Museums, Libraries and Archives:

Founded in 1920 as the Red Army Archive, the Russian State Military Archive was opened to research in 1990. As it contains a large number of files of foreign origin, among them papers relating to Jewish organisations, the archive is of high interest for non-Russian researchers. Most of these files were taken from libraries and archives from all over Europe to Russia by the Soviet Trophy Brigades in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Although a lot of work on consolidating the catalogues has been done, large sections have not been examined yet. Those interested in researching at RGVA should have a basic knowledge of Russian as finding aids are only available in Russian.

An unofficial but very useful introduction to the Archive is accessible at http://www.sonderarchiv.de/ (in German). A digital finding aid on German archival records (fonds 500 to 1525) is provided on the homepage. Detailed electronic cataloguing is available for the following fonds:

500 Reich Main Security Department (Reichssicherheitshauptamt)

501 Gestapo Berlin

502 Waffen SS and Police - Central Building Administration in Auschwitz

503 Gestapo Stettin

505 Police Headquarters Berlin

519 NSdAP

545 Army Research Institute for Military History, Potsdam

554 Central Office of the Pan-European Union, Vienna

567 Reich Court and Reich Office of Public Prosecution, Leipzig

599 Bequest of Ludwig Bamberger (1823-1899), politician, banker

623 Bequest of Ludwig Edler von Mises (1881-1973), economist

700 Commissioner for the Four-Year Plan (Beauftragter für den Vierjahresplan), Hermann Göring

701 Historical Commission of the Reichsführer SS, Berlin

702 Reich Ministry of Aviation, Berlin

703 Bequest of Franz von Papen, (1879-1969), politician

716 Jewish Congregation (Synagogengemeinde), Bromberg

720 Reich Ministry of the Interior

721 Central Association of German Citizen of Jewish Faith (Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens)

771 Pan-European Union of Germany, Berlin

1146 Reich Ministry of Justice, Berlin

1148 Gestapo Köslin

1185 Gestapo Erfurt

1194 Consolidated Archive of German Jews - Neumann Collection (Gesamtarchiv der deutschen Juden-Sammlung Neumann), Berlin

1202 Bequest of Ernst Karl Winter (1895-1959); Professor, publicist

1212 Storm Troops of the NSdAP (collection)

1232 Governor of Upper Silesia, Kattowitz

1233 Prussian Ministry of Interior, Berlin

1235 Reich Chancery, Berlin

1240 SD, Section Stettin

1241 SD, Sections Weimar and Erfurt

1256 Head of Army Archives, Potsdam

1275 Records of the Army Archive, Reich Archive and others

1295 Religious organisations (several fonds)

1303 Military and Military Engineering Services in Germany (collected fonds)

1323 German police authorities in Germany and in the occupied territories

1325 Jewish organisations and institutions

1326 Jewish Community, Berlin

1329 Archival records concerning various individuals (collection)

1344 Materials on the situation in Germany, activities of German associations (collection)

1346 Records of various administrations and organisations

1355 Chancery of the Führer, Berlin

1357 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Berlin

1361 Judicial institutions in Germany

1363 Reich Ministry of Propaganda, Berlin

1367 Archival Records on concentration camps and prisoner-of-war camps in Germany and the occupied territories (Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Wewelsburg, Groß-Rosen, Dachau, Majdanek, Luckenwalde, Natzweiler, Neuengamme, Treblinka, Falkensee-Agneshof, Esterwegen, Murnau, Minsk)

1369 Secret Field Police, Bad Nauheim

1370 "Vineta" Propaganda Service East at the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Berlin

1372 Waffen SS, Social Welfare and Supply offices, Military Personnel, Foreign Legion of the SS

1383 Presidency of the German Red Cross, Berlin

1401 Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, Berlin

1409 Inspector for General Building Reich Capital Berlin

1458 Reich Ministry of Economic Affairs, Berlin

1461 Head of Finances, Currency Control Office, Berlin

1462 Bequest of Hjalmar Schacht (1877-1970); President of the Reich Bank, politician

1470 Reich Ministry of Church Affairs

1486 Superior Postal Administration (Oberpostdirektion), Berlin

1493 German News Bureau (DNB), Berlin

1500 Archives of Count of Reuß-Köstritz, Ernstbrunn
1511 Illustrated material (maps, photographs)

1522 Political associations in Germany (collected fonds)

Other record groups of potential interest include:

1388 Archives of the Counts of Liechtenstein (Bohemia and Moravia)
1412 Masonic Lodges (collection), consolidated with record groups 1227, 1247-1251, 1253-1254, 1262-1263, 1271, 1278, 1285-1286, 1288
1427 Jewish community, Athens
1428 Jewish community, Salonika
1432 Jewish organisations and institutions in the Netherlands
1439 Jewish community, Ragusa
1441 Jewish community, Zagreb
1444 Bequest of Moritz Frankenhuis, collector
1524 Documents, which were transferred from the Pushkin Museum (collection): archives from Wittenberg, catalogues of museums in Dresden, records on the confiscation of artworks in Germany during the Second World War

Contact Information
Russian State Military Archive
29, ul. Admirala Makarova
125212, Moscow
Russia
Tel.: 007 095 159 8091 or 007 095 159 8839
Fax: 007 095 159 8504
E-mail: rgvarchive@mtu-net.ru
<http://www.rusarchives.ru/federal/rgva/ >

Opening Times:
Monday to Thursday 10.00-17.00
Friday 10.00-16.00
June: Monday to Friday 10:00-17:00
Summer closure: from beginning of July to beginning of August

Source
Russian State Military Archive
< http://www.rusarchives.ru/federal/rgva/>, accessed 04 March 2004.
< http://www.sonderarchiv.de/>, accessed 04 March 2004.