21.06.2022: Cooperation Agreement between the University of the Federal Armed Forces of Munich and the Directorate-General for State Archives of Bavaria signed

21. In June 2022, the President of the University of Bundeswehr Prof. Dr. Merith Niehuss, whose Vice President Prof. Dr. Uwe Borghoff and the Director-General of the State Archive Dr. Margit Ksoll-Marcon signed a cooperation agreement at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich. The aim is to co-operate the Institute of Software Technology and the datArena of the University of the Bundeswehr Munich with the state archives of Bavaria in data backup and long-term data storage. The contract includes the cooperation of the two institutions with the organization and support of student projects and internships in order to close students with forms, methods and instruments of archival information management, as well as to give insights into the field of archives and the challenges of digital long-term archiving. Focus: Recovering old records and long-term archiving The intention of the agreement is that both partners develop joint projects, scientific meetings and workshops. For this purpose, the stock of the Bavarian State Archives can be used for research purposes by students and lecturers of the Institute for Software Technology. Research projects as well as project or master's work are intended primarily to restore and interpret older data stocks of the Bavarian State Archives, document formats and digital long-term storage and long-term preservation. Software solutions that can be created in research and used for the purposes of archiving are released for use by the State Archives. “The cooperation with the state archives is of particular importance for the University of the Bundeswehr Munich and the work in the datArena. This gives our researchers access to authentic and historically valuable data material as well as close personal contacts to internationally identified experts of long-term digital archiving,” explains Prof. Dr. Borghoff. Dr. Ksoll-Marcon said: “Enge contacts to the Institute of Software Technology at the University of the Bundeswehr have existed for many years and are intensified by this cooperation. The aim is to make research data readable and usable and to further develop the necessary technologies." The datArena: A forum of encounter The signing of the cooperation agreement took place in the new premises of the datArena on the grounds of the University of the Bundeswehr Munich. The datArena is a teaching, research and exhibition centre that conveys between technical, cultural and social history and will also offer researchers, students and the public a forum for encounters. The datArena was founded jointly by Prof. Dr. Borghoff and John G. Zabulitzky. At present, a move on the grounds is completed. In addition to valuable, technology-historical, representative electronic computers, the datArena houses a software archive of international rank and one of the largest collections of historical digital media. Since the software and media can be used on functional devices from the respective era, historical software and digital documents can be brought back to life. Thus, datArena offers an excellent infrastructure for research in the field of digital long-term archiving and preservation of digital cultural heritage. In conjunction with the datArena, courses and internships of the Bayerische Archivschule will be organized and conducted in the future.

Amendment to the Bavarian Archives Act

The Bavarian Archives Act was amended with effect from January 1, 2026. The current version can be found here.

15.01.2020: Reduction of two medieval documents from the USA - Press discussion on 15th January 2019 in the State Archive Nuremberg

Wednesday, 15. January 2020 (15.00) two documents missing since the end of World War II were returned to the State Archive Nuremberg by the Federal Foreign Office. The two documents from 1418 showed up in the USA in 2019 in the estate of a former US soldier and were able to be returned to Nuremberg by the Federal Foreign Office. In the Second World War, the State Archive Nuremberg held its most valuable collections due to imminent air raids at numerous mountain sites. In total, almost 17 kilometres of archived goods were located in 32 different locations around approx. 80 km around Nuremberg. One of the depots was in the castle Sandsee (now district Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen). There were 137 boxes with late-medieval documents. Immediately after the end of the war, this depot was plundered, more than 70 parchment certificates disappeared. Already in 1987 and 1991, a total of 20 missing documents came from the USA back to Nuremberg. With the new return of two documents, the hope is that further missing pieces will find their way back to the State Archive Nuremberg. Submitted on: 15.01.2020   Related files: Pressemitteilung

21.03.-20.05.2022: From the national park to the bee colony. 50 years Ministry of the Environment in Bavaria.

