Allied Administration in Germany, Austria, and France, 1944 -- 1952 | Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

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Collection Overview

Title: Allied Administration in Germany, Austria, and France, 1944 -- 1952

Predominant Dates:1944 -- 1948

ID: RG-03/RG-03

Primary Creator: Military Government of the US occupation zone in Germany (1944 -- 1952)

Extent: 3.0 Boxes

Arrangement:

The arrangement scheme for the record group was imposed during processing in the absence of an original order. Materials are arranged by subject/creator, then by identifier, as assigned by the processor.

Record group is comprised of four collections: 1. US Military Command wartime and postwar documents; 2. Collection on displaced persons camps and Jewish affairs; 3. Collection on the surrender of Germany and civil affairs; 4. Collection on the US Military Government in the US Zone of Occupation.

Subjects: U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany

Languages: German, English

Abstract

Largely the documents of this record group reflect the activities of the US military administration at the close of the war and in postwar period until and after the establishment of Federal Republic of Germany.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This record group contains official publications issued by the Allied military authorities. These documents vary by content and form. Included are guidelines and instructions for military and civil administration and reference materials in relation to the former Nazi authorities. It also is comprised of documents on the German administrative structure during the war; postwar documents issued by the Allied and the new German administrations; maps of Germany and the neighboring regions; and documents related to the Allied-administered and -authorized wartime and postwar publications.

Materials in this record group include official documents, books, booklets, maps, photographs, and newspapers. Some of the materials are digitized.

Collection Historical Note

This Record Group comprises the following collections: US Military Command, wartime and postwar documents; DP camps and Jewish affairs; Documents regarding the Surrender of Germany and civil affairs; US Military Government documentsof the US zone of occupation of Germany, 1945 -- 1948; Collection of military maps of Germany and adjacent regions.

Biographical Note

US Military Government in Germany (MG) operated as military and civil government, overseeing the German municipal authorities.

It dealt with political, military and economic situation and developments in the US zone of occupation.

Among its numberous tasks were denazification, procecution of National Socialists crimes, assuaring economic stability, organizing and subsidizing displaced persons camps and running exchange of prisoners of war and displaced persons.

The other tasks and agendas included organization medical and hygiene facilities, vetting German prisoners of war whether they belonged to NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party) and to the military and police organization deemed of criminal character, such as SS, SD, Gestapo and SA.

Subject/Index Terms

U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany

Administrative Information

Repository: Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

Access Restrictions: No restrictions

Use Restrictions: Copyrighted materials, credits and references to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust are required

Technical Access Note: Digital copies might be available upon request

Related Materials:

RG-40, Kurt Wittler Papers

This Record Group comprises narratives, publications, photographs, and preparatory materials from the office of Kurt Wittler, editor of the German-language newspaper Bayrischer Tag (Bavarian Day) published by the American Military Administration for the German civil population in Bavaria. Kurt Wittler’s correspondence and documentation from the earlier days also shed light on American intelligence activities in relation to the German Army in 1944 and 1945.

Preferred Citation: RG-03, Allied Administration in Germany, Austria, and France. Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust Archive.

Processing Information: Materials are primarily described using the local descriptive standards of the LA Museum of the Holocaust.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Collection of Folder-Level:

[Collection of Folder-Level 1: RG-03.01, US Miltary Command, wartime and postwar documents, 1943 -- 1952],
[Collection of Folder-Level 2: RG-03.02, DP camps and Jewish Affairs, circa 1945-1950],
[Collection of Folder-Level 3: RG-03.03, Documents regarding the Surrender of Germany and civil affairs, 1945, 1949],
[Collection of Folder-Level 4: RG-03.04, US Military Government documents, US zone of occupation, 1945-1948],
[All]

Collection of Folder-Level 3: RG-03.03, Documents regarding the Surrender of Germany and civil affairs, 1945, 1949

This collection contains documents regarding the unconditional surrender of Germany to the Allied Forces. It includes the initial surrender as well as the Bonn Constitution, or the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.

Subject/Index Terms:: Blut und Ehre or Blood and Honor (Hitlerjugend), Hiltler Youth organziation

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 1: RG-03.03.01. Germany Surrenders Unconditionally: Facsimiles of the Documents deposited in The National Archives, May 1945

Documents detailing the unconditional surrender of Germany to the Allied Forces. Several documents are included, outlining the surrender of the German Army and Air Forces, as well as German Naval Forces. Instruments of surrender are written in German, Russian, and English. Included is Harry S. Truman’s VE-day proclamation. The document was published by the United States Government Printing Office in Washington D.C. in May, 1945.

