1.1 Prussian Officer's Witwenkasse The Prussian Officer's Witwenkasse was founded in 1792 as an insurance institution for married officers of the Prussian army with state guarantee and support. Active officers were not required to join until 1810; previously, only voluntary membership was planned. Inactive officers were allowed to join on a voluntary basis from 1813. Civil servants of the military administration were required to join since 1818 (cf.: GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 7416). Until 1824, the Offizierswitwenkasse was organizationally linked to the Allgemeine Witwenverpflegungsanstalt, which had already been founded in 1775. The name of the Offizierswitwenkasse was later changed to Militärwitwenkasse and finally to Militärwitwenpensionsanstalt. The basis for the activities of the insurance company was the regulations for the Royal Prussian Officer's Witwenkasse of 3 March 1792 (cf.: GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 7413), which was amended over time by the following laws and instructions: - Act of 3 March 1792, of 17 July 1865 (see: Collection of Laws for the Royal Prussian States, 1865, pp. 817-840; GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, no. 7417) - Instruction on the execution of the Act of 17 July 1865, some amendments to the regulations for the Officer's Widow Fund of 3 March 1792, of 26 March 1792. September 1865 (cf.: Ministerial-Blatt für die gesamte innere Verwaltung in den Königlich Preußischen Staaten, 1865, p. 311-315; GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, no. 7417) - Law concerning amendments to the regulations for the Königlich Preußische Offizierswitwenkasse, of 15 June 1897 (cf.: Gesetzsammlung für die Königlich-Preußischen Staaten, 1897, p. 185-186; GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, no. 7417). By instruction of September 26, 1865, the group of military persons who were obliged or entitled to join the Officer's Witwenkasse, among other things, was bindingly defined. There was an obligation to join: - all active officers of the army (including gendarmerie) and the navy; - all officers of the army and navy on salary or pension; - all active military and navy officers with an annual salary of more than 250 talers; - all military and navy officers on salary or pension with an earlier annual salary of more than 250 talers; - civil officers of the Ministry of War who receive an annual salary of at least 250 talers from the army or navy budget. Furthermore, the following were entitled to join on a voluntary basis: - the officers who left active service with the prospect of reemployment; - the military and naval officers who left active service with the prospect of reemployment with an earlier annual salary of more than 250 talers; - the officers of the Landwehr on leave; - the military and naval officers with an annual salary of less than 250 talers; - the officers and officials who enter military service during a mobilization for the duration of the state of war. The law of 20 May 1882 on the welfare of widows and orphans of direct state officials (cf.: Gesetzsammlung für die Königlich-Preußischen Staaten, 1882, pp. 298-304) amended the provision for the survivors of Prussian state officials. Section 23 of this Act granted military officials previously insured with the Military Witwenkasse a right of resignation within a period of three months. Military officials could no longer be accepted as members of the military widow's fund. The law of 17 June 1887 concerning the welfare of widows and orphans of members of the Imperial Army and Imperial Navy (cf.: Reichsgesetzblatt, 1887, p. 237-244; GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, no. 7421) introduced the provision for survivors of officers, military doctors and military officials of the Imperial Army and Imperial Navy. As a result of this law, the military widow's fund was no longer obliged to become a member and its members had the opportunity to withdraw from the fund within a period of 3 months. In addition, § 29 of this Act stipulates that no new members may be admitted. However, the Prussian military widow's fund continued to exist after 1887 to carry out its tasks. Those members and widows who had not made use of their right of withdrawal could continue to receive benefits from the Military Widow's Fund. Due to considerable financial problems, payments could only be maintained before the First World War with the help of grants from the Reich. In the course of inflation, the pensions still paid out up to then were completely devalued and payments stopped completely at the end of 1923. The Prussian Military Witwenkasse and its affiliated institutions were finally dissolved (cf: Bitter, Rudolf von: Handwörterbuch der Preußischen Verwaltung, 3rd ed., Berlin and Leipzig 1928, vol. 2, p. 167). 