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Photograph of defendants at the Nuremberg Trials, taken by Raymond D'Addario, 1946, Nuremberg City Archives 65/I No. A65-I-RA-12.

Stenographic transcript, December 20, 1947, pp. 1–15, Nuremberg State Archives, Nuremberg Trials, KV Trials, Case 11 (= Weizsäcker Trial) A 1.

Opening statement for Ernst von Weizsäcker by Warren E. Magee and Hellmut Becker from June 1948, Nuremberg State Archives, Nuremberg Trials, KV Trials, Case 11 (= Weizsäcker Trial) X1.

Nuremberg succession processes 1946–1949: Digitization projects started

Immediately after the Nuremberg trials against the war criminals of the Second World War, the so-called Nuremberg succession processes started. In contrast to the main war criminal proceedings before an International Court of Justice, these proceedings, which took place in Nuremberg between 1946 and 1949, were negotiated exclusively before American military courts. 185 senior lawyers, medical professionals, industrialists, SS and police leaders, military, civil servants and diplomats were charged in a total of 12 trials. The processes showed to what extent the German leadership layer had contributed to the power system of the Nazi rule of violence. Of the 185 defendants, 24 received the death penalty, 20 were sentenced to life imprisonment, 98 received several years of imprisonment. 35 of the accused were acquitted. In the 1950s, pardons led to all convicted NS criminals being released from custody until 1957. Of the 24 death sentences, 13 were actually executed.

New standards in the scientific work-up of the Nuremberg succession processes

Over the course of the processes, approximately 2.5 million sheets of process files were produced, which are stored in the original state archive in Nuremberg: statements by witnesses, indictments, stenographic records, defence documents, interrogation protocols and other official and private documents. With the project “Digital Nuremberg Military Tribunals” (DigiNMT), BAdW, FAU and the Directorate-General of the Bavarian State Archives enable the scientific work-up of the Nuremberg succession processes. The aim is to fully digitize, develop structured and make accessible on an interactive platform globally the process files that are threatened by poor paper quality. This contributes significantly to the conservation and preservation of the original documents.

“DigiNMT is an innovative lighthouse project for digital humanities,” says Christoph Safferling, owner of the FAU Chair of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, International Criminal Law and International Law and one of the project leaders. “The aim of the project is to enable researchers and interested parties to systematically view and analyze the whole of the documents in an interdisciplinary manner.” By combining artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) with legal and historical approaches, the previously fragmented research on the succession processes is to be given a new basis. “The Digital Humanities are continuously strengthened as a research focus of BAdW. I am pleased that this project can help to significantly promote legal and historical research into the Nuremberg follow-up processes,” says Academy President Markus Schwaiger.

Research data development

The project focuses on the digital presentation of the historical files, which are prepared in three stages of development: from digitization to confiscation to bilingual commentary.

“With the digital provision of this enormous database complex, research and the public are opening up new and significantly improved possibilities of access and evaluation,” says Director-General Bernhard Grau (Directorate-General of the Bavarian State Archives).

With the help of AI-based analyses, new findings on biographical networks, legal accounting models and the dynamic processes of post-war justice are to be gained. Particularly innovative is the possibility to create interactive visualizations that make complex relationships between actors, evidence and legal concepts visible.

Importance of international research

The digital platform aims to provide open access to researchers around the world and inspire new research questions. “The Nuremberg succession processes not only mark a legal milestone but also historically a milestone,” explains Simone Derix, owner of the FAU Chair for Latest History and Time History and also project manager. “With DigiNMT, we create the basis for analysing their importance for the development of international criminal law and the work-up of Nazi crimes at a new depth. ‘

The project follows the FAIR and CARE principles – thus ensuring the traceability, interoperability and reusability of the data, but also taking into account ethical and collective responsibility aspects. The data architecture also ensures the connectivity for future research projects and enables cooperation with international institutions.

Project “Digital Nuremberg Military Tribunals” (DigiNMT)

Duration: 2024 to 2026

Financing: Bavarian Academy of Sciences

Project partner: Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Directorate-General of the State Archives of Bavaria, International Academy of Nuremberg Principles, State Archive Nuremberg

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Safferling
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg | Department of Law
E-mail: Str1@fau.de

In order to launch the digitalization project, the Bavarian State Archives are presenting the digitalisates of the process documents of the Nuremberg succession process Case 11 (also known as “Wilhelmstraße Process”); ‘Ministries Trial’ is available through their finder database. The process lasting from the end of 1947 to April 1949 is, in addition to the Nuremberg Main War Crime Process ("International Military Tribunal"), the most extensive process of the thirteen Nuremberg trials and was directed against the "second series" of the NS regime, including several state secretaries, high SS leaders and economic managers.

