Lists of NSDAP members published in Germany. Now you can instantly find out who was in the Nazi party
From 1925 to 1945, about 10.2 million Germans were members of the Nazi party.
Photo: ullstein bild via Getty Images
A new search system has appeared in Germany, with the help of which people can find out if their ancestors belonged to the Nazi party during the rule of Adolf Hitler, writes the BBC.
Austrian resident Christian Rainer said he found his grandfather's name in the database "within seconds."
"I discovered that he became a member of the Nazi party around April 21, 1938, which means just a few days after the Anschluss [when Hitler annexed Austria]," says Rainer.
The system provides a search of a database containing several million Nazi party member cards (NSDAP-Mitgliederkartei).
"He applied to join the NSDAP just five days after it became legal in Austria," continues Rainer, who previously edited the Austrian magazine Profil.
The online database was created by the German newspaper Die Zeit in cooperation with German and US archives.
Rainer says he never saw his grandfather, who died shortly before his birth in 1961.
"I always knew he was close to the Nazis, but I was surprised that it only took him five days to join," he continues. "He was a scientist, after all. In 1938, it should have been perfectly clear to him who the Nazis were."
Rainer explains that the search system is important not only because it allowed him to find out about his grandfather's affiliation with the Nazi party, but also helped to prove the non-involvement of other family members, including his father.
"I was glad that I didn't find anyone else among my relatives, especially my father. I never suspected him of being a Nazi. He was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1941, and was wounded several times."
Die Zeit newspaper reports that the search system is hugely popular. Since its launch in early April, "it has been used millions of times," said Die Zeit official representative Judith Buch.
"I found two close relatives there, and this shatters the legend that no one in our family was involved in this," wrote one of the newspaper's website users. "To learn this at 71 is a very bitter, shocking blow."
From 1925 to 1945, about 10.2 million Germans were members of the Nazi party.
The card index that was almost destroyed
The Nazi party member card index, which was stored in the NSDAP administrative office in Munich, was almost destroyed in the final days of World War II.
Nazi party member card (photo from the website of the German Federal Archives)
As Die Zeit writes, the authorities ordered the archive to be sent for paper recycling, but it was saved by Hans Huber, the director of a neighboring paper factory. He later handed the documents over to the Americans.
These cards later played a crucial role in the post-war denazification process in Germany.
For almost 50 years, the card index was stored in Berlin, in the American archive of Nazi documents. In 1994, it was transferred to the Federal Archives of Germany, and copies of the cards on microfilms were sent to the National Archives of the USA in Washington.
Until recently, verifying a person's affiliation with the Nazi party was only possible by sending an official request to the German archives. But since March of this year, the National Archives of the USA began publishing its documents online.
Die Zeit writes that it obtained the data and "made copies of the documents so that they could be easily searched."
Christian Rainer says that this information still holds very great value.
In the past, researchers mainly dealt with "high-ranking people who later became politicians, judges or doctors," he notes in an interview with the BBC.
"Now very many people have started looking for their family members, so it has become very personal," Rainer continues. "80 years have passed since the end of World War II, but even now, the truth that was previously unknown can be found."