Detail page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

In 2024, the Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage (GStA PK) will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the archive building in Berlin-Dahlem - the first purpose-built archive building of this time-honoured archive, whose beginnings date back to the Middle Ages. At the celebratory event on 10 June 2024, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth said: "The Geheimes Staatsarchiv has undergone many changes and upheavals over the last 100 years - and has always moved with the times. It has evolved from a traditional archive of public authorities into a modern research archive where the past is brought to life. Especially today, in times of fake news and targeted disinformation, we need institutions like the Geheimes Staatsarchiv all the more urgently: as places of education that offer reliable sources and verifiable information."

Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, also gave a welcoming address. "Saxony-Anhalt has a special connection to the Secret State Archives, as a large proportion of the files were stored in the Merseburg archives during the division of Germany," he explained, emphasising that archives should "also be seen as places of learning in a democratically constituted society. They have an important function in a democratic civil society. On the reform of the SPK, whose outstanding potential for culture and science he emphasised, Haseloff said: "More efficient structures should better position the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. In this context, funding is of great relevance."

Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK, said in his welcoming address: "Today we are not only looking back into the past of the Geheimes Staatsarchiv, but also into the future: the Geheimes Staatsarchiv and the Zentralarchiv der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin are today launching their joint archive portal, which will enable the cultural assets of these two major archives of the SPK to be managed and used in a standardised way in future - historical files, medieval documents, maps, photographs and other unique archival material of national and European value. This is a successful collaboration and a decisive step forward for users.

In future, the archives of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation will be searchable via the new website "archive.spk-berlin.de" and can be ordered in an integrated workflow in the reading rooms and in some cases can already be used directly online.

Ulrike Höroldt, Director of the Secret State Archives PK, explains: "A dedicated purpose-built archive building - a hundred years ago, that was an essential step for the proper storage of the files, but also for all internal work processes and, of course, for the users, who finally had a sufficiently large research room at their disposal. And what was a new building a hundred years ago is now the new archive portal: we now have modern processes in the background and are taking a big step towards even greater user-friendliness! I am therefore very pleased that we can combine today's festive event with the launch of this archive portal, because the future needs the past, but also further development to meet the challenges of the times."

The GStA PK is the former central archive of Prussia and as such preserves the written records of the Brandenburg-Prussian electors and kings as well as the German emperors, their councils, ministries and authorities, but also of many other Prussian bodies and individuals - from the 12th to the 20th century. Due to the extent of Prussia, the Secret State Archives also contain numerous archival records that provide information on the history of other European states. The archive makes all these documents accessible to all interested parties - on site and digitally.

The "secret" archive, i.e. located close to the ruler, had been housed in the Berlin Palace since the 15th century and was continually expanded over the centuries to include other storerooms and buildings in Berlin. Around 1900, the space was finally no longer sufficient, so the time-honoured archive was given its own new building at the then new Berlin science location of Dahlem, directly next to the recently established U3 underground line.

In 1924, the Prussian Minister President Otto Braun and the Director General of the Prussian Archive Administration Paul Friedolin Kehr ceremoniously opened the modern, purpose-built archive, which had been designed by the architect Eduard Fürstenau. It consists of an imposing main building with a large research room and many offices, as well as a separate storage building for fire protection reasons, which was able to hold the large amount of documents.

After a chequered history of war-related removals, distribution to two locations in the two German states and their reunification after 1990, the GStA PK is now open to all interested parties as part of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

The GStA honours the first century of its existence and its history in Dahlem as well as its various areas of responsibility relating to administration, science and accessibility with an exhibition in the historical rooms, which is open to all interested parties. There are also regular guided tours of the archive and its exhibition (please book in advance).

Further information:

GStA - Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz (preussischer-kulturbesitz.de)

100 Jahre Geheimes Staatsarchiv - Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz (preussischer-kulturbesitz.de)