In just two clicks online, it is now possible to verify whether one of their ancestors was a member of the Nazi party. This search engine, causing a stir 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 access millions of NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) membership cards, led by Adolf Hitler. An Austrian named Christian Rainer claims to have found the name of his grandfather, Franz Rainer (1886-1961), in just “a few seconds,” according to a statement to the BBC on Wednesday, April 15.
“I discovered that he became a member of the Nazi party around April 21, 1938, just a few days after the ‘Anschluss’, when the Führer annexed Austria,” explained the former editor-in-chief of the magazine Profil. “I always knew he was close to the Nazis, but I was surprised that it only took him five days to join them. He was an academic. He should have known in 1938 who the Nazis were,” he added bitterly on the radio.
Impressive Documentation Saved from Flames
More than ten million Nazi party membership cards, 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. Huber chose to disobey, realizing the crucial role these cards would play in the post-war denazification process of Germany. He barely saved them by handing them over to the Americans, but in the process, “information about approximately one million members was lost,” as noted by Die Welt.
For over half a century, the remaining cards were kept at the Documentation Center in Berlin, administered by the United States. In 1994, they were transferred to the German federal archives and microfilmed copies were sent to the American National Archives in Washington.
This collection was until a few weeks ago difficult for the public to access, requiring an official request to Germany for official research. Last March, the United States decided to streamline the process by making these valuable digitized data freely available online. However, navigating this vast resource remained complex for users until Die Welt intervened.
Access to Original Files and Photographs
On the newspaper’s website, subscribers can simply enter the name of a close relative or a public figure to find out if they were Nazi party members. If so, 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, searches focused on high-ranking figures who later became politicians, judges, or doctors. “Today, many people are searching 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,” Christian Rainer observed on the BBC.
It is important to note that this database is incomplete due to the numerous files destroyed by the regime before being saved by Hanns Huber, and possible errors may be present. Die Welt acknowledges, “To make the original data searchable, we used artificial intelligence software. The results may be incomplete and contain errors.”
