For more than two years, the Online Collection „Wiedergutmachung for National Socialist Justice” has been online. It all started with an overview of the relevant archival holdings from German state archives. Frequent updates followed, with a current focus on holdings from municipal archives. From now on, users also have the option to search for individual records.

From holdings to records

The Online Collection “Wiedergutmachung for National Socialist Injustice” has reached another milestone: Up until now, the holdings overview has been the primary, and only, access point to browse through a comprehensive collection of Wiedergutmachung holdings. The overview, however, only guides users to the appropriate archive and does not link the archival records themselves. Now, a search bar “Search records” on the collection’s landing page offers the opportunity to research individual records. To this day, the Online Collection Wiedergutmachung provides access to 796.117 relevant records available in the German Archives Portal.

The search bar allows you to search for freely chosen terms in the descriptive metadata of Wiedergutmachung records. You may limit or filter the search results (e.g. by places or dates/periods) as you are used to in the German Archives Portal.

What are your search options?

At the moment, the metadata of the records do not yet follow a standardized scheme. This means that the information contained in the metadata may vary from record to record. It is therefore worth entering different search terms. For example, try using names, places or keywords such as “compensation” or “restitution”. You still cannot find every relevant record available in the German Archives Portal via the search bar, but new records are added all the time. It might be helpful to visit the collection again at a later date.

Federal Compensation Act, restitution, Victim of the Nazi Regime – these are all technical terms you may come across in the records’ metadata. In our “History and Stories” section, you can find information on the history of the German Wiedergutmachung policy and thus specify your search. It is also always worth taking a look at our glossary and abbreviations list. You can find both in the “Understanding the Records” section. 

A few records have already been digitized. By checking the corresponding box beneath “Refine search” on the search results page, you have the option to browse only through digitized records. Please note: The German Archives Portal only shows thumbnails (previews) of the archival objects. You can view or download the entire record on the website of the corresponding archive via the button “Data provider’s object view”.

I found an interesting object – who can I turn to?

All metadata presented in the German Archives Portal come from different archival data providers. If you are interested in further information on a certain record or if you would like to have a look at the original, please contact the corresponding archive. Via the logo of the archive next to the object, you can find direct links to a website and/or contact information. By clicking on “Data provider’s object view”, you can access the object description on the website of the archive keeping the record. There you may find further contact information. 

We hope our new features meet your needs and will help you with your research.

We continue to expand the Online Collection even beyond the free-text search options. We are already looking forward to presenting you our person-related search and new topic-related approaches to the documentary legacy of German Wiedergutmachung!