Fonds BArch, RW 6 - OKW / General Wehrmacht Office (inventory)

Identity area

Reference code

BArch, RW 6

Title

OKW / General Wehrmacht Office (inventory)

Date(s)

  • 1922-1945 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

558 Aufbewahrungseinheiten; 18,4 laufende Meter

Context area

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Oberkommando der Wehrmacht/Allgemeines Wehrmachtamt, 1922-1945

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Description of the holdings: From the independent departments of the Wehrmachtamt (from 1 March 1929 to 13 February 1936 referred to as the "Ministeramt"), the "Inland" and "Wehrmachtversorgung" departments were reorganised in the course of the reorganisation of the "Oberkommando der Wehrmacht" (High Command of the Wehrmacht) from 4 March 1929 to 13 February 1936. Until the beginning of the war, it had been assigned not only the Domestic Department and the Wehrmacht Welfare and Supply Department, but also a Department for Wehrmacht Administration and Wehrmacht Specialist Schooling, as well as a Department for Science. With the expansion of the previous official groups within the OKW into ¿offices¿ from November 1939, the official group was given the name of ¿General Wehrmachtamt¿ (AWA), which was valid until 1945, and, after the allocation of competencies for loss- and prisoner-of-war affairs, comprised seven departments and three smaller organizational units, including two liaison officers at the "Deputy of the Führer" and at the ¿Youth Leader of the German Reich¿. In the spring of 1941, the division was expanded once again to include the office of the "Plenipotentiary of the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht for Settlement Issues" and by the appointment of inspectors for the welfare and supply offices, the prisoner of war system and the Wehrmacht grave officers. In 1944, finally, the merger of larger areas of competence into official groups (for welfare and supply matters, technical schools and settlement issues as well as for the Wehrmacht administration) was carried out. At the beginning of 1944, responsibility for the "national political training" of the Wehrmacht was transferred to the head of the NS management staff in the OKW, whose office was held by the head of the AWA (General der Infanterie Reinecke) in personal union. Preprovenience: Department of Domestic Affairs and Armed Forces Supply, Division of General Armed Forces Affairs Content Characterisation: The main part of the tradition comes from the Department of Domestic Affairs, which is responsible for relations with the civil administration and the NSDAP. These include files on internal affairs and internal security 1919-1940 (ban on associations and films, espionage); treatment of the racial issue (1933-1944); relationship with the NSDAP (including differences over military policy, incidents 1933-1937); proceedings against soldiers before party courts 1942-1943; treatment of Jewish front fighters 1933-1938; foreign issues (including Secret files "Foreign States" 1922 to 1939, assessments of the situation and descriptions 1925 to 1939); disarmament (1933-1936); international law (1940-1941); dealings with the Federal Foreign Office (among others Deployment of military and naval attachés 1933-1938, stay of ships abroad 1935-1939); domestic political situation and annexation of Austria (1934-1939); national defence and spatial planning (1935-1938); personnel affairs of the Wehrmacht and the army (u. a. Salaries, e-officers, reserve and land officers, workers and employees 1929-1941); Political assessment and monitoring of members of the Wehrmacht (1936-1938), Wehrmacht legal system (including individual cases of criminal proceedings against officers 1935 to 1938 and war crime statistics 1940 to 1942), army organization (1926-1942), training, maneuvers, and exercises (1933-1939), establishment of the Luftwaffe, and air defense (1933-1943), Education, military leadership and national political education (1933-1944, also documented by 88 "Tornisterschriften" published between 1939 and 1943 and five volumes of "Soldatenblätter für Feier und Freizeit", 1940-1944), propaganda (including press and radio affairs, 1928-1943). Further files are available from the Wehrmachtfürsorge- und Versorgungsabteilung (Wehrmachtforsorge- und Versorgungsabteilung) (e.g. Occupations and budgetary issues; statutory regulations; development and provisions of service and pension law; welfare and support for war veterans, former relatives, persons disabled for military service and surviving dependants; individual cases; foundations mainly Großes Militärwaisenhaus Potsdam with 40 files and Invalidenhaus Berlin with 10 files, 1920 to 1945; the Wehrmachtverlustwesen department (with organisation and deployment; collections of regulations [including registration, notification of relatives, soldier's etc.]); the Wehrmacht Lossesen department (with organisation and deployment; collections of regulations [including registration, notification of relatives, soldier's etc.]). Graves, burial and funeral also for foreign armed forces, suicides, executed, deserters; statistics, especially losses in general as well as in particular; grave service and care; planning of memorials) and by the chief of the prisoner of war system (army pressure regulation H.Dv 38 and other general instructions and leaflets; organization; treatment and deployment of prisoners of war; postal traffic; Italian military internees; 5 volumes with numerical overviews of prisoner of war facilities in the Reich and the occupied territories, including construction and labor battalions 1941-1945). The files of the Wehrmacht administration department (on compensation for war damage; clothing, armament and equipment; travel and payment transactions; supplies; emoluments), the Wehrmacht budget department, the military replacement department (replacement), the general department(s), and the National Socialist management staff office (on installation; training and deployment of the National Socialist management officers with training and propaganda material; location in West Germany in the Febr.March 1945); documents are missing from the departments of science and for Wehrmacht technical college instruction as well as from the authorized representative for settlement questions. State of development: Findbuch Scope, Explanation: 570 AE Citation method: BArch, RW 6/...

