Archival Records:

WGA Database - Records of the Wiedergutmachungsämter von Berlin (Berlin Restitution Offices) www.wga-datenbank.de

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www.wga-datenbank.de

On 21 December 2012 the first stage of the database was publicly launched.

On 1 September 2012 the Berlin State Archive (Landesarchiv Berlin) began the project to create an online database for the records of the Berlin restitution offices (B Rep. 025). The project aims to facilitate provenance research by providing a publicly accessible online database of restitution case files. The Berlin State Archive has supported provenance research for many years, and the records held by the Berlin restitution offices are a particularly important source of information.

During the pilot phase, about 5,000 records from cards with names starting with the letter “A” were revised and published online. These are not all the entries from Group A. The remaining records will be continually added to the database during the course of the project.

More detailed information about the record group can be found here and below: http://www.landesarchiv-berlin.de/lab-neu/anzeige_statisch.php?edit=621&anzeige=B%20Rep.%20025

The record group of the Berlin restitution offices in the Berlin State Archive (LAB, B Rep. 025)

The Berlin State Archive houses more than 800,000 case files from the Berlin restitution offices. Following the enactment of the Restitution Decree (Rückerstattungsanordnung, or REAO), in 1949, the restitution offices, located in West Berlin, began reviewing restitution claims submitted by victims of Nazi persecution. In 1957, the Federal Restitution Law (Bundesrückerstattungsgesetz) was enacted, which also included property located in East Berlin that had been confiscated or otherwise acquired by the Reich, the NSDAP, the state of Prussia or others. The Berlin restitution offices were also responsible for these cases. More detailed information on the record group B Rep. 025 is available here.

The staff of the restitution offices created index cards for each case file listing the claimants, the injured parties, the defendant and the property claimed.

The index cards are organised alphabetically by the claimant’s name and by the injured party’s name.
(Example: Img. #1)
The data from the index cards were transcribed and entered into a database at the Berlin State Archive.

In the course of the online project, the records of the index cards will be reviewed and revised as needed. Afterwards, additional information on cultural property, such as art collections, libraries and antiquities, will be collected and added to the relevant case files in the data base. (Example: Img. # 2)

The online catalogue will be published in full by the end of 2014.

The online database is produced by Facts & Files Historical Research Institute Berlin, commissioned by the Berlin State Archive. The project will be finished by the end of 2014 and  is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media via the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation according to a decision of the German Bundestag and the State of Berlin.

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