The struggle over the files
Subtitle: the Western allies and the return of German archives after the Second World War
By: Astrid M. Eckert
Series: Publications of the German Historical Institute
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9780521880183
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945; History; HISTORY / Europe / General; Foreign relations; Archives
Description: "When American and British troops swept through the German Reich in the spring of 1945, they confiscated a broad range of government papers and archives. These records were subsequently used in war crimes trials and published under Allied auspices to document the German road to war. In 1949, the West Germans asked for the documents' return, considering the request one of the benchmarks of their new state sovereignty. This book traces the tangled history of the captured German records and the extended negotiations for their return to German custody. Based on meticulous research in British, American, and German archives, The Struggle for the Files highlights an overlooked aspect of early West German diplomacy and international relations. All participants were aware that the files constituted historical material essential to write German history, and at stake was nothing less than the power to interpret the recent German past"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: 1. The confiscation of German documents, 1944-9; 2. The first German calls for restitution; 3. The positions of the United States and Great Britain; 4. Negotiation marathon; 5. Ad fontes: the captured German documents and the writing of history; 6. Conclusion.