Books and Periodicals
As part of your research, you may also want to view the holdings of the Federal Archives library, which contains many different kinds of material.
Search results
Cultivating Tradition with an MI6 Spy
The British double agent Kim Philby was a guest of the MfS in Berlin in 1981. He spoke before an assembly of high-ranking officers in "Haus 22" about his activities as a KGB spy within the British foreign intelligence agency MI6.
Maps
The Federal Archives’ holdings include more than 1.9 million maps, plans and technical drawings. These are mostly military maps and plans. The digitisation of these large formats poses an immense technical challenge that requires special scanning systems. The Federal Archives plans to intensify ...
Library
The Federal Archives provide users with more than 2 million publications at eight locations. The following pages provide information on conducting research in our online library catalogues and visiting our library facilities.
Prisoner Files from the GDR
Department BE 5 (GDR provision) in the Federal Archives receives a large number of requests asking for evidence of prison terms, court and prison files as well as work and health records relating to prison terms in the former GDR. Initial information is obtained from the Central Prisoner Card File ...
View and use archive material
On this page you will find out what you need to do to gain access to the archive material of the Federal Archives. Apply to use documents, prepare your stay at the Federal Archives as best as possible and find out about information on using the archive material of the Federal Archives.
The Official Employees of the MfS
The full-time employees of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) made up the core staff of the secret police. In a similar way to the "Cheka", the first Soviet secret police, MfS staff saw themselves as an elite for the protection of the ruling Communist Party. The guiding principle for their ...
FAQs
Before visiting the archives, please book an appointment with the reading room service in the archive you intend to visit and reserve a workstation. If you are already in the reading room, please contact the person in charge. If you have not already, you must now sign the research request form. ...
Digital Reading Room
In the long term, the Digital Reading Room will become a comprehensive portal for researching and using archive material from the Federal Archives.
Commissioning Research Services
Private research services can be used if you cannot do your own research in the reading rooms of the Federal Archives. In this case you ought to send the completed and signed usage application form to the research service that will forward it to the Federal Archives. By signing the appliction ...