Prussian State Archive in Mittelhufen The Prussian State Archive Königsberg () was an

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It consisted of documents from the

state of the Teutonic Order The State of the Teutonic Order () was a theocratic state located along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. It was formed by the knights of the Teutonic Order during the early 13th century Northern Crusades in the region ...

, the

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (, , ) or Ducal Prussia (; ) was a duchy in the region of Prussia established as a result of secularization of the Monastic Prussia, the territory that remained under the control of the State of the Teutonic Order until t ...

, and

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. Most of it is now part of the

Prussian Privy State Archives The Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation ( or ''GStA PK'') is an agency of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation headquartered in Berlin, Germany. A Federal Republic of Germany, Federal statutory body, it is one of the l ...

Berlin-Dahlem Dahlem ( or ) is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. It is located between the mansion settlements of Grunewald and ...

History

For centuries the archive was held in the oldest part of

Königsberg Castle Königsberg Castle (, ) was the seat of the grand masters of the Teutonic Order and of the dukes and kings of Prussia in the city of Königsberg (since 1946 Kaliningrad, Russia). The original fortress on the site was built by the Teutonic Knights ...

, the western north wing. Documents were stored in oak drawers from the Teutonic era. In 1810 it became supported by the

Oberpräsident The ' (Supreme President) was the highest administrative official in the Prussian provinces. History The Oberpräsident of a Prussian province was the supreme representative of the Prussian crown, until its downfall in 1918, in the province. In ...

of East Prussia. The first scientific archivists were Karl Faber and Ernst Hennig. Other archivists included

Friedrich Adolf Meckelburg Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

, Rudolf Philippi, Erich Joachim, Hermann Ehrenburg, and Paul Karge. The archive moved to a new building at Hansaring in

Mittelhufen image:Kaliningrad 05-2017 img50 Oberpostdirektion building.jpg, Baltic Fleet headquarters in Kaliningrad, formerly Königsberg's postal headquarters image:PoliceUFSB.jpg, Federal Security Service (Russia), FSB office, formerly Königsberg's police h ...

, constructed by Robert Liebenthal from 1929 to 1930. The last director of the archive was Dr. Max Hein. Most of the collection, including its most valuable documents, were evacuated from Königsberg before the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and stored in a salt mine at Grasleben. Troops in the

British occupation zone The British occupation zone in Germany (German: ''Britische Besatzungszone Deutschlands'') was one of the Allied-occupied areas in Germany after World War II. The United Kingdom, along with the Commonwealth, was one of the three major Allied po ...

then brought them to the

Imperial Palace of Goslar The Imperial Palace of Goslar () is a historical building complex at the foot of the Rammelsberg hill in the south of the town of Goslar north of the Harz mountains, central Germany. It covers an area of about 340 by 180 metres. The palace grou ...

. From 1953 to 1979 the collection was stored in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. The evacuated Königsberg collection, about 85% of the pre-war documents, has been in the possession of the Prussian Privy State Archives in Berlin since 1979. It consists of almost complete collections from the Teutonic and ducal eras. There are numerous documents from the 18th century, but fewer from the 19th and 20th centuries. Other documents from the original collection which were not evacuated are in the possession of the Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie in

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ) is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with powiat rights, city with county rights. The population of the city was estimated at 169,793 residents Olsz ...

, the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, and the Gosudarstvennyj Archiv Kaliningradskoj Oblasti in

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

. Liebenthal's archive in former Königsberg is now a scientific library in Kaliningrad.

References

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External links

GStA PK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prussian State Archive Konigsberg 1945 disestablishments in Germany Archives in Germany Former buildings and structures in Königsberg History of Prussia