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Research tips

If you would like to find out more about the biographies of members of your family or other people, here you can find some useful tips and places where you might find information.

We receive many enquiries from people wanting to find out more about the biographies of members of their families or other people. Please note that the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism is not an archive, nor does it possess any original documents. We cannot undertake research for private individuals.

The Munich Documentation Centre’s data bank contains biographical information on selected historical figures as well as on citizens of Munich who were persecuted by the Nazis. Visitors can view this information on research terminals in the Learning Centre (2nd lower level).

Here we have assembled a few tips for those wishing to undertake more comprehensive research.

Civil register, birth and death certificates, address books, personnel files of municipal employees

These data are recorded in municipal archives – for Munich:

Stadtarchiv München
Winzererstraße 68
80797 Munich
Tel. +49 (0)89 233-30308
stadtarchiv@muenchen.de
Go to website

Depending on the type of enquiry, church archives in local parishes or dioceses may be helpful.

Denazification tribunals and criminal proceedings for Nazi crimes

This information can be found in the archives of the federal states or in the Public Records Office. The key factor here is the place of residence of the person in question. For Upper Bavaria:

Staatsarchiv München (Archives of the Bavarian State Munich)
Schönfeldstr. 3
80539 Munich
Telefon: +49 (0)89 28638 2539
poststelle@stam.bayern.de
www.gda.bayern.de

Nazi persecution: incarceration in concentration camps, detention in ghettos, forced labour camps and Gestapo prisons

Arolsen Archives
International Center on Nazi Persecution
Große Allee 5 – 9
34454 Bad Arolsen
Tel.: +49 (0)5691 629-0
info@arolsen-archives.org
www.arolsen-archives.org
Online archive: collections.arolsen-archives.org
 

Length of and reasons for detention
Information on the length of and reasons for detention can also be obtained from the memorial sites of the various concentration camps, for example:

KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau
Alte Römerstraße 75
85221 Dachau
Tel.: 08131 / 66 99 70
info@kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de
www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de

Restitution/Compensation procedures after 1945

Information on restitution/compensation procedures after 1945 can be obtained from the relevant state archive / public records office – for Munich:

Staatsarchiv München (Archives of the Bavarian State Munich)
Schönfeldstr. 3
80539 Munich
Tel. +49 (0)89 28638-2539
poststelle@stam.bayern.de
www.gda.bayern.de

Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv (Bavarian Central Archives)
Schönfeldstraße 5-11
80539 Munich
Tel. +49 (0)89 28638-2596
poststelle@bayhsta.bayern.de
www.gda.bayern.de/hauptstaatsarchiv

Persecution of the Sinti and Roma

Dokumentations- und Kulturzentrum Deutscher Sinti und Roma (Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma)
Bremeneckgasse 2
69117 Heidelberg
Tel. +49 (0)6221 98 11 02
info@sintiundroma.de
www.sintiundroma.de

Victims of the Nazi ‘euthanasia’ program

A list of names of many victims of the Nazi ‘euthanasia’ programme on the website of the Federal Archives.

Commemorative Book for the Munich Victims of the National Socialist ‘Euthanasia’ Murders (German only), published by the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism and the District of Upper Bavaria edited by Michael von Cranach, Annette Eberle, Gerrit Hohendorf and Sibylle von Tiedemann, Munich 2018, ISBN: 978-3-8353-3212-

The working group Psychiatrie und Fürsorge im Nationalsozialismus in München (Psychiatry and Welfare in National Socialism in Munich) offers assistance with research on persons from the Munich area. On its private website www.ns-euthanasie-aufarbeitung.de there is a lot of helpful information. The initiator of the working group is Prof. Dr. med. Michael von Cranach (m.v.cranach@t-online.de).

Commemorative signs in Munich for the victims of Nazi persecution

The City of Munich has created commemorative signs for citizens of Munich who lost their lives as a result of Nazi persecution. You can obtain further information about this at the Koordinierungsstelle | Erinnerungszeichen (Commemorative Signs Coordination Office) and apply for a commemorative sign for a Nazi victim if you wish to do so.