How do I submit a research request?
If you are looking for information about a specific person, then you must provide
If possible, please also send us:
You can send the form by e-mail (as a scan) or by post to the Federal Archives department related to your case (contact information is listed below). If necessary, this department will involve other Federal Archives offices in the search.
If you have additional questions about the research process, please contact us using the relevant contact address.
Which office of the Federal Archives do I contact regarding my research?
Personal documents of military provenance are stored in various departments of the Federal Archives. Please direct your enquiry to one of the offices listed below.
Department Information on Personal Data related to World War I and II (PA)
The Department Information on Personal Data related to World War I and II (Dept. PA, formerly: Deutsche Dienststelle, WASt) in Berlin-Tegel provides information about:
German prisoners of war in Western custody
Former members of the army, navy (except admirals) and air force,
Members (civil servants, employees and labourers) of the Wehrmacht
Medical records of soldiers born between 1900 and 1928
Fates of the fallen and missing
War graves as well as lists of identity tags and casualty reports
If you do not know the rank of the person you are searching for, we recommend sending your request to Department PA.
Department Military Archive (MA)
The Department Military Archive (MA) in Freiburg provides information on the period 1919 to 1945
Personnel files of admirals of the Reichsmarine and Kriegsmarine
Personnel files of army and air force officials as well as doctors, judges, judicial personnel, clergy and special leaders
Wehrmacht court documents of all ranks
Documents on the awarding of medals and decorations to all ranks in the Wehrmacht
Medical records of soldiers born between 1802 and 1899.
In addition, information is provided on military court records of the former German Democratic Republic, for example on trial files and reference files of the military courts and military tribunals, personnel records of the admirals and generals of the NVA, party expulsion proceedings, health records of the NVA’s aviation personnel and the few personal records from the Schwedt military prison.
The personnel records of the soldiers and civilian employees of the National People’s Army of the GDR and its predecessors (Kasernierte Volkspolizei) are not held in the Military Archive Department of the Federal Archives. For information purposes, they are being stored indefinitely at the Federal Office of Administration, Strausberg branch office. Regarding these files we suggest that you contact the Federal Office of Administration, Strausberg Branch Office at the address below.
Department Provision (BE)
The Department BE of the Federal Archives in Berlin-Lichterfelde provides information on
For certificates relating to periods of service in the police force, first enquiries should be made to the successor authorities of the former police (home) office, provided they are based in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. If this enquiry is unsuccessful or if the police (home) office was located outside the borders of the Federal Republic of Germany as of 3 October 1990, an enquiry should be sent to the Federal Archives in Berlin-Lichterfelde.
Federal Archives, Department Provision (Dept. BE)
Finckensteinallee 63
12205 Berlin
Phone: +49 030 18 77 70 11 47
Email: berlin@bundesarchiv.de
Overview of the location of military personnel documents stored in the Federal Archives
A complete list of the offices holding personal documents from the end of the 19th century to the period immediately following World War II can be downloaded below. You will also find the contact information regarding your enquiry. This overview includes institutions other than the Federal Archives.
Overview of archives holding military personnel documents from 1919-1945 (PDF, 109 KB, File does not meet accessibility standards)
Overview of archives holding military personnel documents from 1849-1918 (PDF, 24 KB, File does not meet accessibility standards)
Tools to help understand military documents
If your search for a person is successful, we will send you digital copies of documents from the Federal Archives that relate to the person you are looking for. Tools are provided here to help you decipher the documents. If possible, please use this information to clarify any questions you may have before contacting the Federal Archives again. The information can be found in German here.
Information on Searching for Persons on invenio
You can use our research tool ‘invenio’ to conduct your own research on persons. There are two ways to search for a specific person in invenio.
1. Name Search
Invenio makes it possible to search for a person directly under the ‘name search’ tab. However, if the name or date of birth deviates in any way from the original entry, you may not receive any results, even though records are available. We recommend that you keep the search terms as general and broad as possible and initially refrain from entering a birthdate, and keep in mind that there may be deviations in the spelling of names. The asterisk (*) serves as a placeholder for any characters. For example, the search entry Bert*a will find the first name Berta as well as Bertha, but also Bertholdina. If you receive too many results, you can restrict your search in a second step. In some cases, it may be useful to limit the search to certain collections.
2. Subject Search
A general search in invenio should always be carried out using the ‘simple search’ or ‘advanced search’ tab because references to information on persons may not be recorded as personal data and therefore only found in file titles or summary content. Due to the limited specification options (a search for birthdates is often not successful since only the family name, or surname and first name, are listed), you may receive a large number of results that have to be checked individually for relevance.
How to respond to a negative search result
Please note that a negative search result does not necessarily mean that there are no available documents. There are many additional documents and card indexes that are not indexed by name, but which can be checked by submitting a specific search request to the Federal Archives. In addition, many personal documents are still subject to retention periods for various reasons, which means that for data protection reasons certain existing results may not be displayed. In light of this, submitting an enquiry to the Federal Archives can often be useful.
Helpful links for researching other archives
We have provided a list of addresses of archives with replacement records below for the case that your search at the Federal Archives was unsuccessful due to missing records.
The following offices hold replacement and supplementary records:
The respective state archives in Munich, Dresden, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe are responsible for records on members of the Bavarian, Saxon and Württemberg armed forces and of the Baden contingent of the Prussian army. These collections may also be missing documents as a result of war.
The following offices hold supplementary records for personal documents:
