example VI HA, Nl F. T. Althoff, No. 805 alphabetical correspondence "Kohl - Koppy" also contains in "Kollmann, Julius, Basel, 1887 - 1888 (3)" a letter by Gustav v. Schmoller about Julius Kollmann from 1884). In the course of entering the database, the individual correspondence partners in the correspondence volumes were added to the contents notes using the register. The number in brackets indicates the number of letters. For the former divisions A I and A II (today No. 1-655) there is a separate detailed analysis volume which should be consulted during research. Its contents are not part of the database, as they would have gone beyond its scope. For the complete technical processing of the magazine, which took place in 2012, the discount was re-signed according to serial numbers for the sake of simplicity. A corresponding concordance can be found at the end of the search. Distortion began in 1921 by Ludwig Dehio. Mrs. Krähe created the list of letter correspondents. In 1939 G. Wentz dispersed the correspondence. In the years 1960-1962 Renate Endler recorded the estate again, including a revision. From 1975-1976 a further revision was carried out by Holger Schenk. The following files were already missing when the still valid find book from the 1960s was compiled: A I No. 18 Academic Freedom, 1905 A I I No. 144 Criminalist Seminar, Halle, 1885 - 1896 A II No. 98 Eduard Simon, 1906-08 B No. 7 Baltzer B No. 21 Cantor B No. 28[Content unknown] B No. 69 Hermite B No. 137 Bd. 2 Netto B No. 168 Bd. 2 Schottki Bei B No. 48 Frobenius, B No. 65 Heffter, B No. 70 Heffner und B No. 169 Sturm missing the main part. The old numbers B No. 98, B No. 106 and B No. 167 are also missing, according to remarks in the find book; in the group "Correspondence Althoff's correspondence sorted by sender's profession", which is very intensively indexed, the contents of the missing pieces have also been included in the database, since their contents may be of partial interest, even if the individual letters no longer exist. These letters then bear the addition"(missing)". The following autograph of Althoff is also kept in the "Small Acquisitions" collection of the Geheimes Staatsarchiv PK: I. HA Rep. 94 Small acquisitions, No. 1711 Friedrich Althoff to an unknown person: Transmission of 4 facsimile Primaner essays of the Joachimsthalschen Gymnasium in Berlin from 1901 on the topic "The Beinstellung der Monmämäler in der Siegesallee" with Marginalien Kaiser Wilhelm II, The database was entered by Mrs. Pistiolis, the database correction, determination and addition of the runtimes on the basis of the contained notes and preparation of the foreword was done by the undersigned. With the introduction of the new tectonics in the GStA PK, the estate of Friedrich Theodor Althoff, formerly headed as I. Department Rep. 92, was incorporated into the newly formed VI. Department of Family Archives and Bequests in 2001. According to the Internet database "Kalliope, Verbundsystem Nachlässe und Autographen der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin", another extensive part of the manuscript section of the Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz is located. This section contains 23 boxes with correspondence, documents, manuscripts, photos, prints and the death mask. Further correspondence of Althoff (312 sheets) is kept in the document collection Darmstaedter (2c 1890) of the Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Duration: (1723) 1778, 1824 - 1908 (1909 - 1919) and without date Scope: 23 running metres Last assigned number: To be ordered: VI HA, Nl Friedrich Theodor Althoff, No.... To quote: GStA PK, VI. HA Family Archives and Bequests, Nl Friedrich Theodor Althoff, No.... Berlin, August 2013 (Chief Inspectoress of the Archives, Sylvia Rose) Life Data February 19, 1839 Born in Dinslaken Father: Friedrich Theodor Althoff (1785-1852), Prussian Dömanenrat Mother: Julie von Buggenhagen (née. 1802) from 1851 1856 to 1861 Gymnasium in Wesel (1856 Abitur) Studied law in Berlin and Bonn from 1856 Membership of Corps Saxonia with subsequent honorary membership 1861 State Exam 1864 Referendar 1867 Legal Assessor Exam 1870 Lawyer 1871 Legal adviser and consultant for church and school matters in Strasbourg from 1872 Dr. h.c. associate professor of French and modern civil law (1880 full professor) in Strasbourg 1882 university lecturer at the Ministry of Culture 1888 secret senior government council 1896 honorary professor at the University of Berlin 1897-1907 ministerial director of the I. Education Department (universities and secondary schools) 1900 chairman of the scientific and scholarly staff of the University of Berlin 1897-1907 professor at the University of Berlin 1896 honorary professor at the University of Berlin 1896 honorary professor at the University of Berlin 1896-1907 ministerial director of the I. 1901 Honorary member of the Göttingen Society of Sciences 1904 Title "Excellence" 1906 Title "Professor" 1907 Title of a "Real Privy Council", Crown Councillor October 20, 1908 died in Berlin-Steglitz Friedrich Theodor Althoff had been married to Marie Ingenohl (1843-1925) since 1865 and had no children. The life data were taken from the literature given. Furthermore, the personnel file Althoffs, 1882-1939 (I. HA Rep. 76 I Sekt. 31 Lit. A Nr. 15, incl. Supplement 1 2) is to be compared. Literature " M. Althoff (Edit.), From Friedrich Althoff's time in Berlin. Memories for his friends. Jena 1918 (printed as manuscript) " A. Sachse, Friedrich Althoff and his work. Berlin 1928; F. Schmidt-Ott, Experiences and aspirations. 1860-1950 Wiesbaden 1952, p. 5 u. ö. " New German Biography, vol. 1, Aachen - Behaim. Berlin 1953, pp. 222-224 " C.-E. Kretschmann, Friedrich Althoff's estate as a source for the history of the medical faculty in Halle from 1882-1907. Halle 1959 " G. Lohse, Die Bibliotheksdirektoren der ehemalmals Prußischen Universitäten und Technische Hochschulen 1900-1985. Köln 1988, p. 1 u. ö. (Publications from the Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage, vol. 26) " R.-J. Lischke: Friedrich Althoff and his contribution to the development of the Berlin scientific system at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Berlin 1991; J. Weiser, The Prussian School System in the 19th and 20th Centuries. A source report from the Secret State Archives of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Cologne, Weimar, Vienna 1996, pp. 194-197 (Studien und Dokumentationen zum deutschen Bildungsgeschichte, vol. 60) " Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon. 16th Herzberg 1999, Sp. 29-48 " St. Rebenich and G. Franke: Theodor Mommsen and Friedrich Althoff. Correspondence 1882-1903 Munich 2012 (German Historical Sources of the 19th and 20th Centuries Vol. 67). Description: Biographical data: 1839 - 1908 Resources: Database; Reference book, 1 vol.
I. Introduction 1 History of the authorities The existence of the General Civil Commissions is due to the Napoleonic Wars and the Stein-Hardenbergschen administrative reforms. After the military collapse of Prussia in 1806 and the Tilsiter peace of 7-9 July 1807, the question of civil and military reorganization of the state arose. Prussia had suffered great territorial losses in the peace of Tilsit, including those areas which it had only gained in the second and third Polish partition of 1793 and 1795. From these areas Emperor Napoleon formed the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. The territory of Pomerania and the Neumark, on the other hand, was preserved and the network district was divided. The Immediate Commission for the Enforcement of the Tilsit Peace was established to implement the peace provisions. For Pomerania and the Neumark as well as for East and West Prussia, general civil commissionariats were established, which were subordinated to the Immediate Commission (Kabinettsordre of July 31, 1807). The General Civil Commission for Pomerania and the Neumark was headed by a proven financial specialist: It was August Heinrich von Borgstede (1757 - 1824) who was appointed to this post by King Frederick William III. After studying camera science and law at the University of Halle, Borgstede first worked in the Justice Department of the Kurmärkische Kriegs- und Domänenkammer before being appointed to the General Directorate, where he had been employed in various territorial departments since 1795. One of the decisive factors for his later appointment was probably the fact that he had been chairman of the department for the Kur- and Neumark and in the Pomeranian department since 1800. At the time of his appointment, Borgstede held the title of Privy Supreme Finance Council, War Council and Domain Council. The task of the General Civil Commission was to implement the conditions of the peace treaty in the provinces occupied by the French army. To this end, they had to maintain close contacts with the middle administrative level, which already included the newly established governments in addition to the war and domain chambers. In addition, interim chambers for the unoccupied regions of Kolberg and Treptow an der Rega have existed since 1807. They were dissolved after the withdrawal of French troops in September 1808. At the central level, the Civil Commissioners not only worked with their superior authority, but also with the corresponding territorial departments in the Directorate-General. They also had to cooperate with the French military and civil administration in their blasting operations. In addition, Lieutenant