In just two clicks on the internet, it is now possible to verify if one of your ancestors has been a member of the Nazi party. This search engine, making waves in Germany, was launched on Thursday, April 2 by the German weekly Die Welt, in collaboration with German and American archives. The tool allows users to search through millions of NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) membership cards, led by Adolf Hitler. An Austrian named Christian Rainer told the BBC on Wednesday, April 15, that he found his grandfather’s name, Franz Rainer (1886-1961), “in just a few seconds.” He discovered that his grandfather became a Nazi party member around April 21, 1938, just a few days after the Anschluss, when Austria was annexed by Hitler.
Impressive documentation saved from flames
Over ten million Nazi party membership files, filled out between 1925 and 1945, have been documented. At the end of World War II, the Third Reich ordered Hanns Huber, director of a nearby paper mill in Munich, to destroy these incriminating documents. He chose to disobey, knowing these cards would play a crucial role in the post-war denazification process in Germany. He narrowly saved them by handing them over to the Americans, but in the process, “information regarding about a million members was lost,” according to Die Welt.
For more than half a century, the remaining files were kept at the Documentation Center in Berlin, administered by the United States. In 1994, they were transferred to German federal archives, and microfilmed copies were sent to the US National Archives in Washington.
This archive was previously difficult to access for the general public, who had to submit an official request to Germany to conduct research. In March, the United States decided to make these valuable digitized data freely accessible online, rather than using the complex navigation system that was in place, Die Welt took on the task.
Access to original files and photographs
Directly on the newspaper’s website, on the dedicated page for this tool, subscribers can enter the name of a close relative or a public figure to find out if they were Nazi party members. If they were, a first name, birth date, place of birth, and membership date will appear on the screen. Users can even access the digitized version of the original file, sometimes accompanied by a photograph. Since its launch, this search engine has been used millions of times by curious individuals eager to trace their family history.
Previously, research mainly focused on high-ranking figures who later became politicians, judges, or doctors. “Today, many people are looking for their family members, so it has become a very personal journey. Eight decades after the war, we can still discover truths we were unaware of,” notes Christian Rainer on the BBC.
It should be noted that this database is incomplete due to the numerous files destroyed by the regime before being saved by Hanns Huber, and potential errors may be present. “To make the original data accessible, we used artificial intelligence software. The results may be incomplete and contain errors,” acknowledges Die Welt.