The small exhibition “From the National Park to the Beevolksbegehren” shows the diversity of the tradition of the environment stored in the Bavarian Main State Archive. 50 years of the Ministry of the Environment in Bavaria”, which until 20. May 2022 can be seen in the Bavarian Main State Archive. The Bavarian Ministry of the Environment was established in the European Nature Conservation Year 1970 by decision of the Bavarian Landtag. Since then, the environmental policy field has developed into a political-social long-term task with the aim of creating as much as possible equivalent and good living conditions throughout Bavaria. This includes a lively and healthy environment. Priorities in the history of the Ministry of the Environment were early environmental initiatives and educational measures, legislative initiatives such as the inclusion of environmental protection as a state goal in the Bavarian Constitution and the Bavarian Environmental Pact in 1995. There were also challenges such as environmental scandals, protests against the reprocessing plant in Wackersdorf, citizens' initiatives and popular desires. They also demonstrate the emergence of a new political culture of resistance and direct democracy. Place of exhibition: Schönfeldstraße 5, 80539 Munich, 1st floor Opening hours: Monday to Thursday: 8:30 am to 6 pm Friday: 8:30 to 13:30 Sundays and holidays, as well as Easter, 15th to 18th April closed The entrance is free. The exhibition is a catalogue in the series Small exhibitions published: 65: From the national park to the bee colony. 50 years Ministry of the Environment in Bavaria. An exhibition of the Bayerischer Hauptstaatsarchiv, Munich [1 December 2020 - 26.3.2021]. Conception and editing: Johannes Moosdiele-Hitzler, Thomas Paringer (Staatliche Archive Bayerns - Kleine Exhibitions 65), Munich 2020, ISBN 978-3-938831-99-1, 72 pp., numbered sw-Abb. € 4,00. Here is the archiving agreement between the Landesbund für Vogelschutz and the Bayerischer Hauptstaatsarchiv. Posted on 21. March 2022, updated on 26.4.2022.

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/

30.10.2019: Vorlass Barbara Stamm secured for the future in the Bavarian Main State Archive

The Bayerische Hauptstaatsarchiv takes over the written prelude of Barbara Stamm (CSU), which on 29 October is its 75th. celebrated birthday. The well-known national politician worked for more than four decades (1976–2018) as a member of the Bavarian Landtag. She was a State Secretary, Minister of State and Deputy Prime Minister among several Bavarian Prime Minister. She last met as President of the State until 2018. It not only holds the record as one of the longest-served Members in a German parliament, but is also a first-class witness to Bavarian national politics since the times of Franz Josef Strauss. Large parts of the politician's archival decree have already been transferred to the Bavarian Main State Archive. There, the documents are ordered, collected in terms of content and protected in a conservative manner. After the expiry of the protection periods laid down in the Archives Act, the material of research is available as an authentic source. The private writing of the well-known and popular politician includes, in addition to relevant documents, unusually many signatures by citizens, as well as by fellow politicians and companions. This enables the assessment of their political achievements from the perspective of contemporaries. Since Barbara Stamm is also known as a friend of the Franconian fast night, a series of carnival orders, carnival caps and certificates on fast night awards can be found in her lecture. Submitted on: 30.10.2019   Related files: Pressemitteilung

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  

14.10.2019: Establishing an emergency network of Bamberger Archives, Libraries and Museums

Director-General of the State Archives, Dr. Margit Ksoll-Marcon, Mayor of the City of Bamberg, Mr Andreas Starke, General Vicar of the Archdiocese of Bamberg, Monsignore Georg Kestel, President of the Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg, Prof. Dr. habil. Godehard Ruppert, and the head of the Bamberg State Library, Ms. Library Director Prof. Dr. Bettina Wagner, signed on 14. October 2019 in the City Archive Bamberg the agreement for mutual support of Bamberger Archives, Libraries and Museums in emergencies (“Notfallverbund Bamberg”). The agreement includes: joint trainings and exercises, the preparation and exchange of emergency plans, and the permanent exchange of those responsible with each other and with external partners such as the fire department and the technical aid. 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 Bamberg emergency association, established by the signing of this agreement, expressly invites the representatives of other cultural institutions in the Bamberg city area to cooperate in the future. Further information on the work of emergency associations in Germany can be found at: http://notfallverbund.de/ On. 14.10.2019   Related files: Joint press release on the Bamberg emergency network