Collection GB 1556 WL 585 - Correspondence and papers regarding Nazis in Spain (mostly microfilm)

Identity area

Reference code

GB 1556 WL 585

Title

Correspondence and papers regarding Nazis in Spain (mostly microfilm)

Date(s)

  • 1933-1936 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

1030 frames; 1 box

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

The NSDAP/AO was the Foreign Organisation of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). The party members who lived outside the German Reich were pooled in this special NSDAP department. On May 1 1931 the new organisational unit was founded on the initiative of Reich Organisation Leader (Reichsorganisationsleiter) Gregor Strasser and its management was assigned to Dr Hans Nieland. But Nieland resigned from office already on May 8, 1933, because he had become head of the Hamburg police authorities in the meantime and later on a member of the Hamburg provincial government. Ernst Wilhelm Bohle was appointed director of the 'AO', that served as 43rd Gau of the NSDAP.

NSDAP Local Groups (Ortsgruppen) comprised 25 party comrades at least, so called Stützpunkte (bases) had 5 members or more. Furthermore, big Local Groups could be partitioned into Blocs (Blöcke).

Ideological training and uniform orientation of all party members in the interest of the German nation were the principal tasks of NSDAP/AO. Only Imperial Germans (Reichsdeutsche) with a German passport could become members of the AO. Persons of German descent, so called ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche), who possessed the nationality of the country in which they lived, were refused access to the Nazi Party.

Repository

Archival history

It is thought that the originals were part of a much larger archive (some 40,000 documents) captured by the Spanish Republicans from the NSDAP Landesgruppe Spanien offices in Barcelona and other cities. The papers in this collection were obtained by the Jewish Central Information Office, the forerunner to the Wiener Library, in late in 1936.
GB 1556 WL 585 1933-1936 collection 1030 frames; 1 box NSDAP AO Landesgruppe Spanien (Foreign Organization of the National Socialist German Workers Party in Spain)

The NSDAP/AO was the Foreign Organisation of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). The party members who lived outside the German Reich were pooled in this special NSDAP department. On May 1 1931 the new organisational unit was founded on the initiative of Reich Organisation Leader (Reichsorganisationsleiter) Gregor Strasser and its management was assigned to Dr Hans Nieland. But Nieland resigned from office already on May 8, 1933, because he had become head of the Hamburg police authorities in the meantime and later on a member of the Hamburg provincial government. Ernst Wilhelm Bohle was appointed director of the 'AO', that served as 43rd Gau of the NSDAP.

NSDAP Local Groups (Ortsgruppen) comprised 25 party comrades at least, so called Stützpunkte (bases) had 5 members or more. Furthermore, big Local Groups could be partitioned into Blocs (Blöcke).

Ideological training and uniform orientation of all party members in the interest of the German nation were the principal tasks of NSDAP/AO. Only Imperial Germans (Reichsdeutsche) with a German passport could become members of the AO. Persons of German descent, so called ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche), who possessed the nationality of the country in which they lived, were refused access to the Nazi Party.

It is thought that the originals were part of a much larger archive (some 40,000 documents) captured by the Spanish Republicans from the NSDAP Landesgruppe Spanien offices in Barcelona and other cities. The papers in this collection were obtained by the Jewish Central Information Office, the forerunner to the Wiener Library, in late in 1936.

Jewish Central Information Office

Correspondence relating to Nazis in Spain, 1933-1936; comprising: I: Correspondence of NSDAP officials of the Landesgruppe Spanien (Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid) and the Auslandsorganisation (Berlin, Hamburg) concerning the activities and sentiments of individuals and of the firms in Spain, arrangements for film propaganda; II: copies of a large number of letters and other documents, originating from the Landesgruppe Spanien and its sub-divisions, the Auslandsorganisation, the German embassy in Madrid and the German consulate in Barcelona, dealing with the same subjects as above, and also to the movements of anti-Nazi Germans, arrests, the diffusion of pro-Nazi material in the Spanish press; III: Circulars of the Auslandsabteilung, Reichsleitung NSDAP (Foreign section of the Nazi Party administration), 1933, nos. 19-20, 31, 34-36, 38-39, 41-54, 71-76, 78, 81-83, 86, 90; 1934, nos 5-7, 14, 18-19, 24-28, 30-33, 36-41, 43-55, 57, 59-61, 63, 65-66, 71 (not all in numerical order); a) /1: A report entitled Die Auslandsarbeit der NSDAP by the NSDAP Auslandsorganisation containing the following sections: A) Die Welt Organisation (the world organisation); B) Methoden - Der Grundsatz der offiziellen Legalität und der inoffiziellen Illegalität Methods - the basis for the official legal and the unofficial illegal methods); C) Durchführung der nationalsozialistischen Methoden (execution of the Nazi methods). Landesgruppe Spanien; D) Zusammenfassung (conclusion) /2: A report entitled 'A Report by Mr Francis Hemming on his Mission to National Spain, 17 Nov 1938'.

Broadly chronological

Open

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.
German, English

Mostly microfilm

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.

Wiener Collection, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Spielhagen, F. Spionen und Verschwörer in Spanien, (Paris, 1936); Schwarz-Rot-Buch, Dokumente über den Hitlerimperialismus, (Barcelona, 1937); The Nazi Conspiracy in Spain, (London, 1937); Comité Nacional de la C.N.T El Nazismo al Desnudo, Barcelona, (1938); Simon, O. K. Hitler en Espagne.

Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn. Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. November 2007 Europe Landesgruppe Spanien National Socialist German Workers Party x Nazi Party Nationalsozialistische deutsche Arbeiterpartei Ausland-Organisation Nazism Political doctrines Spain Third Reich Totalitarianism Western Europe

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Jewish Central Information Office

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Correspondence relating to Nazis in Spain, 1933-1936; comprising: I: Correspondence of NSDAP officials of the Landesgruppe Spanien (Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid) and the Auslandsorganisation (Berlin, Hamburg) concerning the activities and sentiments of individuals and of the firms in Spain, arrangements for film propaganda; II: copies of a large number of letters and other documents, originating from the Landesgruppe Spanien and its sub-divisions, the Auslandsorganisation, the German embassy in Madrid and the German consulate in Barcelona, dealing with the same subjects as above, and also to the movements of anti-Nazi Germans, arrests, the diffusion of pro-Nazi material in the Spanish press; III: Circulars of the Auslandsabteilung, Reichsleitung NSDAP (Foreign section of the Nazi Party administration), 1933, nos. 19-20, 31, 34-36, 38-39, 41-54, 71-76, 78, 81-83, 86, 90; 1934, nos 5-7, 14, 18-19, 24-28, 30-33, 36-41, 43-55, 57, 59-61, 63, 65-66, 71 (not all in numerical order); a) /1: A report entitled Die Auslandsarbeit der NSDAP by the NSDAP Auslandsorganisation containing the following sections: A) Die Welt Organisation (the world organisation); B) Methoden - Der Grundsatz der offiziellen Legalität und der inoffiziellen Illegalität Methods - the basis for the official legal and the unofficial illegal methods); C) Durchführung der nationalsozialistischen Methoden (execution of the Nazi methods). Landesgruppe Spanien; D) Zusammenfassung (conclusion) /2: A report entitled 'A Report by Mr Francis Hemming on his Mission to National Spain, 17 Nov 1938'.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Broadly chronological

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

German, English

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Publication note

Notes area

Note

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Wiener Library

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

    Sources

    Accession area