Records of Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Sygn. 362) RG-15.007M United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 Tel. (202) 479-9717 e-mail: [email protected] Descriptive summary Title: Records of Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Sygn. 362) Dates: 1811-1945 (inclusive) 1940-1945 (bulk) Accession number: 1992.A.0082 Extent: 78 microfilm reels Repository: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, DC 20024-2126 Languages: German Polish English Scope and content of collection Contains reports, correspondence, case files, and other materials from the archives of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Amt VII. Included is information about the monitoring of religious groups, churches, political organizations, and other Masonic organizations, as well as of members of the clergy, police, journalists, scholars, and individuals by the Sicherheitspolizei und Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS. In its totality, the collection reveals much about the interests of Franz A. Six, head of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Amt VII. Also included are periodic, special, and situation reports relating to administration of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt. The majority of the records date from ca. 1940 to ca. 1945; however, background materials used in RSHA investigations of some organizations and institutions date as early as 1811. Administrative Information Restrictions on access: Researchers must complete and sign a User Declaration form before access is granted to materials from the Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej). Restrictions on reproduction and use: 1. Each researcher using the materials obtained from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) or materials whose originals belong to the IPN must complete the registration procedure required by USHMM. 2. Publication or reproduction of documents (in the original language, in facsimile form or in the form of a translation of an excerpt or of the entire document) or making them available to a third party in any form requires the written consent of the Institute of National Remembrance. The use of an excerpt defined as the fair use right to quote does not require obtaining consent. 3. Researchers assume all responsibility for the use of materials that belong to the Institute of National Remembrance. 4. References to documents that belong to the Institute of National Remembrance must cite the Institute of National Remembrance as the owner of the original documents and include the full reference citation of the Institute of National Remembrance in the citations. Preferred bibliographic citation: Group reference, group name, extreme dates, archive name. The owner of the original documents (IPN, ref. XXXXX) Preferred footnote/endnote citation: Archive name, group reference, group name, extreme dates, information identifying the documents (original documents' reference; IPN, ref. XXXXX) Acquisition information: Source of acquisition is the Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu (Institute of National Remembrance-Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation). After Polish military units captured the records in 1945, the Ministry of Security (after 1956, Ministry of the Interior) held them as a closed collection until 1985. Polish security agencies did not keep accurate records relating to these files. Some items intended to assist security activities were subsequently added from Soviet and other repositories. Source of acquisition is the Institute of National Memory, Main Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against the Polish Nation, which now holds the collection as Sygn. 362. The Main Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against the Polish Nation - Institute of National Memory filmed the records for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives in 1991. Existence and location of originals: The original files and the copyright to them are held by the Institute of National Remembrance - Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (Institute of National Remembrance), ul. Wotoska 7, Warsaw 02-675, Poland. Phone no. + 48 22 581 85 00. More information about this collection and other materials in the possession of the Institute of National Remembrance, including archival finding aids from the Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance, is available at their website: https://ipn.gov.pl Processing history: Processed by Aleksandra B. Borecka Note on Provenance: This material the RSHA, was microfilmed in Poland with the cooperation of the Main Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation, Institute of National Page 2 Memory, Warsaw, which holds them. The exact origin of this material cannot be determined, but the bulk is clearly a part of the RSHA, Amt VII Archive, which served as both an archival repository for all branches of Sipo und SD (Sicherheitspolizei und Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführer-SS) and a research archive. The research archive housed among other resources a massive collection of all material seized by Party and state agencies as they raided enemy organizations and closed the presses, archives, libraries and museums of suspected individuals and organizations. It also assembled a wider range of "legitimate" publications in pursuit of its mission to monitor and shape ideological trends in German society and culture. Since Amt VII of the RSHA served as a cultural research institute, much of the material of the collection covers a wide range of German cultural history, going back into the 19th century. In its totality, it reveals a great deal about the interests and SD career of Franz Six, earlier the head of SD Inland (SD- Hauptamt II), then head of Amt VII of the RSHA. From time of capture until 1985, the files were held by the Ministry of Security (after 1956 Ministry of the Interior) as a closed archive. Polish security agencies did not keep accurate records relating to these files which were probably found by Polish military units. It is unlikely that Soviet units turned such material over to the Poles since they so diligently assembled all RSHA records that they captured in the former Osoby Archive Moscow. Some items were subsequently added from Soviet and other contributions intended to assist security activities. This was obviously the case with the documents translated into Russian, but perhaps also some of the German language originals. According to RSHA directives for the disbursal of archives in December 1944, several repositories were located in Reich territories later occupied and absorbed by Poland, as well as areas in the Sudetenland bordering on Poland. These may well be the main source of the captured documents. Others could have come from files of Sipo and SD field posts in occupied Poland. Unfortunately, the captured RSHA materials, except for some items pertaining to Polish history, were not turned over to Polish archives which might have done a better job of authenticating their history. Although rumors of significant RSHA holdings in Poland had spread in the scholarly community by the mid-1960s, no one, including Polish scholars, could get information or access. This was consistent with the policy established by the Soviets for their captured German documents, but also was standard practice for all archival material under the Ministry of Interior. Efforts to identify the exact provenance of many of these folders have been frustrating. As with all "RSHA" archives, many folders were inherited from predecessor organizations or seized and became part of the files of different Ämter of the RSHA, sometimes ending in the archives of Amt VII. The majority of the folders seem to be materials assembled for the Amt VII Archive. Others were working files from other Ämter that were old enough to have been retired to an archive. Some, however, date from so late in the war that they must have been active working files at the time of capture. Except where the original folder covers survive, the parent office or branch within the RSHA that created the folder often cannot be identified. Consequently the provenance indicated for a folder is often an educated guess, or it refers to the agency from which the contents apparently originated, even outside the RSHA umbrella. The files are of mixed character. Some seem to be original archival files, although it is impossible to tell if the contents have been disturbed by removals. Only in cases where material has been removed after Polish pagination is such a disturbance of context obvious. Other files may have been assembled from other contexts by the Polish security agencies. The very miscellaneous content of some files, which is not unusual in any of the captured document collections, east or Page 3 west, may have resulted from loose documents being cobbled together by those who collected material in the field, or even by the Nazis themselves who scooped up much of their material in raids on suspect organizations. The original labeling and indexing was done by the Security Ministry. The folder numbers missing from the collection were already removed before it was turned over to the Commission. Given the uncertain history of the collection, the possibility does remain that an individual item may not be authentic. Note on Contents Many files, especially those marked miscellaneous, cannot be thoroughly summarized. Every effort has been made to give some sense of the scope of a file's content,