1.2 Affiliated military widow and orphan funds As a result of the German War of 1866, the military pension funds of the annexed states of Hanover, Kurhessen and Nassau were affiliated to the Prussian military widow funds. However, the funds were not formally dissolved but continued to exist for the members entitled to a pension and continued to be administered by the Prussian Military Witwenkasse until the final liquidation in 1923. These are the following funds: - Hannoversche Unteroffizierswitwenkasse (cf. GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 6834[regulations of 1850]) - Kurhessische Militärwitwen- und waisenanstalt (cf. GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 7420[Statutes of 1858]) - Nassau Officer's Widows and Orphans Fund (see GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 7444[Statutes of 1828]). In 1902 the Unteroffizierswitwenkasse des Mecklenburg-Schwerinschen Kontingent was added (cf. GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 7418[Statutes of 1904]). This had emerged from the noncommissioned officers' committee of the Mecklenburg-Schwerin contingent, which had existed since the middle of the 19th century. 1.2 Pensions Department of the War Ministry The Department of Disability, which was later called the Pensions Department, was responsible for dealing with the pension and pension matters of the Prussian army. After the end of the First World War, the military supply agencies were first run by the Pensionsabteilung (Abw) des Heeresabwicklungsamtes Preußen and later by the Abteilung Preußen des Reichspensionsamtes für die ehemalige Wehrmacht. At the beginning of the 1920s, the pension files were handed over to the responsible pension offices. A part of the pension files was taken over by the main pension office Brandenburg-Pommern and finally reached the secret state archive PK via this office. 1.3 Pensions Department of the Imperial Navy Office In the Imperial Navy Office, Department A II (Department of Justice and Pensions) was responsible for processing the pension and support cases of naval officers and officials. After the First World War, this department was also handled by the following departments: - Reichswehrministerium, Admiralität, Abteilung für die Abwicklung der Hinterbliebenen- und Unterstützungsangelegenheiten - Reichsministerium des Innern, Pensionsabteilung (former Marine) - Reichspensionsamt für die ehemalige Wehrmacht, Abteilung Marine. Eventually, the navy's pension files were distributed to the responsible pension offices and thus also reached the main pension office of Brandenburg-Pomerania and, in this way, the secret state archive of the PK. 1.4 Main Supply Office The Main Supply Office Brandenburg-Pomerania was a Reich authority directly subordinated to the Reich Ministry of Labour for the management of the Reich's supply system in the area of the provinces Brandenburg and Pomerania. The various regional pension offices were subordinate to the main pension office. The Reich's care system concerned the care of military personnel who were entitled to care or medical treatment to restore their health as a result of service damage or disability. The provision of care for the surviving dependents of soldiers who died in the First World War or military personnel who died as a result of service damage also belonged to the area of responsibility of the Reich's pension system (cf: Bitter, Rudolf von: Handwörterbuch der Preußischen Verwaltung, 3rd ed., Berlin and Leipzig 1928, vol. 2, p. 937). The basis for the activities of the main pension office and the pension offices was the law on the provision of benefits for military personnel and their surviving dependents in the event of official disability (Reichsversorgungsgesetz) of 12 May 1920 (cf.: Reichsgesetzblatt, 1920. pp. 989-1019). The establishment of the authorities was initially provisionally regulated by the Law on the Pension Authorities of 15 May 1920 (cf.: Reichsgesetzblatt, 1920, p. 1063f) and finally by the Law on the Procedure in Pension Matters of 10 January 1922 (cf.: Reichsgesetzblatt, 1922, p. 59-85). 2. inventory history 2.1 Militärwitwenkassen At first, only the documents of the Prussian Offizierswitwenkasse of the Reichsarchiv, Berlin Department, which had grown up until the dissolution of the old army in 1806, were handed over to the Geheime Staatsarchiv PK (see: GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 178 C 4, No. 2585[Accessionsjournal 1910-1926]). This was a relatively closed registry, which at the time had been transferred to the Reichsarchiv via the Secret Archive of the War Ministry. The holdings included the so-called acts of reception (acts of accession of the members) ordered by troop units and were given the title He. A. Rep. 7 A Officer's widow's box office - Old filing cabinet. The general files and loan files (files on borrowed capital of the Fund) created before 1806 were already collected in 1865. Also affected by the cassation were the widow's files, insofar as they were not transferred to the new registry (Meisner, Heinrich Otto; Winter, Georg: Übersicht über diebestand des Geheimen Staatsarchivs zu Berlin-Dahlem, 2. Teil, Leipzig 1935, pp. 110-112) with the processes from the reception files. These files were transferred to the Army Archive in Potsdam in the 1930s as part of the demarcation of the holdings and were probably destroyed there during the war-related destruction of this archive in 1945. There is only a list of members arranged according to units, which gives an idea of the scope of the destroyed reception files of the "Old Registry" (see GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 7598). In 1935, the Reichsarchiv, Berlin Department, also took over the archival records of the Officer's Witwenkassen, which had been created after 1806, and used them as a collection He. A. 7 B Offizierswitwenkasse - Neue Registratur reponiert (Meisner, Heinrich Otto; Winter, Georg: Übersicht über diebestände des Geheimen Staatsarchivs zu Berlin-Dahlem, 