You will find the Digitalisate on Case 11 in finder database of the Bavarian State Archives.

Figures

1. Photography accused Nuremberg trials, recording Raymond D'Addario, 1946, municipal archive Nuremberg 65/I Nr. A65-I-RA-12.

Two. Stenographic Protocol 20.12.1947 pp. 1 - 15, State Archive Nuremberg, Nuremberg Processes, KV Processes, Case 11 (= Weizsäcker Process) A 1.

3. Opening Statement for Ernst von Weizsäcker von Warren E. Magee and Hellmut Becker from June 1948, State Archive Nuremberg, Nuremberg Processes, KV Processes, Case 11 (= Weizsäcker Process) X1.

Created on 27.01.2025

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25.07.2022: Agreement for Mutual Support of Würzburg Archives Signed in Emergency

Director-General of the State Archives, Dr. Margit Ksoll-Marcon, the General Vicar of the Diocese of Würzburg, Dr. Jürgen Vorndran, the Cultural and Tourist Office of the City of Würzburg, Mr Achim Könneke, the Head of the Archives of the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg, Dr. Marcus Holtz, signed on 25. July 2022 the agreement on mutual support for Würzburg archives in emergencies (“Notfallverbund Würzburg”). For the hopefully never-ending emergency, the institutions provide mutual support to bundle resources and to ensure faster and more effective recovery and initial supply of the affected archives, books and exhibits. For the institutions involved, the protection of the cultural goods they hold against fire, water, external violence or other unpredictable events is one of the most important tasks. The past has shown that the staff of the individual institutions are often overwhelmed without external assistance, which has shown impressively large disasters such as the Elbhochwasser 2002, the fire in the Weimar Anna-Amalia-Bibliothek 2004 or the collapse of the historical archive of the city of Cologne 2009. The Würzburg emergency association, established by the signing of this agreement, expressly invites the representatives of other cultural institutions in the Würzburg district to cooperate in the future. With the establishment of the emergency association Würzburg, the state archives of Bavaria have come a big step closer to their goal of establishing an emergency network at each archive location. Only the state archive Coburg is not yet integrated. Allies include Würzburg in Augsburg, Munich, Amberg-Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Bamberg, Nuremberg and Landshut. Further information on the work of emergency associations in Germany can be found at: http://notfallverbund.de/

Archives of the Free State of Bavaria for “Reparation” National Socialist Unright

‘reparation files’ are important sources of historical research due to the detailed biographical information and the attached evidence. On the 7th Day of Provenance Research on the 9th April 2025 show the Bavarian State Archives with a small showcase presentation in the Bavarian Main State Archive, which provides insights into persecution skills based on this file group. The Day of Provenance Research conveys the social and scientific relevance of this research area and takes place every year on the second Wednesday in April. In the example of the persecution fate of the Jewish woman Hedwig Bobelle during the NS period, it is shown which evaluation possibilities for example offer the compensation files. The Compensation Act contains applications submitted by Hedwig Bobelle to the Bavarian State Compensation Office from 1954. These requests for damage to freedom, property and property as well as professional and economic progress illustrate, among other things, the handling of the recovery authorities with the formerly persecuted. In many cases, detailed evidence was required which were hardly to be provided, since almost everything had to be left behind on the flight, in detention and other war-related fates. It is also clear that not only cultural goods such as paintings, musical instruments or valuable books have been robbed. Everyday objects, from personal memorabilia to furnishings, were also deprived of Nazi persecution. Files such as those of Hedwig Bobelle will be made available online in the future, taking into account the legal bases. For this purpose, between 2023 and 2030 a part of the archival tradition is digitized and deepened for the “reparation” of NS injustice of the state archives of Bavaria. Development data and digitalisates are provided online via the finder database of the Bavarian State Archives and the thematic portal “Reparation of National Socialist Unright” in the “Archivportal-D”. The digitization project was initiated by the Federal Ministry of Finance, which has been responsible for the “reparation” of national socialist injustice as the top specialist authority since the early 1950s. The theme portal implements one of the following tasks of the “reparation”. The presentation is from 2 to 30. April 2025 in the Bayerischer Hauptstaatsarchiv, Schönfeldstr. 5, 80539 Munich, to see. The entrance is free. Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 8.30-18.00 Friday 8.30-13.30 closed: Good Friday and Easter Monday, 18th and 21st April 2025 Links: on the theme portal ‘Reparation of National Socialist Unright’ link to the online collection "Reparation for National Socialist Injustice" Working group Provenance research e.V. to Events on the Day of Provenance Research the Research association Provenienzforschung Bayern Poster and Flyer: Nicole Edwards, GDA. Issued on 08.04.2025, amended on 12.05.2025.

