2a) Analytic, Systematic, and Genetic Diplomatics
Diplomatics is an auxiliary science of history that deals with written administrative documents, which, since the early modern period, are retained in files. In diplomatics, each individual document in a file is analysed from varying perspectives, always with an eye towards the file as a whole and the larger context of which it was a part in order to understand the relationship of documents to one another and to the operating procedures of the relevant administrative body.
As a rule, diplomatics is divided into three parts:
- Analytical and formal diplomatics, which focuses on a document’s characteristics, examining both the external appearance (paper, writing tools, etc.) as well as the internal form of the text, including its structure and various notes and other signs of processing.
- Systematic diplomatics, which provides a structure for or classification of various types of documents so that they may be typologized according to function, content and form.
- Genetic diplomatics, which looks at the creation and processing of documents within the respective administrative bodies.
In the following, these three approaches to diplomatics shall each be explicated in more detail in turn.
Analytical and formal diplomatics
In analytical and formal diplomatics, external and internal material and structural characteristics are studied in an attempt to identify traces of processing and to analyse the same. Below, you will find an introduction to analytical and formal diplomatics in two formats: First, as PDF of a lecture with slides, and second as a film of the slides with spoken text.
-Film: Analytical and formal diplomatics (spoken text)
-PDF: Analytical and formal diplomatics (no spoken text)
-PDF: Spoken text accompanying the PPT on Analytical and formal diplomatics
Systematic diplomatics
In light of the many, often highly individual, types of documents, it is often difficult to focus on the fundamental and general characteristics of each one. Systematic diplomatics provides tools for categorizing and typologizing documents. Particular attention is paid to the purpose of the document, its formal structure and the hierarchy between the parties involved (writer – reader).
-Film: Systematic diplomatics (spoken text)
-PDF: Systematic diplomatics (no spoken text)
-PDF: Spoken text accompanying the PPT on Systenatic diplomatics
Genetic diplomatics
As a rule, a file contains letters and memos that were written to a certain administrative body by another body or person, but not the letters and memos written by the retaining institution, which were sent elsewhere. However, often drafts of those missives are found in the files and sometimes also written or carbon copies of outgoing letters. In genetic diplomatics, more narrowly defined, the focus is on the genesis of a document and identifying each step of the processing thereof, including who was involved and to what extent. More broadly defined, an analysis of the entire workflow of an administrative body, to the extent that it made a mark on the document, is part of genetic diplomatics. Examples of a more intensive workflow analysis will follow in the next chapter; at first we shall look only at the genesis of a classical administrative letter.
-Film: Genetic diplomatics (spoken text)
-PDF: Genetic diplomatics (no spoken text)
-PDF: Spoken text accompanying the PPT on Genetic diplomatics
2b) Diplomatics: Practical Workflow Analysis
This module is dedicated to the practical application of the tools of modern diplomatics we have discussed so far. Aim is the reconstruction of working procedures within a government agency.
To this end, we shall first examine at the rules for case management within the agencies, define workflow, and look at the wording of the Joint Rules of Procedure of the Reich Ministries, the Gemeinsamen Geschäftsordnung der Reichsministerien, or GGO. At the same time, we shall provide some tips for reconstructing workflows.
Second, we introduce the concept of workflow analysis, which attempts to determine, one by one, the chronological steps taken as reflected in the varying traces of processing as well as who took each step and why. To do so, we shall take a look at some examples: the first two are individual documents, the third and fourth, the latter soon to be released, are more extensive records.
Example 1: Letter from the Reich Chancellery to the Reich Ministry of Finance on the appointment of civil servants (April 1943).
Example 2: Letter from the occupation administration for Lithuania to the local SS and police about an operation against partisans (January 1944).
Example 3: Himmler's letter of November 5, 1941 to Gauleiter Greiser about Government President Uebelhoer.
Example 4 (pending): Record of the decision on the right of disposition regarding apartments vacated by Jews in Vienna (March to May 1942).
