Captured German records
(mostly on microfilm)
The National Archives in College Park, Maryland (NA2) holds over
70,000 rolls of microfilm reproducing captured German and related
records. Additionally there are some hardcopy files of mainly
interrogations or captured communications. This collection contains too
many subjects to describe adequately here, but a list of some of them
appears below.
Over the years I have been asked by various clients to find records
ranging from a WWI submarine commander's logbook (with photos - which
could have been easily published with a short introduction as a book) to
checking whether or not certain names appeared in the various Nazi
records. A very common interest in artwork stolen by Nazis.
Perhaps the most common request is genealogical work regarding ethnic
Germans(Volksdeustche)living in Western Russia, who had been
invited by Catherine the Great in the late 1700s to establish colonies
there. Many of these fled with the retreating German troops at the
end of WWII and some of their offspring ended up in the US and Canada.
I can dig out certain German records on these people, but a better
search would involve similar searches in Russia by my colleague Svetlana
Chervonnaya, whose contact information can be found at the bottom of the
page.
Here is a partial list of what is available through at NA2:
National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, Record
Group 242
Other Related Records, Records of U.S. Army Commands, 1942- ,
Record Group 338 under construction
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Captured German Records Microfilmed at Whaddon Hall, U.K.
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Captured German Navy Records Microfilmed in London, England, U.K.
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Captured German records microfilmed in Berlin, Germany
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Microfilmed records received from the Berlin Document Center
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Captured German records microfilmed at Alexandria, Virginia, USA
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Nazi Party and SS records
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Records of private individuals and enterprises
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German military records antedating World War II
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Other captured records
General records of the Department of State, Record Group 59
German Documents in Other Record Groups:
National Archives Collection of World War II, War Crimes Records,
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Record Groups 153, 238 and 549
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Records of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuernberg (RG
238)
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Records of U.S. Military Tribunals at Nuernberg (RG 238)
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Records of U.S. Army War Crimes Trials in Europe
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Records of War Crimes Trials in the Far East