General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher was appointed Governor General for Pomerania and the Neumark and moved into this capacity, first to Treptow an der Rega and later to Szczecin. The demarcation district, which is repeatedly mentioned in the document titles, are the areas in which Blücher's troops were accommodated. The border villages of the demarcation district are listed in the file GStA PK, I. HA Rep. 146 No. 141. Within this structure, the General Civil Commissioners' offices probably functioned primarily as'postmen', but also as a clearing house for financial issues and questions arising from the military occupation of their bloc. Accordingly, the documents of this authority reflect almost the entire range of tasks of the war and domain chambers: they were concerned not only with contribution and excise matters and with catering for the army, but also with customs, commercial and manufacturing matters, with the affairs of offices and cities, with salt and mill matters, with sovereign matters and with questions of good policey'. Time and again, the General Civil Commission offices also became the focal point for applications from subjects, with one group, namely the officials who had fled the ceded territories and were seeking reinstatement, standing out in particular. In general, personnel decisions as well as the supply of inactive soldiers and military personnel were the main tasks of the General Civil Commissionariats. Nothing is known about the internal organization of the General Civil Commission offices. Those who go through the archival records received get the impression that it was a small authority with a few officials, which perhaps did not need a strong internal structure. In the case of the General Commissariat for Pomerania and the Neumark, all business transactions obviously ran via Borgstede's desk. Together with the Immediate Commission for the Enforcement of the Tilsit Peace, the General Civil Commissionariats were abolished on 16.12.1808. As far as Borgstede was concerned as head of the General Civil Commission for Pomerania and the Neumark, he was put into retirement and retired to his estates. Towards the end of his life (1823), however, he was reactivated once again and appointed to the Prussian Council of State. 2. inventory history The files were originally listed by title in a file index from the 19th century. During a revision in the German Central Archives, Merseburg Department, serial numbers were assigned in 1962. U. transferred the titles to the archives database in 2010 (see also 3.) and reviewed the title formation of selected files in this context. 3) Instructions for use This reference book is not based on a re-listing of the holdings, but on the old reference book from the 19th century. The titles of the indexing units have been modernized and simplified in accordance with current archival standards. Source terms for old job titles and other special terms have been inserted in parentheses in normalized spelling. Place names were checked and reproduced in the current spelling. Place names that could not be identified were enclosed in quotation marks. 4th Literature Eberhard Lebender: August Heinrich von Borgstede. A Prussian official and his work in Pomerania, in: Gesellschaft für pommersche Geschichte und Altertumskunde (ed.): Baltische Studien N.F. 86 (2000), pp. 90 - 99. 5. Reference to other archives GStA PK: GStA PK, II. HA GD, Dept. 12 Pomerania GStA PK, II HA GD, Dept. 13 Neumark GStA PK, I. HA Rep. 72 Immediate Commission for the Enforcement of the Tilsiter Peace Other Archives: Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv, Rep. 3, Neumärkische Kriegs- und Domänenkammer Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv, Rep. 3 B Government Frankfurt (Oder) Archiwum Panstwowe w Szczecinie (State Archive Stettin), War and Domain Chamber Stettin State Archive Greifswald, Rep. 20 Interimistische Kriegs- und Domänenkammer Landesarchiv Greifswald, Rep. 65 a Government of Szczecin 6. notes, order signatures and citation Scope: 8 running metres (1310 UE) Duration: 1805 - 1818 The files are to be ordered: I. HA Rep. 146 No. (...) The files are to be quoted: GStA PK, I. HA Rep. 146 Generalzivilkommissariat für Pommern und die Neumark Berlin, 07.09.2010 Dr. Leibetseder (Archivrat) finding aids: database; collective finding book, 1 vol. (for I. HA Rep. 146 and 146 B)
1st Curriculum Vitae Adolf Grimmes 1889 Born on 31 December 1889 in Goslar im Harz as second child of the railway official Georg August Adolf Grimme and his wife Auguste Luise nee. Sander 1896-1900 attended elementary school in Weferlingen 1900-1904 attended secondary school in Hildesheim 1904-1906 attended secondary school in Sangerhausen (1906 death of father) 1906-1908 (again) attended the Andreanum in Hildesheim 1908 Abitur 1908-1914 studied German and philosophy at the Universities of Halle, Munich (pupil of the philosopher Max Scheler) and Göttingen (pupil of the Germanist Edward Schröder and the philosopher Edmund Husserl) In 1914 he passed the teacher examination in philosophy, German studies, French, religion; Note "Gut" 1914-1915 Trainee at the Royal Grammar School in Göttingen July 1915 Recruit training in Strasbourg, after a long illness he meets his later wife, the painter Maria (Mascha) Brachvogel, in the hospital in Strasbourg (3 children were born to the marriage, son Eckard died in an accident in 1931 when he was fourteen) Nov. 1915 Dismissed as "unfit for service" 1916-1919 Assessor at the Realschulgymnasium in Leer/Ostfriesland 1918 Joined the German Democratic Party 1919 Head of the Leer local group of the DDP, in the same year resigned from this party 1919-1923 Student council and senior student council at secondary schools in Hanover Following the movement of decisive school reformers (Paul Östereich, Berthold Otto) 1922 Joined the SPD 1923-1924 Provinzialschulkollegium Hannover 1925-1927 Ministerialrat in Magdeburg 1928-1929 Ministerialrat im Preußischen Kultusministerium, personal adviser to the Minister of Culture Carl Heinrich Becker 1929-1930 Vice-President of the Provinzialschulkollegium Berlin/Brandenburg 1930-1932 Prussian Minister for Science, Art and Education in the Otto Braun Cabinet (appointed in January 1930) 20. July 1932 deposition as minister with the entire Prussian government by Reich Chancellor von Papen Grimme works illegally as a proofreader (publishing house Walter de Gruyter, Berlin), until 1942 theological and literary studies (work on the Gospel of John) 1935 pension payment as Vice-President of the Provinzialschulkollegium 11.10,1942 Arrested, charged, among others, with his fellow student Dr. Adam Kuckhoff, writer, for suspected anti-fascist resistance ("Red Chapel") Febr. 1943 Conviction for not reporting a project of high treason to three years in prison 1942-1945 Prisoner in the prison buildings Spandau, Luckau and Hamburg/Fuhlsbüttel May 1945 Exemption by the English occupying power 1945-1946 Provisional government director, from 15.12.1945 senior government director of the culture department of the upper presidium in Hanover 1946-1948 education minister of the state of Hanover and Lower Saxony (appointed on 27 November 1945).1946) Febr. 1947 Separation from Mascha Grimme End of 1947 Marriage to Josefine née v. Behr, divorced head (born 1907) 1948-1956 General Director of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Hamburg, until its dissolution on 1. January 1956 (assumption of office: 15.11.1948) 1956-1963 Retired in Brannenburg/Degerndorf am Inn 1963 Died on 27 August in Brannenburg/Inn Awards 1932 Goethe - Medal for Art and Science 1948 Honorary doctorate (Dr. phil.) by the Georg-August-Universität zu Göttingen 1949 Goethe plaque of the City of Frankfurt am Main 1954 Grand Federal Cross of Merit with Star 1962 Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of Lower Saxony and State Medal 1961 German Adult Education Association endows Adolf Grimme Prize as television prize of the German Adult Education Association Honorary Offices (Year of Acceptance) 1946 (1958) Chairman of the Barlach Society (honorary member since 1956) 1946 (-1957) Member of the Board of the German Shakespeare Society 1948 President of the German National Academic Foundation and Senator of the Max Planck Society 1948 (-1956) Member of the Board of the German Theatre Society 1948 (-1962) Chairman of the Board of the German Theatre Society 1948 (-1962). Member of the Board of the Stiftung Deutsche Landerziehungsheim, Hermann Lietz-Schule 1949 Full Member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung, Darmstadt 1949 Honorary Member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erziehung und Unterricht, Munich 1950 Member of the German Committee for UNESCO Work 1951 Member of the German UNESCO Commission 1953 Honorary Member of the Fernseh-Technische Gesellschaft, Darmstadt 1954 Corresponding Member of the German Council of the European Movement 1957 Advisory Board Member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung, Darmstadt 1959 Member of the P.E.N. Veröffentlichungen Grimmes (in selection) - The religious man - An objective for the new school. Berlin 1922; - "Selbstbesinnung" - Speeches and essays from the first year of reconstruction. Braunschweig 1947; - On the essence of Romanticism. Heidelberg 1947; - Dieter Sauberzweig (ed.): Adolf Grimme - Letters. Heidelberg 1967; - Eberhard Avé - Lallemant (ed.): Adolf Grimme - Sinn und Widersinn des Christentums. Heidelberg 1969 Journals published by Grimme - Monatsschrift für höhere Schulen, Berlin 1930-1933 - Die Schule (from H. 3/1950 Our School), Monatsschrift für geistige Ordnung. Hanover 1945 - 1955 - Thinking people, leaves for self-education. Braunschweig 1947-1949 2nd history of the stock and remarks on the use of the stock. Literature references to Adolf Grimme's estate papers, which largely reflect his entire life's path, reached the Secret State Archives in several stages. A first very small part (approx. 