Subject/Index Terms:: Surrender of Nazi Germany, reportage and photodocuments, May 1945; surrender of German military personnel; French High Military Command; German Military Command; United States High Military Command; End of Second World War; Surrender of Germany, Second World War, WW2, 1945; Photo-documents related to German unconditional surrender; Surrender of German Naval Forces, Second World War, 1945; Withdrawal of German (and German-controlled) vessels, warships, auxiliaries, and U-boats; Surrender of all German forces by the German High Command under General Alfred Jodl, (May 7, 1945); Original German surrender documents, Second World War; German surrender documents signed at Luneburg, at Reims, and at Berlin, 1945; Luneburg (Germany); Surrender of German Armed Forces in the North to the British armies in Luneburg, May 4, 1945; German surrender in Reims, May 07, 1945; Reims (France); Berlin (Germany); German surrender in Berlin, May 08, 1945; American Expeditionary Forces (AEF); Allied Expeditionary Force (AEF), the Second World War, Germany; German Army (Wehrmacht), surrender April-May 1945; Red Army, WW2; Soviet High Command; Major General of the French Army: Francois Sevez; Normandy landings (D-Day), Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord, WW2, June 1944; Axis Powers, 1938 --1945; V-E Day, (Victory in Europe) proclaimed by President Truman following German surrender, May 08, 1945; Principles of surrender of all German armed forces in Holland, in northwest Germany, and in Denmark; Surrender of Frisian Islands, Heligoland, and Schleswig-Holstein; General Dwight Eisenhower’s surrender terms for German forces; Original document of German surrender deposited in The National Archives of the United States, 1934; Surrender document signed by B.L. Montgomery, Hans Friedeburg, Kinzel, J. Wagner, & Poleck; Proclamation of victory over Germany in Europe by President Truman, text of proclamation, May 8 1945; Texts of unconditional surrender in English; Texts of unconditional surrender in German; Documents in English language; Documents in German language; Narratives in English language; Narratives in German language; General von Friedeburg, signed German Principles of Surrender in Reims & Berlin, May 07-08, 1945; Alfred Jodl, Chief of Staff of German Armed Forces High Command, signed surrender terms, Reims, 1945; Walter Bedell Smith (Eisenhower’s chief of staff) signed surrender terms, May 07, 1945; General Ivan Susloparov of the Soviet High Command signed German Principles of Surrender, May 7 1945; French General François Sevez, signed the German Principles of Surrender, May 07, 1945, WW2; Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander of Allied forces in WW2, led the Battle of Normandy; Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, head of German government who ordered Jodl to sign German surrender terms

Creators:: United States High Military Command (May, 1945); French High Military Command (May, 1945); Germany Military Command (May, 1945)

Document/Artifact of Item-Level 2: RG-03.03.02, Bonn Constitution Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, June 1949

The Basic Law for the Federal Republish of Germany, also known as the Bonn Constitution. The constitution was adopted in Bonn by a Parliamentary Council of 65 German political leaders. It was approved on 8 May 1949 and came into effect on 23 May 1949. The document consists of a Preamble and nine chapters, or 146 articles.

Subject/Index Terms:: The Bonn Republic (West Germany's post-war state), August 14, 1949 - October 3, 1990; Bonn Constitution, Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949, Bonn, Germany; Constitutional Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949, Bonn, Germany; Federal Government of West Germany, Post-World War II, 1949-1990; Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) created by the Bonn Constitution, 1949-1990; Bonn Constitution signed by western Allies of World War II on May 12, 1949; Bonn (Germany); Interim arrangement for a provisional West German state, May 12, 1949; Lands under German Federation: Baden, Bavaria, Bremen, Greater Berlin, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony; Bonn Constitution, Preamble; Bonn Constitution, Basic Rights for the Federal Republic of Germany; Bonn Constitution, The Federation and the Lands (including Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein; Bonn Constitution, Bundestag (National Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany), lower chamber; Bonn Constitution, Bundesrat (second legislative chamber composed of Minister-Presidents); Bonn Constitution, The Federal President (consisting of the Federal Chancellor), head of government; Bonn Constitution, The Federal Government (Bundestag, Bundesrat, Chancellor, and Federal Ministers; Bonn Constitution, The Legislation of the Federation (legislative powers of the federation); Bonn Constitution, The Execution of Federal Laws and the Federal Administration; Bonn Constitution, The Administration of Justice; Judiciary: Federal Constitutional Court, the Supreme Federal Court, and the (federal) state courts; Bonn Constitution, Finance (financial monopolies & taxes administered by federal finance authorities; Bonn Constitution, Transitional and Concluding Provisions (dealing with refugees and citizenship); Lands under German Federation: North Rhine-Westphalia, Württemberg-Baden, & Württemberg-Hohenzollern

Creators:: US Department of State; Federal Republic of Germany, government (1949)