The earliest photographs in the Federal Archives’ picture database date back to 1860. The collection focuses on pictorial documents relating to events and people from
- the Weimar Republic (including the fonds ‘Bild 102 Aktuelle-Bilder-Centrale, Georg Pahl’)
- the Third Reich, in particular the images from the Wehrmacht propaganda units (fonds ‘Bild 101’),
- the GDR, including ‘official’ images from the fonds ‘Bild 183 Allgemeiner Deutscher Nachrichtendienst - Zentralbild’ and ‘Alltagsfotos’ (‘Bild 226 Vorlass Hans Martin Sewcz’, ‘N 1648 Bild Sammlung Beier’)
- and the Federal Republic of Germany (including the fonds ‘B 145 Bild Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung’)
This database currently contains a representative cross-section of over 245,000 pictures from the Federal Archives. Photos from the Federal Press Office are also included in this database.
You do not need to register to use the database to search for images. To obtain and use pictures, however, registration is required. Registration is free of charge. Downloading and using reproducible images (‘HighRes’) without a watermark may be subject to a charge for registered users.
You can use the Digital Picture Archive without registering and research existing images. To receive and use images, please register. Registration is free. Registered users may be charged for downloading and using reproducible images (“HighRes”) without watermarks.