0.10 running metres) was already handed over by the Federal Archives in 1969 (according to a letter from the archive dated 26.1.1976), further parts were taken over directly by Mrs. Josefine Grimme from 1974. The last parts of the estate listed were initially deposited in the archives (Depositalvertrag of 20 June 1974). This deposit was converted into a gift by Mrs. Josefine in June 1981. The autograph collection created by Grimmes was sold to the GStA in 1981 (also by Mrs Josefine). The entire holdings have thus become the property of the archive. Sabine Preuß, then Heidemarie Nowak, under the guidance of Dr. Cécile Lowenthal-Hensel, took charge of the holdings in the Secret State Archives. Josefine Grimme herself also carried out the orderly work once again. In addition, she identified signatures and put together correspondence in elaborate work. The distortion was finished by Inge Lärmer and Ute Dietsch. The initial decision to waive the inclusion of notes in correspondence was reversed when the titles were entered into the database in consultation with the head of unit, Dr. Iselin Gundermann. All files which had to be checked again in this context, especially for technical reasons, were checked for the necessity of containing notes in the interest of use and supplemented accordingly. This applies in particular to correspondence with artists or with very high-ranking personalities - personalities of contemporary history - or files with contents that are valuable for scientific analysis. Josefine Grimme stressed in her letters (including a letter of 27 July 1980) that the files were "essentially still as my husband had seen them". The Grimme couple deliberately designed Adolf Grimme's own registry and archive. After the sources were taken over by the archive, the aim was therefore not to destroy the order laid down by Adolf and Josefine Grimme. When using the holdings, it should therefore be noted that - if available - the inscriptions on master folders, the inscription of folders or fascicles or inserted notes with a summary of the contents of the respective folders (i.e. "file titles" issued by Grimme[s]) should be retained as far as possible and set in quotation marks in the reference book, if necessary - as an offer to the user - explained by "Contains note". The Josefine Grimme collections (group 1.1.3) were started by Adolf Grimme and therefore also left in context. It was agreed between Josefine Grimme and the archive that "the files blocked by her husband at the time and all personnel files after 1945" would not yet be made accessible for use (letter of the GStA of 13 March 1975 to Ms Grimme). In principle, these blocks have been maintained until 2010, even in compliance with data protection regulations (in particular groups 2.5.4 to 2.5.6). In the find-book, especially in the Correspondence group, the number of pieces (not the number of sheets) of existing documents can be seen in the file titles. "K" means that (mostly partially) there are only copies in the correspondence (the originals are then mainly in the autograph collection, which contains almost exclusively letters to Grimme - group 6.4). Reference files that Grimme kept from his time as Prussian Minister of Culture until his time as Lower Saxony Minister of Culture were not separated; they are classified in the time of the beginning of file formation (Prussian Ministry). The possible overlaps between the individual groups must also be taken into account during use. Since Josefine Grimme formed the files for the correspondence herself (with her own portfolio, counting of pieces and often also sheet counting, as can still be seen from the portfolio captions), it was decided that later or in other contexts letters from the respective correspondence partner would be listed in the archive as an extra volume and would not be incorporated into the existing portfolios. This explains, for example, overlaps in the runtimes of the individual volumes with the letters of a correspondence partner. Grimmes also retained the grouping of letters from some of his correspondence partners with the same initial letter into the subgroup "Individuals", in some cases supplemented by the note "Insignificant", since the latter documents were of no importance to Grimmes in the context in which they were written. The authors of the letters may well be historically important personalities. No cassations were made in the archive. Tapes of Adolf Grimme's speeches and performances were given to the Adolf Grimme Institute in Marl by Mrs Grimme in 1979. Waltraud Wehnau did some of the technical writing work (correspondence partner). Literature about Grimme (in selection) - Walter Oschilewski (ed.): Wirkendes, sorgendes Dasein - Begegnungen mit Adolf Grimme. Berlin 1959; - Julius Seiters: Adolf Grimme - an education politician from Lower Saxony. Hanover 1990; - Kurt Meissner: Between Politics and Religion. Adolf Grimme. Life, work and spiritual form. Berlin 1993 Accessions: 39/1974; 142/76; 88/81; 78/83; 81/84; 84/84; 65/93 The holdings are to be quoted: GStA PK, VI. HA Familienarchive und Nachlässe, Nl Adolf Grimme, Nr.# Berlin, May 2000 (Ute Dietsch, Inge Lärmer) Description of holdings: Biographical data: 1889 - 1963 Resource: Database; Reference book, 3 vol.
1st Biographical Information on Wolfgang Kapp Wolfgang Kapp was born in New York on July 24, 1858, the son of the lawyer Friedrich Kapp, who had played an important role in the bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1848 and had to emigrate to the United States because of his participation in the Baden uprising. Wolfgang Kapp's mother was Louise Engels and was the daughter of the Major General and Commander of Cologne Engels. The family was originally called d'Ange and immigrated from France to Germany in 1687 after the Edict of Nantes. In 1870 Friedrich Kapp returned to Germany with his family; he lived in Berlin and was a national liberal, later a liberal member of the Reichstag from 1872-1877 and 1881-1884; he also worked as a renowned historian. Friedrich Kapp died in 1884, his son Wolfgang studied in Tübingen and Göttingen. He completed his studies in 1880 with a doctorate. Probably in 1881 Wolfgang Kapp married Margarete Rosenow, the daughter of a landowner in Dülzen (district Preußisch Eylau). After his marriage Kapp seems to have familiarized himself with the administration of a large agricultural business on his father-in-law's estate, because it was not until 1885 that he began his actual professional career as a trainee with the government in Minden. In 1886 he joined the Ministry of Finance, Department II, Administration of Direct Taxes, as a government assistant. From 1890 to 1899 he was district administrator in Guben. In 1890, at the beginning of his time as district administrator, Kapp bought the Rittergut Pilzen estate near the Rosenov estate and thus entered the circle of the East Prussian Great Agrarians. Out of his interest for the interests of agriculture a work of agricultural policy content arose in Guben, which attracted a great deal of attention in the Ministry of Agriculture, so that an appointment as a government council followed in 1900. Kapp was appointed to the I. Dept. Administration of Agricultural and Stud Affairs, Department of Agricultural Workers' Affairs, but during the era of Reich Chancellor von Bülow as Commissioner of the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture he was primarily active in the preparation of the customs tariff of 1902 and in the initiation of the new trade agreements of 1904-1906. Kapp gained his first foreign policy experience in negotiations with representatives of foreign countries. Kapp soon gained a closer relationship with the then Reich Chancellor von Bülow, with whom he shared similar political views. During his time at the Ministry of Agriculture, Kapp seems to have had ambitious plans for his future professional and political career and at least aspired to the position of district president. That his plans went even further can be seen from the recording of a conversation between Kaiser Wilhelm II and the General Field Marshal von der Goltz, in which the possibility of Kapp's successor in the Reich Chancellery was considered. However, this conversation, whose date lies between 1909 and 1911, took place at a time when Kapp had already left the Prussian civil service. The reason for his resignation from the Ministry of Agriculture seems to have been his annoyance at not taking his person into account when appointing district presidents. On 5 April 1906, the East Prussian countryside elected the owner of the Pilzen manor as general landscape director. It is very characteristic of Kapp's personality under what circumstances he became known in East Prussia through a trial he conducted against the landscape. The landscapes of the Prussian provinces were self-governing bodies and as such primarily representations of landowners. But the landscape also served as a representative body for state fiscal policy. Its real task, of course, lay outside the