Claim: Almost half of the German Federal Archive's total contents were destroyed during World War II, and by the end of the 1950s, records that had originally been seized by the government of the Soviet Union in the aftermath of World War II had been returned to the archive.
Evidence: Despite efforts to save the most valuable parts of the collection, almost half of the archive's total contents were destroyed during World War II. By the end of the 1950s, records that had originally been seized by the government of the Soviet Union in the aftermath of World War II had been returned to the archive.