The Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Heritage (GStA PK) is not secret, but a public archive like any other state archive. The addition 'secret' is a historical one and refers to the centralist character of the archive and its former proximity to the ruler. The GStA PK mainly holds the records of the former central state Brandenburg-Prussia (I. HA), which date from the 12th century to the National Socialist "Gleichschaltung der Länder mit dem Reich" in 1933. Afterwards, the Prussian ministries were largely absorbed into the Reich ministries, which is why these records can be found in the Federal Archives.

Since 1924, the Secret State Archives has been located in a specially built functional archive building on Archivstraße in the district of Berlin-Dahlem.

In addition to the state records and a special library on Brandenburg-Prussian history, the GStA PK has other archive holdings of various provenances, such as the Brandenburg-Prussian House Archive (BPH), several estates of Brandenburg-Prussian celebrities from politics, business, administration and science (VI. HA) as well as various records from the former Prussian eastern provinces, most prominently the Königsberg State Archive (XX. HA), which arrived in Dahlem in 1976/1977 after having been rescued from the Second World War and temporarily stored in the Göttingen archive storage facility.

With the dissolution of the Prussian state in 1947, the Secret State Archive became a state archive without a state. Since 1963 it has been part of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK). In addition to its function as a historical state archive, the GStA PK therefore also takes over and keeps the records of the foundation's management and administration as well as most of the SPK's institutions (I. HA Rep. 600-606).

The holdings of the Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Heritage in Archivportal-D.

Contact:

Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Archivstraße 12-14

14195 Berlin

Phone: +49 30 266 44 7500

E-Mail: posteingang [at] gsta.spk-berlin.de (posteingang[at]gsta[dot]spk-berlin[dot]de)

Homepage: gsta.preussischer-kulturbesitz.de