political sphere in granting credit to cooperatives. However, the credit policy has had a decisive influence on the distribution of property and the social structure of the provinces and has thus had political repercussions. Through the incorporation of agricultural banks and fire societies in the 19th century, the landscapes had become efficient organisations at provincial level. Kapp took on the new tasks with his own vehemence. He continued the landscape in the specified direction, primarily by developing the branch network of the Landschaftsbank, by merging the landscape with the East Prussian Feuersozietät, by granting more loans, particularly for small property, and by increasing the landscape funds. His policy was aimed at freeing agriculture, which was in a serious crisis at the beginning of the 20th century, from its dependence on state aid and enabling it to help itself by means of credit policy measures. In the course of these efforts, Kapp tackled three major tasks. First and foremost the question of agricultural debt relief, which the Prussian state initiated in 1906 with the law on the debt limit. Kapp was the first to try to make this framework law effective from the initiative of the parties themselves without further state aid by showing different ways of debt relief. The inclusion of life insurance as a means of reducing debt proved particularly effective. Instead of debt repayment, the premium payment was made to an agricultural life insurance company. This ensured that a certain amount of capital was available for debt reduction in the event of death. The second task resulted from the former. The desire to combine public-law life insurance with debt relief necessitated the creation of a number of public-law life insurance institutions, which were merged into an association chaired by Kapp. These facilities were especially designed to prevent the outflow of premium money from the countryside to the large cities, where it had been used especially for the construction of tenements. However, the outflow of capital was only one danger, the other was the rural exodus that began in the 19th century. He tried to strengthen small agricultural holdings with a colonization and agricultural workers' bill, which was accepted by the General Landtag in 1908. This measure was based on the recognition of the untenability of the institution of instants and deputants, who were in the closest dependence on the lord of the manor and who emigrated from this situation in masses to the large cities, where they strengthened the ranks of the industrial proletariat. The organ for settlement policy should be a landscaped settlement bank. The third task that Kapp set himself was the creation of a public-law national insurance scheme following the public-law life insurance scheme. This measure was primarily directed against the Volksversicherungsanstalt "Volksfürsorge", created by the Social Democrats, and was intended to secure capital for agricultural workers to buy their own farms by means of abbreviated insurance. These plans did not lead to the hoped-for success, but ended in a bitter feud with the private insurance companies, especially the Deutsche Volksversicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft. In addition to his functions within the East Prussian landscape, Kapp was also active in various other bodies. In December 1906 he was appointed to the Stock Exchange Committee of the Reichsamt des Innern and in 1912 to the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank. The First World War gave Kapp's life and work a whole new direction. Kapp's biography is too little researched to judge how far he had buried his ambitious plans, which apparently pushed him to the top of the Reich government, or postponed them only for a better opportunity. Although Kapp had been a member of the German Conservative Party since at least 1906, he did not take the path of an existing party to make a political career. This path probably did not correspond to his personality, described as authoritarian, ambitious and independent. He made the great leap into high politics through his sensational conflict with Reich Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg. In his memo of 26 May 1916 "Die nationalen Kreise und der Reichs-Kanzler", which he sent to 300 public figures, including Bethmann Hollweg himself, he sharply criticised what he considered to be the weak policy of the Reich Chancellor, to whom he v. a. accused him of his alleged pacting with social democracy, his reluctance to America and his rejection of the unrestricted submarine war demanded by extremely militaristic circles, but also of a false war economic policy. The sharp reaction of Bethmann Hollweg, who spoke in a Reichstag session of "pirates of public opinion", among others, who abused "with the flag of the national parties", Kapp perceived as a personal affront to which he reacted with a demand for a duel. On the contrary, Kapp had to take an official reprimand and his re-election as General Landscape Director, which had taken place in March 1916 on a rotational basis, was refused confirmation by the Prussian State Ministry. Since his friends held on to Kapp in the East Prussian landscape, he was re-elected in 1917. This time - since Bethmann Hollweg had been overthrown in the meantime - he was able to take up his post as general landscape director again. At first, the events of 1916 led him even more into politics. Here he expressed solidarity with a circle of extremely reactionary and aggressive military forces around General Ludendorff and Grand Admiral von Tirpitz, who pursued a ruthless internal perseverance policy that tightened up all the forces of the people and a policy of unrestrained annexation and total warfare towards the outside world. Emperor Wilhelm II, who in principle sympathized with this extreme direction, had to refrain from supporting this group out of various considerations of public opinion and the negative attitude of the party majorities in the Reichstag. Kapp and his comrades-in-arms assumed in their political ambitions the complete certainty of the German final victory. They closed their eyes to the already looming possibility of defeat for Germany, especially after America entered the war. The war and peace goals they represented, especially the annexation plans at the expense of Russia and Poland, which were later only surpassed by Hitler, were marked by uncontrolled wishful thinking that in no way corresponded to objective reality. His extreme attitude drove Kapp into a blind hatred against any social and democratic movement; his fierce opposition against social democracy was mainly based on the legend of the dagger thrust against the imperialist Germany struggling to win. This military and National Socialist sharpening, for which Kapp found moral and financial support in certain circles of military leadership, but also among a number of university professors, writers, local politicians, agriculturalists, industrialists and bankers, culminated in the founding of the German National Party, which took place on 2 September 1917 (the "Sedan Day") in the Yorksaal of the East Prussian landscape. Although Kapp was clearly the spiritus rector of this "collection party", two other persons were pushed into the foreground, intended for the eyes of the public: These were the Grand Admiral von Tirpitz as 1st chairman and Duke Johann Albrecht von Mecklenburg as honorary chairman of this party. The German Fatherland Party did not seek seats in the Reichstag, but saw itself as a pool of national forces to bring about Germany's final victory. The statute provided for the immediate dissolution of the party once its purpose had been achieved. In addition to mobilising all forces to achieve military victory, Kapp's founding of the party also had another purpose that was not made so public. Tirpitz, then 68 years old, was to be launched as a "strong man" to replace the "weak" chancellors Bethmann Hollweg and Michaelis. It was obvious that in this case Kapp would join the leadership of the imperial government as advisor to the politically ultimately inexperienced Grand Admiral. The November Revolution of 1918 and the immediate surrender of Germany put an abrupt end to these lofty plans. But Kapp and his friends did not admit defeat. Although the German Fatherland Party was dissolved in December 1918, it was immediately replaced by a new party, the German National People's Party, which developed into a bourgeois mass party during the Weimar Republic, but no longer under Kapp's leadership. After the fall of the Hohenzollern monarchy, Kapp immediately opposed the revolution and the Weimar Republic. He could not or did not want to accept the social and political conditions that had arisen in the meantime; his goal was clearly the restoration of pre-war conditions. The sources, which were only incomplete at that time, do not show when the idea of a coup d'état was born and how the conspiracy developed in all its branches. A close associate of Kapp's, Reichswehrhauptmann Pabst, had already attempted a failed coup in July 1919. Together with Kapp, Pabst created the "National Unification" as a pool of all counter-revolutionary forces and associations. This Reich organisation was to coordinate the preparations for the coup in Prussia and Bavaria, while Kapp was to develop East Prussia into the decisive base of counterrevolution. From here, with the help of the Freikorps operating in the Baltic States, the Reichswehr and the East Prussian