Berlin Document Center

The Berlin Document Center was created in Berlin, Germany, after the end of World War II. Its task was to centralize the collection of documents from the time of Nazism, which were needed for the preparation of the Nuremberg Trials against war criminals. The BDC was under American administration until 1994, when the German Federal Archives was allowed to take control of the BDC. While the paper records remained in Germany, the entire collection was microfilmed and made available at the National Archives in Washington, DC, where researchers have much better access unhindered by restrictive German privacy laws now in effect in Berlin.

The files were rescued from destruction in May 1945 when they were discovered by U.S. Counter Intelligence Corps Agents at a paper mill in Freimann, Germany, where they had been shipped by the Nazi leadership to be pulped.

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