The workflow
Government agencies have and had more or less clear rules for case management, including allotment of responsibility and procedures. For the documents discussed in this course, the main basis of operations was the 1927 Joint Rules of Procedure of the Reich Ministries, the Gemeinsamen Geschäftsordnung der Reichsministerien, or GGO.
The following lecture is an introduction to procedures for the management of administrative tasks. It answers questions such as: What is meant by workflow? What are the Joint Rules of Procedure of the Reich Ministries, what was the context of its genesis and which rules does it set? Which colour pencil may be used by whom in a government agency? I shall also present tools and charts such as schedules of authority and organigrams, which can be helpful in reconstructing workflows. However these documents are only briefly introduced here. A more detailed discussion of these aids and files to download can be found in chapter 2c Tools for Modern Diplomatics.
As in the preceding modules, the lecture is available as a video with sound, a translated script accompanying the video lecture and a PDF without sound.
-Workflow, film version
-> PDF-Version Geschäftsgang
-> Spoken text accompanying the PPT on Practical Workflow Analysis
Example 1: Letter from the Reich Chancellery to the Reich Ministry of Finance on the appointment of civil servants (April 1943).
On 18 April 1943, Hans Heinrich Lammers (1879-1962), Minister of the Reich and Head of the Reich Chancellery, sent a letter to the Reich Minister of Finance, Johann Ludwig/Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (1887-1977) stating the position of the Ministry of the Interior on a proposed change in the appointment of undersecretaries and other high-ranking civil servants. Since the procedure had until then been regulated under paragraph 18 of the Reich Government Rules of Procedure, the proposal necessitated a change to those rules (BArch R 2/4480, Bl. 27).
This document is a good example of the central role of the Reich Chancellery in the coordination of all administrative procedures in the Nazi government. Our focus in this case shall not however be on content. This document was chosen because it is an ideal illustration of the typical course of document processing or workflow in the Reich Ministry of Finance.
-> Link to the presentation of the workflow for BArch R 2/4480, Bl. 27. (German only)
Example 2: Letter from the occupation administration for Lithuania to the local SS and police about an operation against partisans (January 1944).
Letter from January 28, 1944 from Dr. Adrian von Renteln, General Commissioner for Lithuania in Kaunas (or Kauen or Kowno), to the head of the SS and police in Lithuania, SS-Brigadeführer Harm, asking for a large military operation against partisans in order to pacify the region (BArch R 6/360, Bl. 17).
-> Link to the presentation of the workflow for BArch R 2/4480, Bl. 27. (German only)
Example 3: Himmler's letter of November 5, 1941 to Gauleiter Greiser about Government President Uebelhoer.
Letter from Nov. 5, 1941 from Himmler to Gauleiter Greiser about Government President Uebelhoer, after Himmler had unequivocally denied Uebelhoer's attempt to prevent the deportation of further Jews from the Reich to the Litzmannstadt or Lodz Ghetto because of overcrowding and the necessity of producing goods vital to the war effort.
-> Link to the presentation of the workflow for BArch NS 19/2655, Bl. 50. (German only)
Example 4: Record of the decision on the right of disposition regarding apartments vacated by Jews in Vienna (March to May 1942). (pending)
This is the first example of an entire record that must be interpreted. The content deals with the right of disposition regarding apartments of Viennese Jews that became free in the spring of 1942 after their inhabitants were deported (BArch R 2/9173, Bl. 2-8). As a rule, the financial administration—in this case the Oberfinanzpräsident or Chief Finance President of Vienna—was responsible for the liquidation and utilization of confiscated Jewish property, including real estate. However, the state governor or Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter of Vienna, Baldur von Schirach, attempted to gain this right for himself because of the city's housing shortage.
-> Link to the presentation of the workflow for BArch R 2/9173, Bl. 2-8.