Heimatbund, whose chairman was Kapp, the survey was to be carried to Berlin with the immediate aim of preventing the signing of the Versailles Treaty. The approval of the Versailles Treaty by the parliamentary majority has created a new situation. Now Ludendorff, one of the co-conspirators, proposed to carry out the coup directly in Berlin, whereby the Baltic people, who were disguised as work detachments on the large Eastern Elbe goods, were to take over the military support. Meanwhile, the conspirators, headed by Kapp and Reichswehr General Lüttwitz, tried to gain the mass base absolutely necessary for the execution of the coup d'état through a broad-based nationalist smear campaign. The company was already at risk before it could even begin. Kapp had demanded that his military allies inform him at least 14 days before the strike so that he could make the necessary political preparations. That the coup d'état had just begun on 13 March 1920 depended not so much on carefully considered planning, but on coincidences that were not predictable. One of the reasons for the premature strike was the dissolution of the Freikorps, especially the Ehrhardt Brigade, decided by the Reich government. This revealed the fact that, in the absence of a party of their own, the conspirators were unable to avoid relying on the loose organization of the resident defence forces, which to a certain extent were also influenced by social democracy. The whole weakness of the company was evident in the question on which forces the new government should actually be based. While the military saw an arrangement with the strongest party, social democracy, as unavoidable, Kapp categorically rejected pacting with social democracy. He wanted to put the Social Democrat-led government as a whole into protective custody. But now the government was warned; for its part, it issued protective arrest warrants against the heads of the conspirators and left Berlin on March 12. In the early morning of March 13, the Navy Brigade Ehrhardt marched into Berlin without encountering armed resistance, as would have been the duty of the Reichswehr. Kapp proclaimed himself Chancellor of the Reich and began with the reorganisation of the government. The order of the new rulers to arrest the escaped imperial government and to remove the state government if they did not stand on the side of the putschists was only partially executed by the local commanders. The proclamation of the general strike on 13 March and the reports arriving from the most important cities and industrial centres about joint actions of the working class prompted the indirect supporters of Kapp, the large industrialists and the Reichswehr generals, to adopt a wait-and-see attitude. Kapp had to see the hopelessness of his company. Eyewitnesses reported that Kapp had spent almost 3 days of his time as Chancellor of the Reich "with gossip". On March 15, the "adventure" was over. Kapp apparently stayed hidden with friends near Berlin for some time after the failed coup and then flew to Sweden in a provided plane. Here he initially lived under different false names in different places, at last in a pension in Robäck, but was soon recognized and temporarily taken into custody. The Swedish government granted asylum to the refugee, but he had to commit himself to refrain from all political activities. When the high treason trial against the heads of the March company in Leipzig began, Kapp was moved by the question of his position in court. At first, he justified his non-appearance with the incompetence of the Ebert government and with the constitution, which in his opinion did not exist. Kapp said that there was no high treason in the legal sense against the "high treason" of social democracy. When in December 1921 one of the co-conspirators, the former district president of Jagow, was sentenced to a fortress sentence by the Imperial Court, Kapp changed his mind. Still in Sweden he worked out a justification for the process ahead of him, in which he denied any guilt in both an objective and a subjective sense. On the contrary, he intended to appear before the court with a charge against the then government. It didn't come to that anymore. Kapp had already fallen ill in Sweden. At the beginning of 1922 he returned to Germany and was remanded in custody. On 24 April 1922, he underwent surgery in Leipzig to remove a malignant tumour from the left eye. Kapp died on 12 June 1922; he was buried on 22 June at the village churchyard in Klein Dexen near his estate Pilzen. 2. inventory history The inventory, which had been formed in its essential parts by Kapp himself, was transferred by the family to the Prussian Secret State Archives as a deposit in 1935. Here the archivist Dr. Weise started already in the year of submission with the archival processing, which could not be completed, however. In the course of the repatriation of the holdings of the Secret State Archives, which had been removed during the Second World War, the Kapp estate was transferred to the Central State Archives, Merseburg Office. In 1951, Irmela Weiland, a trainee, classified and listed the stock here. As a result of the processing a find-book was created, which was until the new processing in the year 1984 the kurrente find-auxiliary. 1984 the stock was to be prepared for the backup filming. It turned out that the processing carried out in 1951 did not meet today's archival requirements, so that a general revision was considered necessary. The graduate archivists Renate Endler and Dr. Elisabeth Schwarze rearranged and simply listed the holdings according to the principles of order and indexing for the state archives of the German Democratic Republic, Potsdam 1964. The found file units were essentially retained, in individual cases they were dissolved and new indexing units were formed. In addition, 0.50 m of unprocessed documents were incorporated into the estate. The old regulatory scheme, which was essentially broken down chronologically, was replaced by a new regulatory scheme based on Kapp's areas of activity. In the course of the revision, the portfolio was re-signed. The relationship between the old and the new signatures was established through a concordance. The new find book replaces the previously valid find book from 1951. The stock is to be quoted: GStA PK, VI. HA Family Archives and Bequests, Nl Wolfgang Kapp, No... 3) Some remarks on the content of the holdings The Kapp estate contains 7.50 running metres of archival material from the period from 1885 to 1922, including some earlier and later individual pieces. The holdings mainly contain documents from Kapp's official and political activities, to a lesser extent also correspondence within the family and documents from the administration of the Knights' Manor Pilzen. The density of transmission to the individual sections of Kapp's professional and political development is quite different. While his activities with the Minden government, in the Prussian Ministry of Finance and as district administrator in Guben are relatively poorly documented, there is a rather dense tradition about his activities as director of the general landscape and as chairman of the German Fatherland Party. The documentation on the preparation and implementation of the coup shows gaps which can be explained, among other things, by the fact that important agreements were only reached orally at the stage of preparing the coup. Moreover, Kapp, who had to flee hastily to Sweden after the coup d'état failed, was no longer able to give this part of his estate the same care as the former one. Overall, however, it is a legacy of great political importance and significance. Merseburg, 2. 10.1984 signed Dr. Elisabeth Schwarze Diplomarchivar Compiled and slightly shortened: Berlin, April 1997 (Ute Dietsch) The clean copy of the find book was made by Britta Baumgarten. Note After the reunification of the two German states, the Merseburg office was closed, the archival records and thus also the Kapp estate were returned to the Secret State Archives in Berlin (1993). From the inventory maps, this reference book was created after maps that no longer existed were replaced (post-distortion of files). XIII Bibliography (selection) Bauer, Max : March 13, 1920 Berlin 1920 Bernstein, Richard : Der Kapp-Putsch und seine Lehren. Berlin 1920 Brammer, Karl : Five days of military dictatorship. Berlin 1920 Documents on the Counterrevolution using official material: The same: Constitutional Foundations and High Treason. According to stenographic reports and official documents of the Jagow trial. Berlin 1922 Erger, Johannes : The Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch. Düsseldorf 1967 Falkenhausen, Fri. from : Wolfgang Kapp. In: Conservative Monthly July/August 1922 Kern, Fritz : Das Kappsche Abenteuer. Impressions and findings. Leipzig/Berlin 1920 Könnemann, Erwin : Residents' Weirs and Time Volunteer Associations. Berlin 1971 Noske, Gustav : From Kiel to Kapp. Berlin 1920 Rothfels, Hans : Article "Wolfgang Kapp" in: Deutsches biogra- phisches Jahrbuch Bd 4 (1922) Berlin/Leipzig 1929, correspondence. 132-143 (Here also a drawing of the works Kapps) Schemann, Ludwig : Wolfgang Kapp and the March company. A word of atonement. Munich/Berlin 1937 Taube, Max : Causes and course of the coup of 13 March 1920 and his teachings for the working class and the middle classes. Munich 1920 Wauer, W. : Behind the scenes of the Kapp government. Berlin 1920 Wortmann, K. Geschichte der Deutschen Vaterlandspartei In: Hallische Forschungen zur neueren Geschichte. Volume 3, Hall 1926 Contents I. Introduction Page II 1 Biographical Information on Wolfgang Kapp Page II 2 History of the Collection Page X 3 Some Remarks on the Content of the Collection Page XI 4 Literature in Selection Page XIII II Structure of the Collection Page XIV III Collection Page XVII (Order Numbers, Title, Duration Page 1-106)) XVII III. holdings (order numbers, file title, duration) Description of holdings: Lebenssdaten: 1858 - 1921 Finds: database; find book, 1 vol.
