History: World War II Photography, German Federal Archives, Germany

In West Germany, the Cabinet of Germany decided to create a new Federal Archive in Koblenz in 1950, a project that was realized in 1952. The United States and the United Kingdom, like the Soviet Union, also seized records from Germany following World War II in their respective zones of occupation. In 1955, a Military Archives Division was established as part of the Federal Archives as a place into which these records were returned. In 1988, the Federal Archives Act elevated the tasks of the Federal Archive into law, and granted it rights to the documents produced by West Germany's courts, public authorities, and constitutional institutions.
The renunification of Germany in 1990 also led to the unification of West Germany's Federal Archive with East Germany's Central State Archive. In the course of this development, the formerly separate National Film Archive and Military Archives of East Germany were also merged into the Federal Archives.
With the unification of the two German archives in 1990, the traditions of the East Germany state authorities were absorbed into the Federal Archives. However, legal problems were encountered during this process in securing the achieves and libraries of East Germany's political parties and mass organizations. Even though East Germany's political structure meant that these institutions had very close ties to the government, they were not public institutions. Further problems arose as these records were separated from other East German documents, resulting in the Federal Archives presenting an incomplete picture of East Germany's history. In 1991, an initiative was implemented that placed the records in question into the possession of the Federal Archives. As a result of this initiative, a bill amending the Federal Archives Act of 1988 that established the department foundation provided for the Federal Archives came into force on 13 March 1992.