3c) Diplomatics: Tools
To reconstruct the workflow of a document, we are dependent on various aids, for example the Joint Rules of Procedure of the Reich Ministries, a filing plan, or an initials directory. These tools help us to understand the place of a particular document within the general workings of an agency, to decipher names and thus pinpoint the person responsible for a letter and to reconstruct the steps of handling a document. In the following, I shall present some examples of such aids found in the German Federal Archives.
Rules of Procedure (Geschäftsordnung)
The first and most important tool in diplomatics is the rules of procedure for each individual government agency. In the Reich administration, there were different rules of procedure for the Reich government, the Reich ministries, and for high-level Reich agencies.
The Joint Rules of Procedure of the Reich Ministries (GGO) is divided into a general section (GGO I) and a particular section (GGO II).
GGO I regulates all external workflows in the Reich ministries, expressly the handling of incoming post, ministerial tasks and external communication. This information includes the various coloured pencils used by different people and workflow directives. It came into force on January 1, 1927 and aimed to simplify, unify and accelerate workflows in the Reich ministries. GGO I not only defined the tasks and authorities of each division involved in a workflow, but also of supporting services such as the registry office and the chancellery. Therefore, the Rules of the Registry Office and of the Chancellery are also attached, as they regulate these two supporting services. GGO I does not describe standard procedure, rather it provides guidelines and also myriad tools for the tasks to be accomplished.
Joint Rules of Procedure of the Reich Ministries, General Section (Gemeinsame Geschäftsordnung der Reichsministerien, Allgemeiner Teil)
GGO II contains the regulations for lawmaking from the draft phase of a law until it enters into force. It was made public on August 1, 1924.
Joint Rules of Procedure of the Reich Ministries, Particular Section (Gemeinsame Geschäftsordnung der Reichsministerien, Besonderer Teil)
In the Joint Rules of Procedure of the High-Level Reich Agencies, the regulations within the Joint Rules of Procedure of the Reich Ministries are adapted and applied to the next lower level institutions. It came into force on October 1, 1928. A Chancellery Plan is included in its appendix.
Joint Rules of Procedure of the High-Level Reich Agencies (Gemeinsame Geschäftsordnung der höheren Reichsbehörden (GOH))
Even before the Joint Rules of Procedure of the Reich Ministries were passed, regulations for the cooperation of the Reich Ministries and the Reich Chancellery were adopted that entered into force on May 3, 1924. These Reich Government Rules of Procedure contain regulations on the position of Reich Chancellor, the competencies of the Reich Minister and on decision-making procedures within the Reich government.
Reich Government Rules of Procedure (Gemeinsame Geschäftsordnung der Reichsregierung (GOR))
Filing plan (Aktenplan)
A filing plan is a systematic hierarchical classification of an agency's tasks into subject headings, each of which is given a notation number that serves as a framework for the registration and organisation of documents and the creation of files. The hierarchical structure of the subject heading goes from the general to the particular. In contrast to the file list, the filing plan is meant only to provide a framework and is not an indication of the existence of actual documents.
Filing plan of the Reich Ministry
Introduction to and Use of the Reich Finance Office Filing Plan (Einführung und Anwendung des Aktenplans des Reichsfinanzverwaltung)
For a better understanding of the filing plan, we recommend you look at the regulations in the Introduction to and Use of the Reich Finance Office Filing Plan. This document also provides a good overview of the structure of the filing system in the financial sector of the government.
Journal / Diary
A journal is an analog or digital list in which the registry office notes receivals and sometimes the stations where they were processed in chronological order. This log may be referred to as a Geschäftstagebuch, Tagebuch, Journal, Diarium, or Registrande.
Reich Ministry of Finance Journal for Incoming Documents (Eingangsjournal des Reichsfinanzministeriums)
Organigram
An organigram is a graphic representation of the structure of an agency. The organigram includes all divisions of an organisation and depicts the relationships of these units to one another. Usually, it also includes a short description of each division’s responsibilities and leadership.