Max Lenz was born in Greifswald on 13 June 1850 as the son of Dr. Gustav Lenz, a judicial councillor. After his school education in Greifswald, he began studying classical philology and history (with Heinrich von Sybel and others) in Bonn. Interrupted by his participation in the Franco-German war, Lenz continued his studies at the universities of Greifswald and Berlin and in 1874 presented a dissertation on the topic "The Alliance of Canterbury and its significance for the Franco-English War and the Concil of Constance". In the same year he passed the senior teacher examination. In 1875 he began as a "unskilled worker" in the Marburg State Archives, where he worked on Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous of Hesse's political correspondence with the Strasbourg reformer Martin Bucer (3 volumes, Leipzig 1880-1891). In 1876 Lenz habilitated in Marburg on the subject of "Three Tractates from the Scripture Cycle of the Constance Concil" and was appointed extraordinary professor of medieval and modern history at the Philipps University in Marburg in 1881 and full professor in 1885. Further stations in his academic career were the universities of Breslau (from 1888), Berlin (from 1890) and Hamburg (from 1914), whose transformation from a colonial institute to a university he played a major role in shaping. After his retirement he returned to Berlin. Max Lenz died on April 6, 1932 and his scientific subjects were the Reformation, the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte and Otto von Bismarck. He presented very extensive works on all these topics. Max Lenz saw himself as an objectivist historian and always emphasized the importance of source-critical research. He is considered one of the main representatives of the so-called Ranke Renaissance in Germany. He was a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences and the Historical Society of Berlin, founded in 1872, to whose chairman he was elected in 1912 and again in 1925. Max Lenz was married to the pianist Emma Rohde from Greifswald; of his children one daughter and two sons reached adulthood: Hildegard, Georg and Friedrich (1885-1968, national economist) The estate here consists almost exclusively of letters, partly of an extensive correspondence within the (grand) family Lenz / Rohde, partly of Lenz' letters to friends, colleagues and students. The collection is supplemented by manuscript parts of a lecture on the French Revolution, a transcript of a lecture on the Reformation and newspaper clippings. The family correspondence was mainly written by Bertha Rohde (the mother of Emma Lenz), her children Emma (Emmchen), Elisa (Lieschen), Bertha, Marie Jena, née Rohde, Minna, William and Max, their son-in-law Max Lenz and their grandchildren Hildegard, Georg and Friedrich (Fritz). After the death of grandmother Bertha Rohde in 1917, the correspondence becomes thinner, but does not break off. The most frequent addressee is Elisa Rohde, who lived unmarried in Greifswald's parents' house. She may be the author of the letter collection. Most of Max Lenz's professional correspondence consists of letters to his pupil Hermann Oncken (1869-1945) and to colleagues not mentioned by name, but possibly also Oncken. The title "Dear Friend / Colleague" can also be found in several of Lenz's letters in other bequests handed down in the GStA PK, for example to Albert Brackmann, Adolf Grimme, Paul Fridolin Kehr, Friedrich Meinecke, Theodor Schiemann. After Max Lenz's death, his son Friedrich tried to collect letters from his parents. Several letters from relatives of friendly families from the period November 1942 to January 1943 with "negative notices" are handed down in this estate (No. 35). From Karl Seeliger's answer available in this context it emerges that Friedrich Lenz planned to deposit his father's estate in the Prussian Secret State Archives, which also happened on 11 March 1943 (exc. 16 / 43; I. HA Rep. 92 Nl Max Lenz). On the other hand, Max Lenz himself does not seem to have cancelled any letters received; only a very small number of letters to Max Lenz have been passed down here (No. 34). Together with other holdings, bequests and collections that had been relocated from 1943 due to the war, the Max Lenz estate was transferred to the Central State Archives in Merseburg and returned to Berlin in 1993. With the exception of the separation of the letters from the other estate material, no order of the estate was discernible. In addition, the estate had been used several times in Merseburg and thus also got into disorder. In addition, the estate was enriched at a later point in time that can no longer be determined: At least one letter from 1963 (No. 62) has been added. The letters were divided into two correspondence series (private and professional correspondence) and arranged chronologically. Last no. given: The estate is to be quoted: GStA PK, VI. HA Family archives and estates, Nl Max Lenz (Dep.), No. The estate is to be ordered: VI HA, Nl Lenz, M., Nr. The following holdings, estates and collections should also be consulted when working with the Max Lenz estate: - I. HA Rep. 178 Generaldirektion der Staatsarchive Abt. XIII L Nr. 5: Personalangelegenheit Dr. Lenz (1875-76) - I. HA Rep. 235 Historische Gesellschaft zu Berlin - VI. HA Familienarchive und Nachlässe, Nl Friedrich Theodor Althoff - VI. HA Familienarchive und Nachlässe, Nl Carl Heinrich Becker - VI. HA Familienarchive und Nachlässe, Nl Albert Brackmann - VI. HA Familienarchive und Nachlässe, Nl Adolf Grimme - VI. HA Family Archives and Bequests, Nl Paul Fridolin Kehr - VI HA Family Archives and Bequests, Nl Friedrich Meinecke - VI HA Family Archives and Bequests, Nl Constantin Rößler - VI HA Family Archives and Bequests, Nl Theodor Schiemann Literature by Max Lenz (selection): - Martin Luther: Festschrift der Stadt Berlin zum 10. November 1883. Pub. 1897 (Service library GStA PK: Weltgesch. VIc 47) - Napoleon. Bielefeld, second edition 1908 (Dienstbibliothek GStA PK:32 N 4'2) - Rankes biographische Kunst und die Aufgabe des Biographen: Commemoration speech of the founder of the Berlin University King Friedrich Wilhelm III Berlin 1912 (Dienstbibliothek GStA PK:5 R 237) - History of Bismarck. Munich, 2nd ed. 1902 (Dienstbibliothek GStA PK: 5 B 86) - History of the Königliche Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin. 4 Vol., Halle 1910-1918 (Dienstbibliothek GStA PK: 19a 332:1-4) Literature about Max Lenz (selection): - Hermann Oncken, Gedächtnisrede auf Max Lenz, in: Sitzungsberichte der Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Berlin 1933 pp. 107-125 - Rüdiger vom Bruch, Max Lenz, in: NDB Vol. 14 - Hans-Heinz Krill, The Rankerenaissance: Max Lenz and Erich Marcks; a contribution to historical-political thinking in Germany 1880-1935. Publications of the Berlin Historical Commission at the Friedrich Meinecke Institute of Freie Universität Berlin Vol. 3 Berlin 1962 Berlin, May 2008 Dr. Schnelling-Reinicke (Director of the Archive) Description of holdings: Biographical data: 1850 - 1932 Reference: Database; Reference book, 1 vol.
Lenz, Max1 History of the authorities 1.1 Military Provinces 1813-1815 On 15 March 1813, for strategic military reasons, the entire Prussian territory between the Elbe and the Russian border was divided into four military provinces in order to wage war against France. At the same time, the Upper Government Commission founded in Berlin on 20 January 1813 (cf.: GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 102 Oberregierungskommission zu Berlin) and the General Commission for Accommodation, Meals and Marschesen formed on 24 April 1812 (cf.: GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 85 General Commission for Accommodation, Meals and Marschesen) were dissolved. Initially, four military provinces were formed for the following areas: 1) for the country between the Elbe and Oder rivers in Berlin, 2) for the country between the Oder and Vistula rivers in Stargard, 3) for the country between the Vistula and the Russian border in Königsberg and 4) for Silesia in Breslau. After the further advance of the Prussian and Allied troops, the formation of the military government for the Prussian provinces took place on the left bank of the Elbe. This was soon divided into the two military provinces for the state between the Elbe and Weser in Halberstadt and for the state between Weser and Rhine in Münster. The military governorates were classified according to purely military or geographical criteria, irrespective of the historical administrative divisions that existed to date. The individual military governorates were directly subordinate to the king or the state chancellor. The ministries lost their competence for all matters concerning warfare for the duration of the military governorates. All authorities in the district were subordinate to military or civil governors in military matters. Only in operational matters of the army was the commanding generals in command. For each military government, one military governor and one civil governor were appointed as equal leaders. In the event of disagreement, the King alone had the power of decision. In the event of imminent danger, however, the military governor had the decisive vote. Part of the tasks of the military government, especially with regard to the provision of food for Russian troops, was transferred to the Major General Friedrich Karl Heinrich Graf von Wylich and Lottum as General Director for the provision of food for Russian troops in Germany on 11 March 1813 (cf.: GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 128 Registratur[by Friedrich Karl Heinrich Graf von Wylich and] Lottum über Armeeverpflegungsangelegenheiten in den Kriegen 1813 - 1815). After the First Peace of Paris, the four Eastern Elbe military provinces were dissolved by the cabinet of 3 June 1814. The two Westelbian military provinces remained in place for the time being. 