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bavaria 1818–1918

The exhibition opens a wide panorama of the 19th and beginning 20. century in Bavaria. Not only is the creation of the constitution, but also its further development, which led to an increasing parliamentaryization of the Bavarian monarchy. Individual aspects of constitutional reality round off the picture. One can approach the topic about the intensively explained individual exhibits or thematically about the individual sections of the exhibition. In addition to the prehistory of the Constitution with the Constitution of 1808, “State and Constitutional Code”, “King and Parliament”, “The Way to the State Court”, “Constitutional Reforms in 19th Century”, “Constitutional reforms after 1900”, “problems and break lines of the Constitutional Regulation” and “Constitutional Jubilees”. Here goes to the virtual exhibition.

National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) complete

The NFDI represents an innovation in the German science landscape and aims to build a digital, regionally distributed and networked knowledge storage. It is intended to systematically develop valuable research data, which are often stored decentralized, project-like and temporary, as well as to make it readable, available and usable in the long term. It is composed of consortia in which different institutions of the respective research field cooperate, including infrastructure facilities such as the Bavarian State Archives. A knowledge store like the NFDI is the basis for attracting the world's best scientists. For the development and promotion of NFDI, the federal government and countries from 2019 to 2028 annually represent up to 90 million. Euro ready for final expansion, of which the federal government bears 90 percent, 10 percent bear the countries. Since 2020, the state archives of Bavaria are partners of the NFDI4Earth and the NFDI4Biodiversity. In November 2022, the Joint Science Conference (GWK) has incorporated eight other consortia into the federal state funding of the NFDI. The decision was based on a recommendation from the German Research Foundation (DFG). The following consortia will be funded from March 2023: • NFDI4Memory - Consortium for historically working humanities, • NFDI4Objects - research data infrastructure for the material legacy of human history, • NFDI4BIOIMAGE - National Research Data Infrastructure for Microscopy and Image Analysis, • NFDI4Energy - National Research Data Infrastructure for Interdisciplinary Energy System Research, • NFDI4Immuno - National Research Data Infrastructure for Immunology, • FAIRagro - FAIRe data infrastructure for agrosystem research, • NFDIxCS - National Research Data Infrastructure for and with Computer Science, • Base4NFDI - basic services for the NFDI. The Federal Government and the Länder are convinced that the eight consortia of the third and thus the last round of funding will complement the 19 consortia selected in the previous rounds in a very good way. Further information www.nfdi.de and project and cooperation/running projects

Second life in book covers and file folders – a journey through time with parchment and paper waste

An exhibition by the Department of Archival and Library Science at the University of Public Service in Bavaria, curated by Amelie Knittel On display from February 10 to March 7, 2026, at the Bavarian Main State Archives. The reuse of used items is not a modern phenomenon: people have been recycling and upcycling since ancient times. In the 17th century, parchment was reused for envelopes, early printed materials were used as book spines, and after World War II, people often wrote on the back of already printed paper. The exhibition takes visitors on a brief journey through the various ways in which parchment and paper were reused in an administrative context and the curiosities that arose as a result. Around 20 exhibits from the Bavarian Main State Archives and the Munich State Archives illustrate in particular the nature of the reprocessing, the circumstances surrounding this process, and the contents of the items that were given a second life. On display from February 10 to March 7, 2026, in the main building of the Bavarian Main State Archives, 1st floor, Schönfeldstraße 5, 80539 Munich. Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 8:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Friday 8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Closed on Shrove Tuesday, February 17, 2026. Special opening for Archives Day on Saturday, March 7, 2026. Admission is free. Click here for the exhibition catalog. Guided tours for groups can be arranged at oeffentlichkeitsarbeit@gda.bayern.de. Fig.: Exhibition poster; Nicole Edwards, GDA. Posted on February 10, 2026. Related files Pressemitteilung_Makulaturen.pdf Ausstellungskatalog_Makulaturen.pdf

Title of the basic tax cataster of the tax municipality of Gärmersdorf (Lkr. Amberg-Sulzbach), 1840

22.01.2020: "Grund und Boden – highly estimated. The floor estimate in the Oberpfalz – from analog to digital" - exhibition at the Staatsarchiv Amberg

