More recent stocks comprise records received from the City Government and the City Counsellors’ Assembly as Frankfurt ’s corporate entities, as well as the files and books of city departments and facilities and the archives of formerly independent towns and parishes.
While the minutes and files of the city administration and the City Counsellors’ Assembly are available almost completely intact – with the exception of a few city administration records with Nazi references, burnt in spring 1945 – the level of availability varies significantly at the administrative level. A large number of sometimes very unfortunate gaps are due not only to the Second World War but also to the disposal of records within the administration – something which could not be monitored by Frankfurt ’s archivists. However, stocks are continually increasing through new deliveries from the city administration.
The available archives of towns and parishes incorporated into Frankfurt are in many ways extensive and highly informative. However, the only ones that have been preserved are the archives of Bergen-Enkheim, Fechenheim, Griesheim, Harheim, Höchst, Kalbach, Nied, Nieder-Erlenbach, Nieder-Eschbach, Schwanheim, Sindlingen, Sossenheim, Unterliederbach and Zeilsheim.
The list of archives of the latest city records is based on the currently applicable administration structuring plan and only mentions the latest valid reference works. Where no retrieval aids are specified, stocks are usually covered in the form of delivery lists.
The legal basis for use of the archives is provided by the Archives Act of the State of Hesse of October 18, 1989 (List of Acts and Regulations for the State of Hesse 1989, Part I, No. 21). For property files it specifies a confidentiality period of 30 years, while personal references such as personnel files cannot be released until least ten years after a person’s death or – if such a date cannot be determined – 100 years after that person’s birth, subject to the proviso that special data protection may also apply.
Oberbürgermeister
Walter Kolb bei der Schuttaktion Römerberg 1946 