1.2 Military and civil government for the provinces between the Elbe and Weser The "Military government for the Prussian provinces on the left bank of the Elbe" was formed by the Kabinettsordre of 9 April 1813 and Wilhelm Anton von Klewiz was appointed civil governor. Major General Philipp of Ivernois was appointed military governor, but he died on June 1, 1813. The new military governor was Major General Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig von Krusemark. Since most of the West Elbian areas were still occupied by French troops, it took some time before the military government was able to take up its activities in full. The seat of the military government was initially still in Berlin and was moved provisionally to Halle/Saale only in October 1813. As a result of the advance of the Prussian and Allied troops, the area to be administered by the military government had assumed too great an extension. For this reason, the Cabinet of 19 November 1813 divided it into two independent military provinces for the provinces between the Elbe and Weser and between the Weser and Rhine. The former civilian governor of Klewiz, who held this office until the dissolution of the civilian government, was appointed civil governor of the military government for the provinces between the Elbe and Weser rivers. The new military governor was Major General Ludwig Wilhelm August von Ebra (1759-1818). The military government now comprised the following former Prussian territories: the Altmark, the Duchy of Magdeburg, the Principality of Halberstadt, the County of Mansfeld, the County of Hohenstein, the Principality of Eichsfeld and the Principality of Erfurt. The seat of the government administration was moved to Halberstadt in December 1813. Although a division of responsibilities between the military governor and the civilian governor would have been legally permissible, all business of the military government was handled jointly and amicably by both governors. In the event of absence, there was mutual representation. The office and the registry were managed jointly. Even after the peace agreement of May 30, 1815, the military government remained in place and was not dissolved until July 12, 1815. The military tasks were transferred to the General Command for the provinces between the Elbe and Weser rivers. The remaining business was provisionally continued by the former civil governor of Klewiz until the appointment of the chief president and the district presidents on 1 April 1816. The main task of the military government was to reorganize the administration and ensure the efficiency of the Prussian army in the provincial district. These included above all the formation of troops, feeding the Prussian and Allied troops and supplying the military hospitals. For this purpose, the military government had to raise the necessary funds through tax collections and carry out requisitions. The higher and security police were also directly exercised by the military government. However, the mining and metallurgy sector was directly subordinated to the Minister of Finance and the postal sector to the General Postmaster. In order to carry out individual tasks of the military government, several subordinate offices and authorities were formed, which were also based at the civil governor's place of work in Halberstadt. This included the Finance Commission, which exercised control over the management of direct and indirect taxes, domains and forests. This commission was dissolved on 24 February 1814. Its tasks were largely transferred to the Provincial Commission, which was also based in Halberstadt. This commission consisted of six councils and served to advise the civil governor, on whose decisions it was also dependent. It was therefore not an independent intermediate instance between the civil governor and the subordinate authorities. On behalf of the Military Government, the Higher Regional Court Council Dalkowski conducted investigations against a number of persons suspected of espionage and spying for the French or Westphalian High Police or army. The basis for these investigations was the Royal Order of 17 March 1813 for punishment of crimes against the security of the armies (cf.: Collection of Laws for the Royal Prussian States, 1813, p.34f.) and the Decree of 15 January 1814 for investigation and punishment of the illicit traffic with the enemy (cf.: Collection of Laws for the Royal Prussian States, 1814, p. 5-7.). However, under Article 16 of the First Paris Peace of 30 May 1814, these investigations had to be stopped. In November 1813, the Provincial War Commission was formed to carry out the requisitions and supply the Prussian and Allied troops. This office, headed by the provincial war commissioner Rhades and, from February 1814, his successor Lehmann, existed until 1816 and a surgical staff was formed for the organization of the provincial hospital system. This staff existed until November 1815 and was responsible, among other things, for the purchase of medicines and hospital utensils, the recruitment and remuneration of medical personnel and the supervision of the individual provincial hospitals. At the end of 1813, the territory of the military government was divided into three departments, each headed by a national director. These national directorates were intermediate instances between the civil governor and the district administrators or the subordinate authorities. The three departments can be regarded as predecessors of the administrative districts that were later formed. The first department roughly corresponded to the former Westphalian Elbe department and consisted of the districts Salzwedel, Stendal and Neuhaldensleben. Due to the occupation by French troops, the city of Magdeburg was no longer under direct administration until May 1814. The second department, which roughly corresponded to the Westphalian Saale Department, consisted of the Saalekreis and the districts of Wansleben, Calbe/Saale, Mansfeld, Eisleben, Halberstadt and Osterwieck. The 3rd department consisted of the Prussian parts of the former Westphalian Harz Department and was divided into the districts of Heiligenstadt, Duderstadt and Hohenstein. In addition, there was the area of Erfurt and Blankenhain, which formed its own circle and was administered by its own vice director (as permanent representative of the country director). The national directorates in the 1st and 2nd departments were dissolved in February 1814 and the competencies were transferred to the civil governor or the responsible councillors. However, due to the long distance until the dissolution of the civil government on 31 March 1816, the Regional Directorate of the 3rd Department remained in place. When the administrative districts of the province of Saxony were later formed, the previous territorial structure of the three departments was largely retained. The administrative district Magdeburg corresponded approximately to the 1st department, the administrative district Merseburg to the 2nd department and the administrative district Erfurt to the 3rd department. 1.3 Senior Officials Military Governors: April 1813 - June 1813: Major General Philipp von Ivernois (1754-1813) (Cf.: Priesdorff, Kurt von: Soldatisches Führertum, Hamburg 1937-1942, Vol. 3 (Part 5), p. 275f.) Oct. 1813 - Nov. 1813: Major General Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig von Krusemark (1767-1822) (Cf.: Priesdorff, Kurt von: Military Leadership, Hamburg 1937-1942, Vol. 3 (Part 5), pp. 329-331) Nov. 1813 - July 1815: Major General Ludwig Wilhelm August von Ebra (1759-1818) (Cf.: Priesdorff, Kurt von: Military Leadership, Hamburg 1937-1942, Vol. 3 (Part 5), pp. 368-370). Civil Governor: April 1813 - March 1816: Wilhelm Anton von Klewiz (1760-1838) (Cf.: Straubel, Rolf: Biographisches Handbuch der Preußischen Verwaltungs- und Justizbeamten 1740 - 1806/15, Vol. 1, Munich 2009, p. 497f.). Regional Director in the 1st Department of Stendal and Magdeburg: End 1813 - Febr. 1814: Friedrich von Koepcken (1770-nach 1825) (Cf.: Straubel, Rolf: Biographisches Handbuch der Preußischen Verwaltungs- und Justizbeamten 1740 - 1806/15, Vol. 1, Munich 2009, p. 515). State director in the 2nd department of Halberstadt: End of 1813 - February 1814: Friedrich Freiherr von Schele (1782-1815) (Cf.: Straubel, Rolf: Biographisches Handbuch der Preußischen Verwaltungs- und Justizbeamten 1740 - 1806/15, Vol. 2, Munich 2009, p. 857f.). Country director in the 3rd department of Erfurt: End of 1813 - March 1816: Joseph Bernhard August Gebel (1772-1860). Vice-Country Director for the area of Erfurt and Blankenhain: End of 1813 - 1816(?): August Heinrich Kuhlmeyer (1781-1865) (Cf.: Straubel, Rolf: Biographisches Handbuch der Prußischen Verwaltungs- und Justizbeamten 1740 - 1806/15, Vol. 1, Munich 2009, p. 541). 