The maps, plans and technical drawings in the Federal Archives include topographical map series, individual maps with a civilian or military relevance, military situation maps as well as plan collections, facility maps and technical drawings from the German Reich and the GDR. Due to their size, these maps are generally stored separately.
Most of our maps can be searched via our research platform invenio; the others can be found using the conventional finding aids in the reading rooms. Separate rooms are also available with large tables and special reading devices.
Please note that our maps are stored at different locations depending on the subject. In Berlin-Lichterfelde, you will find topographical maps of the German Reich and the GDR, individual maps such as city maps, administrative, railway, postal, maritime, road, waterway and economic maps from the mid-18th century onwards, as well as plan collections, plans and attachment maps for written material collections, such as maps of the German colonial administration and construction plans of the GDR building academy.
In Freiburg we hold all large-format military maps, plans and drawings from the early 19th century onwards. These include both large formats attached to military files as well as large formats in their own right, in some cases as extensive collections. These can be situation maps, position maps, transport maps, mine plans for land and sea, construction and building plans and even tables and diagrams.
In Freiburg we also keep the map series of Prussia and the German Empire for land and sea produced and published by military authorities such as the Admiralty or the Great General Staff from 1849 (for sea), or 1867 (for land) to 1945 – above all the nautical chart series up to 1945, the map series of the Royal Prussian Land Survey up to 1918 (including the corresponding travel reports) and the German Army Map up to 1945, with all the subsidiary and special maps for which the map sheets of the German Army Map Series formed the basis.
The Freiburg location also keeps large quantities of construction plans of Prussian and German warships between 1849 and 1945, as well as the situation maps of the General Staff of the Army to present to the Führer’s headquarters and city maps and defence maps from the occupied territories.
Individual map collections can also be found at the locations in Koblenz (such as ones pertaining to construction and regional planning as well as maritime shipping and hydrography) and in Bayreuth (in particular pertaining to documentation on Eastern Germany).