2. part, Leipzig 1935, pp. 110-112). The files taken over included the general files, accounting documents, name registers, membership files and widow files of the Prussian Officer's Witwenkasse as well as the documents of the affiliated military widwenkassen administered by the Prussian Military Witwenkasse (the former Hanoverian, Kurhessian and Nassauian armed forces, and the Mecklenburg-Swabian contingent). In the course of the above-mentioned demarcation of the holdings, large parts of this holdings (including the member and widow files) were also transferred to the Army Archive in Potsdam, where they were also destroyed when this archive was destroyed. The extent of the lost member and widow files can only be guessed from the observation that in 1935 about "1000 large packages of officers' widow's fund" files were transferred to the Secret State Archives PK (cf.: GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 178 C 4, Nr. 2586[Zugangsbuch für Archivalien 1927-1935]). Only a small number of general files and some accounting documents remained in the Secret State Archives of the PK. In addition to the member cadastre (list of members), a number of name registers and lists of files have been preserved. However, these only provide very little information about the members of the military widow's fund or their relatives. 2.2 Supply files The supply files created in the supply departments of the War Ministry and the Imperial Navy Office were submitted to the Brandenburg-Pomerania Main Supply Office after the relevant military authorities had been wound up. In October 1946 the pension files were taken over by the Secret State Archives PK (cf.: GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 178 C 4, No. 2586). Due to the effects of the war only a reduced part of the originally considerably more extensive file material was available at this time. The acquired files were evaluated in 1946 (cf.: Preface to the Old Find Book of the former GStA PK, X. HA, Rep. 101). At that time, the supply files of the following groups of military personnel were classified as worthy of archiving: - Officers (from the rank of colonel or captain at sea) - military physicians - veterinarians - building officials - administrative officials - judges and auditors - geographers, topographers and cartographers - professors and teachers at military schools - army pastors - members of colonial protection troops - participants in colonial campaigns. Selected individual cases have also been passed down. The remaining files have been collected. The position GStA PF, X. HA, Rep. 101 Versorgungsakten was formed from the transferred pension files. These files contain a variety of biographical materials such as farewell requests, service career certificates, pension statements, salary questionnaires and support requests. Together with the supply files, probably also the file lists and pension recipient lists as well as individual files of the supply departments of the War Ministry or the Reich Marine Office, which were also kept in the main supply office Brandenburg-Pomerania, were transferred to the secret state archive PK. This partial stock was not distorted. The collection also contains a number of files from foundations and troop funds supporting former military personnel, including the National Appreciation for Veterans Foundation. These foundations were administered by the pension department of the War Ministry. The files were also transferred to the Secret State Archive PK via the Brandenburg-Pomerania main public utility office. The documents handed down are primarily a manageable number of documents on the accounting and capital management of the foundations. However, with one exception (see GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 6931), there are no directories with the names of beneficiaries. As part of the reorganisation of the holdings in 2009 and 2010, the existing reference book from 1949 was retroconverted by archive employee Guido Behnke. In addition, the previously unlisted archival records (registers and registers of the military widow's funds and the utilities departments) were listed. The stock was sorted according to a newly created classification. 3. instructions for use 3.1 Military Witwenkassen An important source for the determination of biographical information on officers of the Prussian army is the so-called. Officer's nomenclature (see: GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 1, No. 71-95). This is an alphabetical list of military data of officers for a period from the 18th century to about 1873/74; unfortunately, some volumes of the officers' nomenclature have not been preserved in the holdings of the PK Secret State Archives. In this context, the list of members of the Prussian officer's widow's fund can be a useful addition. However, it must be emphasized that only the names of those officers or military officials who belonged to the circle of eligible members of the Military Widow Fund are included in this list. This means above all that they were married at the time of their military career. It is also important that only a relatively small amount of biographical data (e.g. date of birth and death, name of wife, unit) is available in the member lists. However, it should be noted that the original member and widow files have not been handed down. To use the membership lists, it is first necessary to determine the membership