2. inventory history After the dissolution of the military government, some of the files were taken over by the head presidential registry and were transferred via the Magdeburg government archive to the Magdeburg state main archive. The files, which concerned the areas of the later administrative districts of Merseburg and Erfurt, were first transferred to the responsible government archives in Merseburg and Erfurt and were later added to the holdings of the Magdeburg State Main Archives. By order of the Director General of the Prussian State Archives of May 1, 1883, the files of the military government (with the exception of the military government for the land between the Elbe and Oder or Oder and Vistula) were either transferred from the Secret State Archives to the provincial archives concerned or left in their original state. In the state capital archive of Magdeburg the archival material of the military government was divided into the following holdings (cf.: Gringmuth-Dallmer, Hanns: Gesamtübersicht über diebestände des Landeshauptarchivs Magdeburg, Vol. 3,1, Halle/Saale 1961): - Rep. C 1 Preußisches Militärgouvernement für die Provinzen zwischen Elbe und Weser zu Halberstadt - Rep. C 1 a Prussian military government for the provinces between Elbe and Weser to Halberstadt - Rep. C 1 b Prussian military government for the provinces between Elbe and Weser to Halberstadt concerning administrative district Erfurt - Rep. C 1 c Prussian military government for the provinces between Elbe and Weser to Halberstadt - Civil administration - Rep. C 2 Prussian Civil Government for the provinces between Elbe and Weser to Halberstadt - Rep. C 2 a Prussian Civil Government for the provinces between Elbe and Weser to Halberstadt concerning the later administrative district Magdeburg - Rep. C 2 b Prussian Civil Government for the provinces between Elbe and Weser to Halberstadt concerning the later administrative district Erfurt - Rep. C 2 c Prussian Civil Government for the provinces between Elbe and Weser at Halberstadt concerning the later administrative district Merseburg (Saalkreis and Mansfeld) - Rep. C 3 Commission of the Higher Regional Court Council Dalkowski for the investigation of political offences - Rep. C 7 Finance Commission at Halberstadt - Rep. C 8 Government War Commission (War Commissioner Lehmann) - Rep. C 11 Surgical Staff. On 26 and 27 April 1972 the above holdings were transferred by the Landeshauptarchiv Magdeburg to the Deutsches Zentralarchiv, Dienststelle Merseburg (see: GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 178 E Geheimes Staatsarchiv PK, Dienststelle Merseburg, Nr. 331 Aktenzugänge, Bd. 1). However, not all stocks from the transitional period were transferred. Thus, for example, the holdings of the three state directorates remained in the Magdeburg State Main Archives. On 21 October 1986, 0.1 running metres of files were subsequently taken over and assigned to the holdings (cf.: GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 178 E Geheimes Staatsarchiv PK, Dienststelle Merseburg, Nr. 1037 Bestandsakte I. HA Rep. 91 C). The holdings taken over from the Magdeburg State Archives were combined into one holdings and initially recorded in a find file by employees of the German Central Archives, Merseburg Office. In the process, the contemporary titles were obviously adopted without any discernible new titles being formed. In addition, the portfolio was rearranged according to thematic criteria. It has not yet been possible to determine the date of the order, the original distortion and a later revision of the file titles. This revision, which was still carried out on the index cards, led to a partial correction and standardisation of the file titles, which however remained incomplete and inconsistent. Following the retroconversion of the find file by typists of the Secret State Archives PK, the holdings were edited in 2008 and 2009 by archive employee Guido Behnke. The classification has been revised. In addition, the existing file titles were checked and, if necessary, standardized or corrected. In some cases, individual files had to be redrawn. The existing place names were adapted as far as possible to the current spelling. 3. note on use The holdings were arranged according to subject matter. However, the files of classification group 02.01.03 are sorted by the names of the individual towns. These are files relating to the accounting, the debts, the public buildings, the leasing of land and the local taxes of the respective municipalities. Also the files of the classification group 03.03.01.03, which concern the church, parish and school affairs, are arranged according to place names. The files relating to staff matters (e.g. employment, remuneration, dismissal, misconduct) of officials should be sought in the various thematic classification groups. For example, the files on civil servants employed directly by the Military Government are in classification group 01.02, municipal civil servants in classification group 02.01.04 and judicial officers in classification group 02.03.01.09. 4. References to other holdings and bibliographical references 4.1 Holdings in the Secret State Archives PK A larger number of files relating to the Military Government between Weser and Elbe are in the holdings: - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 87 Ministry of Agriculture, Domains and Forestry - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 151 Ministry of Finance. In some cases, files are still available in the following holdings: - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 89 Secret Civil Cabinet, recent period - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 93 B Ministry of Public Works - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 103 General Postmaster or General Post Office - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 121 Ministry of Trade and Commerce, Mining, Iron and Steel Works Administration - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 128 Registratur[des Friedrich Karl Heinrich Graf von Wylich und] Lottum über Armeeverpflegungsangelegenheiten in den Kriegen 1813 - 1815 - GStA PK, I. HA, Ministry der Auswärtigen Angelegenheiten - GStA PK, III. HA, MdA - Ministry of Foreign Affairs - GStA PK, V. HA Kingdom of Westphalia. The archival records of two other military provinces can be found in the following holdings: - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 91 A Military Government between Elbe and Oder - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 91 B Military Government between Oder and Vistula. 4.2 Holdings in other archives The following holdings from the transitional period 1806-1816 are available in the main archive of Saxony-Anhalt, Department Magdeburg (see: Gringmuth-Dallmer, Hanns: Gesamtübersicht über diebestände des Landeshauptarchivs Magdeburg, Vol. 3,1, Halle/Saale 1961): - Rep. C 4 Landesdirektion des I. und II. Departments (former Elbe and Saale Department) - Rep. C 5 Regional Directorate of the IIIrd Department (former Harz Department) of Heiligenstadt - Rep. C 6 Vice-Department of the IIIrd Department of Erfurt together with the chamber of Blankenhain - Rep. C 9 Commission of the Francke Provincial Council - Rep. C 10 War Commissariats - Rep. C 12 Lazarette - Rep. C 13 Magdeburg Tax Directorate - Rep. C 19 Commissions of the Military Government for the provinces between EIbe and Weser. The following holdings are located in the Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen, Abteilung Westfalen, Münster (cf.: Die Bestands des Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen - Staatsarchiv Münster, Münster 2004, p. 272): - B 99 Civil Government between Weser and Rhine. The holdings of the military government for the land between the Vistula and the Russian border (most recently in the Potsdam Army Archive) and the military government for Silesia (most recently in the Wroclaw State Archive) were probably destroyed during the Second World War. 4.3 Literature (selection): - Gouvernementblatt für die königlich-preußischen Provinzen zwischen der Elbe und Weser, Halberstadt 1814-1816 - Intelligenz-Blatt für den Bezirk des Königlichen Appellationsgericht zu Halberstadt, Halberstadt 1814-1849 - History of the organisation of the Landwehr in the Militair-Gouvernement between Elbe and Weser, in the Militair-Gouvernement between Weser and Rhine in 1813 and 1814, Supplement to the Militair-Wochenblatt, Berlin 1857 - Gringmuth-Dallmer, Hanns: General overview of the holdings of the Landeshauptarchiv Magdeburg, vol. 3.1, Halle/Saale 1961 (Sources on the History of Saxony-Anhalt 6) - Tumbler, Manfred: Lazarethe in the Prussian provinces between Elbe and Weser by number of patients, cost of money and mortality 1813-1815, in: Deutsches medizinisches Journal, vol. 15, Berlin 1964. 5. 5. notes, order signature and method of citation Scope of holdings: 5427 SU (128 running metres) Duration: 1721 - 1820 Last issued signature: 5398 The files are to be ordered: I. HA, Rep. 91 C, No () The files are to be quoted: GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 91 C Militär- und Zivilgouvernement für das Land zwischen Weser und Elbe zu Halle bzw. Halberstadt, Nr. () Berlin, December 2010 (Guido Behnke) finding aids: database; finding guide, 4 vol.