European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 22, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse F tracing the third reich0The Berlin document Center is a blueprint to the nazi system by Ron Jensen Nurnberg Bureau Obert Terwell lays a Green covered folder on his office Coffee table at the Berlin document Center and eases it open to reveal a Sheet of Tan Legal sized paper filled with the pencilled signatures of those who attended a meeting in Munich More than 70 years ago. Six lines from the top in Clear neat script and in the tradition of the Day to sign Only a last name. Is the simple signature Hitler. That s probably in Many ways the rarest document we have says Marwell the Center s director for the past four years. The Date at the Bottom sept. 12,1919 gives voice 10 the Sheet. It is a Date history books record As a major landmark in the creation of the third Reich. On this Date Adolf Hitler who described his address on the Sheet As Munich 6th regt attended a meeting of the term a workers parts in a Munich Beer cellar called the Siemeck Kerbau the entire party such As it was was barely 40 members. One of that night s speakers called for the secession of Bavaria from the German Reich and a Union with vast a in a fury Hitler to e and railed against such a move. H rhetoric and his a Ryle impressed the party members who invited him to the next meeting. The party later became the National socials party and Hitler later became it Leader with Veli known and tragic results. Vat Wei 41. A a Tonan by training wonders out loud what ii Hitler had not attended that meeting i t an a game top a. What if there had been a line Reni Speake what ii had held his fury Ina Cark a vat if. ? h Orv in not Malie Abse. It is not putts to be pulled a i Sjoe de nto whatever shape is . I can to e banned com Ang peered at Cio e and far fact can t eat change or Ridi a Ever. Bal a h to a i 3 c a n or e Een the o Hostos Juji no he re Kerned. Of Jim Cepter. Al a Omro Nta Wel and beneath est t the eve o Tea the he in Doc of it Center n Mizii Orsjo o the paper o the a. Uhn a pm e c More than 90 percent of an ii parly membership cards including the one at left Are stored in the Berlin document Center. Personnel Nies kit ire stacked to the ceiling. Below Center director Robert Morwell explains an is membership screening document. The entry for Adolf Hitler in this membership list of the German workers party Calls him an Here Are 11 million nazi parts membership cards about 90 percenter the total and the Cross n jewel of the collection in Marwell s words. There Are also tvs on 62.000 officers of the Schutz Sta Feln the Black shirted is and 380,000 files on the is s troops plus 550,000 files on the Broson sorted St Jim a Tielung. The a Hitler s earliest adherents. The Are fes from the pc. Pie s court and the nazi h to .\e-.er. Are the f Les of a l Lorri j in hich people born owl Ide. R tred to prove German heritage. All of this makes the Berlin document Center a treasure trove for researchers picking through the remnants of nazism. We Are probably the single mos important institution on the third Reich says Marwell. If you Are writing a Book on the third Reich and you Don t come Here or at least inquire about what we have you Are probably making an the reunification of Germany the Center has been run by the . State department. Before that it was the responsibility of the . by the end of 1994, the Center and its files will be returned to the German government. To prepare for that Day a massive microfilming project is under Way. More than 50,000 documents Are microfilmed front and Back by hand each Day. The microfilm will eventually be stored in the National archives in Washington. The Center sits at the dead end of a quiet out of the Way Street the one Story building dominates a Complex surrounded by a wire building is deceptively larger than it appears to be says Marwell. It is one Story above ground but thu stories below. It was built in 1938 by the postal author its As a technical Center. Through the basement ran no or Telephone trunk lines which were easily tapped b intelligence the War began the building was Sortum to protect this equipment and the information it run harvested. Blast doors were installed and Concrete i covered ski lights. Ron the red army s \ victorious rampage thro-g1 in 1945, it attacked this Structure As a military a and in doing so destroyed the equipment an War s end the building was under it was considered an Ideal place to store i hundreds of tons of German documents e and . A narrow nose was Good a Broad one bad. Thin lips were a boost toward citizenship fat ones a Mark against. Tall and erect were traits preferred Over Short and Bent. Eyes set deep in their sockets were better evidence of aryan blood than eyes that bulged from the head. The nazi fixation on race and bloodlines shows itself again in the room where is officer files Are kept. An is officer wishing to marry was asked to Complete a lengthy family history. His Fiancee was required to perform the same so that is officials could evaluate lineage and Pedigree. There is room on the form for six generations but it was preferable to reach Back even deeper into the family tree. Names were not sufficient. The nazi party wanted evidence of any suicide or mental illness. Had any ancestors been on welfare or in prison was there knowledge of alcoholism diabetes deafness or multiple births to gaze at the forms Marwell displays and to understand what they represent causes a shiver. But they Are a scant shred of evidence of the horror that was the third Reich the tip of a very Dirk iceberg that can be traced directly 10 that Legal sized paper with the pencilled signatures and to the sixth name from the top. So it is an understandable mental exercise to wonder Nhat if. Iou should t play these what it games says Marwell who As a historian knows better but who knows is photos by Ken George is b the stars and stripes the stars and strikes b 19