Wednesday, 22. January 2020, the small exhibition “Grund und Boden – was highly appreciated in the Amberg State Archive. The soil estimate in the Oberpfalz – from analog to digital” opens. The exhibition is a cooperation project of the Amberg State Archives with the Office for Digitization, Broadband and Survey Amberg and the Weiden Finance Office. What is a field or a meadow worth? What's the ground? How do climate and water conditions shape? Answers to these questions arise from the soil estimate. The soil estimate is an inventory of agricultural soils according to the nature of their use and their natural viability. It is used to tax agricultural assets, but it is also important as a basis for determining value in land transport and rural development, land protection and land information systems. The exhibition with about 60 exhibits traces the history of soil estimation from its beginnings in the 1930s to the present and presents its organization and execution yesterday and today. Estimation cards and estimates books, which have only recently been submitted to the Amberg State Archive, documents, practical instructions, photos, technical equipment and soil samples, are shown. A fair distribution of the loads according to ownership and economic power has always been a reason for the tax on land and land. In addition, the exhibition therefore illustrates the prehistory: possessions and tax books from the Middle Ages and early modern times as well as cataster documents from the 19th century. Centuries give an insight into the tax assessment before the soil estimate. Hand-drawn cards from the 17th and 18th Century conveys an optical impression of landscapes in pre-industrial time. In addition to the documentation of the estimation results on paper, the modern digital mode of operation of the soil estimate is explained and the processing of the geodata in ALKIS as well as its evaluation possibilities via the Geoportal Bayern is demonstrated. This means that the floor estimate is not only placed in the larger frames of the history of the tax system, but also a sheet is beaten by the analogue to the digital geodata management. The implementation of the soil estimate is the task of the financial authorities which collect the results in estimation cards and estimation books and forward them to the survey management. This is responsible for the continuation of the digital data stock in ALKIS (Automatized Property Cataster Information System) and for the distribution of the data. The exhibition is from 22. January 2020 to 28 February 2020 in the State Archive Amberg, Archivstraße 3, 92224 Amberg (Input Weißenburger Straße) to see. Opening hours: Monday and Thursday 8:00 to 16:00, Tuesday and Wednesday 8:00 to 18:00, Friday 8:00 to 13:30 (Sa, So closed, Carnival Serviceag 25.2. open only until 12:00) Free admission. Guided tours for groups can be under 09621/307-911 or poststelle@staam.bayern.de to be agreed. Submitted on: 22.01.2020 Related files: Pressemitteilung

Poster to the Exhibition Naturschutz in Bayern

19.11.2019: "Naturschutz in Bayern vor 1979 - Actions and actors" - Lehrausstellung im Bayerischer Hauptstaatsarchiv

On Tuesday, 19 November 2019, the small exhibition "Naturschutz in Bayern" will be held in the Bavarian Main State Archive before 1979. Actions and actors’. The exhibition was opened in the course of training in the preparation service 2017/2020 for the entry into the 3rd Qualification level of the field of education and science, specialist focus on archives, at the University of Applied Sciences in Bavaria, elaborated by Andrea Kurzböck. Climate protection and environmental protection are currently dominated by public discussion, and nature conservation is rarely discussed. An exception is species protection, a core area of nature protection. Since 19. In addition to species protection, nature protectors are concerned with the protection of the landscape and individual natural monuments. Procedures, personnel structure and motivations of nature conservation have been subject to changes over time, but have always been diverse. State and non-governmental institutions demanded, appealed to reason and emotions, mobilized, threatened with punishment, rewarded but also exemplary action. Associations, associations, press and state authorities gathered and disseminated information. At the beginning, aesthetic and patriotic-conservative aspects were at the centre of the argumentation. Other motives were the protection of nature for scientific purposes and the recognition that the destruction of nature is burdening the economy in the long term. Ecological and social argumentation lines were added early on with the idea of sustainability. With 31 exhibits in 6 sections, the small exhibition shows some central ways of nature conservation until 1979. As a trader, it presents large institutions such as the Confederation of Nature Conservation and State Ministries as well as smaller associations and municipal institutions. In addition, she gives insights into the various motivations for nature conservation efforts. The time frame is derived from the re-establishment of an environmental party in Bavaria, which also committed to nature conservation in its programme and thus gave the discussion a new component at political level. The exhibition can be seen from 19 November 2019 until 10 January 2020 in the main building of the Bavarian Main State Archive (Treppenhaus, 1st OG), Schönfeldstraße 5, 80539 Munich. Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 8.30–18.00 hrs., Friday 8.30–13.30 hrs. (Sa, So and from 23.12.2019 to 6.1.2020 closed) Free admission. Guided tours for groups can be agreed under (089) 28638-2575. Further information www.gda.bayern.de (press images can be requested in higher resolution). Online conditions for nature protection (selection): °C Bavarian State Archive, German Forest Protection Community °C Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Landesstelle für Naturschutz °C Bayerischer Hauptstaatsarchiv, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry: MELF 4 (Forstwesen) °C Bavarian State Archive, Ministry of Finance: MF 22 Forestry °C Bavarian State Archive, Ministry of Culture: MK 3/1 (with Digitalisat zum Exponat 1a: MK 14649) °C Staatsarchiv München, Bezirksamt/Landratsamt Laufen Related files: Pressemitteilung