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Bundesarchiv (Archivtektonik) >> Norddeutscher Bund und Deutsches Reich (1867/1871-1945) >> Militär >> Reichswehr und Wehrmacht 1919 bis 1945 >> Zentrale Einrichtungen der Reichswehr und der Wehrmacht >> Spitzenbehörden

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Rechteinformation beim Datenlieferanten zu klären.

Language of material

  • German

Script of material

Language and script notes

This description was automatically translated with the help of www.DeepL.com. Translation errors are possible. Please note that the document itself has not been translated.

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Schriftgut

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Related units of description

Verwandtes Archivgut im Bundesarchiv: <br />
RW 16 Wehrmachtfürsorge- und Versorgungsdienststellen<br />
RH 9 OKH/Heeresverwaltungsamt<br />
RH 13 OKH/Heereswesenabteilung<br />
RH 15 OKH/Allgemeines Heeresamt<br />
RH 49 Kriegsgefangenenlager; Arbeits- und Baueinheiten der Kriegsgefangenen<br />
N 133 Linde Kurt (Generalmajor, Stabschef nur 6 AE)<br />
N 356 Reinecke Hermann (General der Infanterie und Chef WA) die Masse des Nachlasses befindet sich noch bei der Familie<br />
R 43 I Reichskanzlei, (Bundesarchiv, Abt. R)
<br /><br />
Amtliche Druckschriften: <br />
RWD 12, RWD 11 (NS-Führunmgsstab), RHD 25 (Heeresverwaltungsamt)
<br /><br />
Literatur: <br />
Streit, Christian: Keine Kameraden. Stuttgart. 1978 Neuausg. Bonn 1997<br />
Müller, Klaus-Dieter, Nikischkin, Konstantin, Wagenlehner und Günther (Hrsg.): In: Die Tragödie der Gefangenschaft in Deutschland und in der Sowjetunion, 1941-1956 Köln/Weimar 1998<br />
Kübler, Robert: Chef KGW. Das Kriegsgefangenenwesen unter Gottlob Berger. Lindhorst 1984<br />
Polian, Pavel: Deportiert nach Hause. Sowjetische Kriegsgefangnen im "Dritten Reich" und ihre Repatriierung. München 2001<br />
Zoepf, Arne W.G.: Wehrmacht zwischen Tradition und Ideologie. Der NS-Führungsoffizier im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Frankfurt 1988<br />
Besson, Waldemar: Zur Geschichte des NS-Führungsoffiziers. Stuttgart, 1961 (Sonderdruck aus dem VfZG, Heft 1)<br />
Streit Christian: General der Infanterie Hermann Reinecke. In: Hitlers militärische Elite. 2 Bde. (Hrsg.) v. Gerd R. Ueberschär. Bd. 1. Darmstadt 1998, S. 203-209

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DE-1958_03b09efc-fa22-4c4b-93df-ad63beaefd67

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