Records of the Berlin Gestapo Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt (Gestapa) Berlin (Fond 501)

Identifier
irn599257
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1993.A.0085.1.3
  • RG-11.001M.02
Dates
1 Jan 1933 - 31 Dec 1945
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
  • English
  • Polish
  • Spanish
  • French
  • Italian
Source
EHRI Partner

Web Source

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn599257

Extent and Medium

6 microfilm reels (partial), 16 mm

7,661 digital images, JPEG

Creator(s)

  • Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt (Berlin)

Biographical History

The German Secret State Police (Gestapo) originated in the political department of the police headquarters in Berlin during the Weimar Republic. With the Nazi assumption of power in 1933 the agency was under control of Herman Goring and Rudolf Diels, and later Heinrich Himmler and Reinhardt Heydrich. The agency had a broad power of arresting, wiretapping, and engaging in torture and executions. After Kristallnacht (November 1938) the gestapo become the main instrument of the Nazi regime for implementing ant-Jewish polices. In 1939, the Gestapo was fused with Sipo and SD the Reichssicherheitshauptmat (RSHA). The Gestapo took part in the enslavement of races, pacification of occupied territories, persecution of Jews, deportation from ghetto to extermination camps, and played major role in the “Final Solution”.

Archival History

Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ voennyĭ arkhiv

Acquisition

Forms part of the Claims Conference International Holocaust Documentation Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This archive consists of documentation whose reproduction and/or acquisition was made possible with funding from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Source of acquisition is the Russian State Military Archive (Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ voennyĭ arkhiv), Osobyi Archive, Fond 501. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the filmed collection via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum International Archival Programs Division in 1993, and accretion in 2001.

Scope and Content

Contains the surveillance files on communists, social-democratic, anti-fascist, and Jewish organizations; reports on “unreliable” persons and on masonic lodges; police surveillance on activities of organization outside Germany; clippings of German and foreign newspapers and journal concerning the situation in Germany. Includes also records related to the Zionist movements in Germany: correspondence of the Reich and Prussian Minister of the Interior and of the Prussian Gestapo Office with the Zionist Federation of Germany (Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland); reports by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA); results of elections of the Zionist federation in Germany, and lists of top officers of the Zionist Union of Germany as well as of the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (Jewish National Fund). The collection contains a bibliography of Jewish literature drawn up for the Gestapo; internal correspondence and intelligence files, minutes and speeches, statistical tables, lists of members of the Reich Representation of Jews in Germany, lists of members of various Jewish societies; and correspondence with Gestapo office in Elbing (Elbląg,Poland) on the discovery of the corpse of Sh. Vishnik. a.k.a. “Black Paul”, and description of the murdered man. There are also lists of German Jews immigrated to Italy, documents on the situation of Jews in USSR, includes lists of Soviet citizens expelled or subject to expulsion from Germany. Note: USHMM Archives holds only selected records.

System of Arrangement

Fond 501 (1913-1945). Opis 1-3; Dela 893. Selected records arranged in three series: 1. Files on religious organizations; 2. Gestapo reports, analyses of Weizman speech at the 20th Zionist Congress, 1937, and media coverage; 3. Gestapo reports, press clippings, and articles about Jews and Jewish organizations. Note: Location of digital images; Partial microfilm reels: #17-18, 26, 185, 305, 306; Reel 17: Image #990-Reel end; Reel 18: Reel start-Image #1411; Reel 26: Reel start-Image #1765; Reel 185: Image #1183-Image #1952; Reel 305: Image#1278-Reel end; Reel 306: Reel start-image #1600.

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Copyright Holder: Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ voennyĭ arkhiv

People

  • Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt (Berlin)
  • Weizmann, Chaim, 1874-1952.

Corporate Bodies

  • Zionist Association for Germany
  • Jewish Telegraphic Agency (New York, N.Y.)
  • Jewish National Fund

Subjects

  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany.
  • Freemasons--Europe--History--20th century.
  • Communism and Zionism--Europe--History--20th century.
  • Jews--Legal status, laws, etc.--Germany--History--20th century.
  • Police administration--Germany--History, 1939-1945.
  • Zionism--Germany--20th century.
  • Emigration and immigration--Italy--Registers.
  • World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities--Poland.
  • Elbląg (Poland)
  • Poland--History--German occupation, 1940-1945.
  • Jewish organizations--Germany--History--20th century.

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.

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