number of the military person you are looking for. The alphabetical name registers (classification group 01.07.01) can be used for this. As soon as the membership number is known, the relevant chronologically ordered membership lists can be reviewed. This is first of all the so-called. Member cadastre, which contains all members who have joined the Offizierswitwenkasse since its foundation in chronological order. In addition to the member cadastre, the so-called. Special manual available, which is also sorted by member numbers. Several membership numbers were also assigned to individual persons (e.g. when changing the pension amount, remarrying). In the special manual, the relevant entry is in this case always below the lowest member number. The other member numbers only contain references to the first entry. Since the special manual sometimes contains more detailed information than the member cadastre, it should also be used for research purposes. However, the special manual is only available from 1835 (starting with member number 13001). A widow's number is also listed in the member cadastre and in the special manual, provided that the insured event has occurred and a widow's pension has been paid. On the basis of this widow number, the chronologically ordered widow lists (classification group 01.08.02) can also be looked through, which may contain some further information on the widow of the sought military person. The individual steps of the drilldown reporting are now explained using an example: We are looking for information about Lieutenant General August von Witzleben. 1.) In the classification group 01.07.01, the membership number (No. 20369) and the widow's number (No. 10577) can be determined in the relevant volume of the alphabetical list of names (GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 7394). 2.) Based on the membership number, the relevant volume of the member cadastre (GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 6935) or special manuals (GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 7197) can be determined and reviewed in classification group 01.07.02. 3.) On the basis of the widow's number, you can then search in classification group 01.08.02 in the relevant volume of the widow's register (GStA PK, IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. 7178). For the military widows' and orphans' funds affiliated to the Prussian Military Widow Fund, there are also individual member directories and widows' and orphans' directories in the holdings. 3.2 Medical care files The medical care files are listed in the search book alphabetically according to the name of the corresponding military member under the classification 08. For this reason, this reference book does not have a register of names. In addition to the rank of the person concerned, the names of some widows and other surviving dependents are also listed. This, albeit reduced, file holdings are of considerable importance for biographical research on individual officers and military officials, since the war-related destruction of the army archive in 1945 destroyed a very large number of files containing biographical material, such as, for example, in the specific case the member and widow files of the Offizierswitwenkasse (Devantier, Sven Uwe: Das Heeresarchiv Potsdam - Die Bestandsaufnahme in der Abteilung Militärarchiv des Bundesarchivs, in: Archivar, 61st ed, Issue 4, 2008, pp. 361-369). The pension recipient lists of the War Ministry and the Navy Office listed in the classification groups 05.04 and 06.02 contain only little information. However, as already mentioned, due to the consequences of the war and the cassation, a large part of the supply files has not been handed down, so that in individual cases at least the basic information on the military personnel concerned can be researched. 4. references to other holdings of the Secret State Archives PK A small number of files on supply matters of individual officers can be found in classification group 13.5 Military Cases/Personnel Matters of the holdings of GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 89 Secret Civil Cabinet (cf.: Findbuch des Bestandes GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 89, Vol. 17, p. 2805-2812). In addition, individual files on the officers' widow's fund and military supply matters can also be found in the following holdings: - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 77 Ministry of the Interior - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 84a Ministry of Justice - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 89 Secret Civil Cabinet - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 91 C Military and Civil Government for the country between Weser and Elbe in Halle and Halberstadt - GStA PK, I. HA, Rep. 151 Ministry of Finance - GStA PK, II. HA General Directorate - GStA PK, III. HA Ministry of Foreign Affairs - GStA PK, IV HA, Rep. 16 Staff Regulations. 5. notes, order signature and method of citation Scope of inventory: 7571 CA (40 running metres) Duration: 1792 - 1945 Non-issued signatures: 581, 867-876, 1034-1043, 1154-1158, 1443, 1864 Last signature issued: The files must be ordered: IV. HA, Rep. 7, No. () The files are to be quoted: GStA PK, IV HA Prussian Army, Rep. 7 Offizierswitwenkasse und andere militärische Versorgungsstellen, Nr. () Berlin, March 2011 (Guido Behnke) finding aids: database; find book, 5 vol.