Organigram of the General Government (Organigramm der Regierung des Generalgouvernements)
Workflow and organisational directives
Directives on the workflow or organisation of various ministries or other government agencies, which supplement the GGO I or adapt the procedures described therein to fit the need of a particular institution. These directives underline certain regulations or note changes in the agency's organisational structure or procedures. Some examples:
Informational memorandum from the Reich Ministry of Finance (Umlauf mit Informationen aus dem Reichsfinanzministerium)
Directive on Reich Chancellery operating procedures (Verordnung über die Geschäftsabläufe in der Reichskanzlei)
Organisational decree of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories (Organisationserlass des Reichsministers für die besetzten Ostgebiete)
Schedule of Authority (Geschäftsverteilungsplan)
A detailed list of the tasks within an agency and the allocation of responsibility for said tasks to certain positions or persons. The Schedule of Authority, like the Rules of Procedure, is created by the administrative body itself and sometimes approved by a higher body.
Reich Ministry of Finance Schedule of Authority (Geschäftsverteilungsplan des Reichsfinanzministeriums)
Directory of Names for the Reich Ministry of Finance Schedule of Authority (Namenverzeichnis zum Geschäftsverteilungsplan des Reichsfinanzministeriums)
Directory of Initials (Paraphenverzeichnis)
An alphabetical list, for a certain date, of all of an institution’s employees, including their first and last name, signature, and initials. Often, the initials used to abbreviate an employee's name were added to the Directory of Initials as soon as they were hired. Sadly often lost, a directory of initials is a great help in determining who was responsible for what.
Reich Ministry of Finance Directory of Civil Servants (Verzeichnis der Beamten des Reichsfinanzministeriums, 1924-1937)
Directory of Civil Servants or directives or memoranda to a certain person
When there is no directory of initials, a directory of civil servants or a directive or memo that includes signatures can help to determine who handled a particular document.
Directory of Civil Servants (Beamtenverzeichnis), prepared in advance, alphabetical list of names, titles, and divisions of a government agency's employees.
Memo with signatures (Namentlicher Umlauf) A memo that is passed from one person to another, on which each person who saw the document confirmed the same with their initials and the date.
Memo with signatures: Borman's title as "Secretary of the Führer"
Memo with signatures informing of Martin Bormann's use of the title Sekretär des Führers whenever he—alongside his position as Head of the Party Chancellery—carried out special orders as the Führer's personal secretary.
Since this information was to be announced to everyone in the ministry, a circular with the names of all employees was prepared and everyone who saw the memo confirmed that they had received the information with their initials and the date.
Telephone and Address Directories
Telephone and Address directories also contain information that is helpful for the analysis of documents. They often include not only the usual information such as name, telephone number and/or address, but also a person's division and changes of address due to the war, as well as the titles of individuals. Depending on how detailed they are, they can sometimes replace an organigram or directory of civil servants.
Selected Literature
Holger Berwinkel/Robert Kretzschmar/Karsten Uhde (Hrsg.): Moderne Aktenkunde, (Veröffentlichungen der Archivschule Marburg, Hochschule für Archivwissenschaft Nr. 64) Marburg 2016.
Michael Hochedlinger: Aktenkunde. Urkunden- und Aktenlehre der Neuzeit, Wien/Köln/Weimar 2009.
Jürgen Kloosterhuis: Aktenkunde. Ein Hilfswissenschaftliches Kompendium, in: Archiv für Diplomatik 45 (1999), S. 465-563.
Gerhard Schmid: Aktenkunde des Staates, 2 Teile, als Manuskript gedruckt, Potsdam 1959.
Adolph Brenneke/Wolfgang Leesch: Archivkunde. Ein Beitrag zur Theorie und Geschichte des europäischen Archivwesens, bearb. nach Vorlesungsnachschriften und Nachlasspapieren und ergänzt von Wolfgang Leesch, Leipzig 1953.
Heinrich Otto Meisner: Aktenkunde. Ein Handbuch für Archivbenutzer mit besonderer Berücksichtigung Brandenburg-Preußens, Berlin 1935.