Here you will find the most important functions of Archivportal-D: Enter a search term and start your search for archival material directly via the magnifying glass. You can refine your search right from he beginning by selecting by federal state and archive sector.

Click on "Show archives" for an overview of all archives matching the selected sectors and federal states (not available on mobile devices).

Select a federal state and/or an archival sector on the "Find archives" page to get an overview of suitable archives. The checkbox "Only archives with finding aids" selects our partner archives. You can search the holdings of our partner archives directly on our page. To do so, click on the desired archive and browse through the archive's tectonics.

Our partner archives can present their finding aids and, where available, digitized material in Archivportal-D. Search the diverse holdings of our partner archives with "Find records".

Using the search field at the top, you can enter a search term to search the finding aids of our partner archives. Under "Refine search" you can narrow down the search results: Select the "Only with digitized media" to find only digitized archival material. In the menu below, you can refine your search geographically and by archival sector. You will also find the structure of the archival holdings of our partner archives. Via the arrow buttons, you can unfold and navigate through the holdings. This way you can narrow down your search results by selecting an entry in the structure. Further filters are the inclusive dates (time of origin), the document type (such as photos or documents), the provenance (origin of the archive material), the level of description (for example, a single archival record or an entire fonds) as well as (if specified) individual keywords, locations, persons or organizations. Please note, that these further filters are only available for some of the archival records.

The advanced search, located below the search field, is primarily intended for experienced users. Here you can search specifically in individual description fields, for example the title or the abstract, or limit your search in advance to specific levels of description. Combine criteria from different fields and limit your search to individual archives and holdings. When selecting archives or holdings, please note that only partner archives with provided finding aids appear for selection here.

Save your search results using the "Add to favorites list" button to bookmark items of particular interest or to prepare for your next visit to the archive. You can also create multiple lists, for example, on different topics or different archives, and add notes and descriptions. With the setting "public" you will create a link to share your favorites list with friends or other researchers.

In our online collections you can research archival material thematically using predefined categories and/or keywords.

Watch our film for a basic introduction into our online collections (only in German):

Online collection "Weimar Republic"

Keyword selection by topics

Narrow down your search by keywords and find archival material on individual topics and events of the Weimar Republic. Browse through the tiles and categories and select keywords. By clicking on the magnifying glass symbol next to the search field or by clicking "Show search results" in the "Selected keywords" collection box, you will find all archival records linked to the selected keywords. On the search results page of the online collection you will also find the keyword selection, located in the "Refine search" section.

Keyword selection by geography

Narrow down your search geographically and find archival material on individual countries or regions. Geographic and thematic keywords can also be combined to find only archival material that match both geography and topic.

Keywords A-Z

Here you can find all keywords (topic and geography) in alphabetical order and add them to your search.

Find out more about keywords

Click on the icon in front of the keyword if you want to know from which category the keyword originates.

You can find more information about each keyword on xTree public. There you will also find links to the Gemeinsame Normdatei (GND) at the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (DNB) and to Wikidata, for each keyword with more explanation.

 

Online collection “Wiedergutmachung for National Socialist Injustice”

The online collection "Wiedergutmachung for National Socialist Injustice" is being built up step by step in three stages. The holdings of state archives of the federal and state governments can already be searched thematically and regionally.

On the start page of the online collection, you can research holdings via two access options – thematically and structured according to the archives. In the thematic area, four upper categories (compensation, restitution, international, as well as SBZ and GDR), which are oriented towards the main focuses of compensation practice, are available for selection. Short explanatory texts are also provided for each of the upper and lower categories. The results page offers an overview of the thematically relevant holdings. You can access the information on a strictly provenance-related basis via the "Archives" tab. There you can select a federal state and get a list of the respective holdings of an archive.

In the "Zur Vertiefung" section, you have the opportunity to learn not only about the project of the online collection, but also about the history of Wiedergutmachung. Resources for understanding, legislation texts, a glossary, further literature recommendations and maps, can also be found in this area.

In a list of abbreviations, common abbreviations from the topic area of reparations are resolved.