New search engine reveals if ancestors were in Nazi party
6 hours ago
- #digital archives
- #Nazi history
- #genealogy research
- A new German online search engine helps people discover if their ancestors were Nazi Party members using millions of digitized membership cards.
- Christian Rainer quickly found his grandfather's record, showing he joined the Nazi Party five days after it became legal in Austria post-Anschluss in 1938.
- The tool, created by Die Zeit with German and U.S. archives, has had overwhelming use, revealing personal family histories and challenging long-held myths.
- Nazi membership cards, nearly destroyed at war's end, were saved and later used in de-Nazification; they were held by the U.S. before transfer to German and U.S. archives.
- Previously accessible only via formal requests, the records are now online, shifting focus from high-ranking individuals to personal family searches, offering new truths decades later.