BUNDESARCHIV

Their core work

The Bundesarchiv is Germany's national federal archives — the institution legally responsible for preserving, cataloging, and providing access to federal government records from the 19th century to the present. In the H2020 context, their role centers on contributing their extensive Nazi-era and Holocaust-related primary source collections to European research infrastructure. They digitize and make accessible records of perpetrators, victims, and state institutions from the 1933–1945 period, which are held nowhere else in comparable completeness. Their value to research consortia is straightforward: they hold irreplaceable original documents that underpin historical scholarship across Europe.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

The Bundesarchiv's H2020 footprint is entirely contained within a single research infrastructure programme — EHRI and its direct successor EHRI-3 — so there is no visible thematic pivot across their EU project history. The progression from phase one (2015–2019) to phase three (2020–2025) signals a deepening institutional commitment rather than a change in direction: they moved from contributing to an initial infrastructure build-out to sustaining and expanding it. This consistency is characteristic of national archives, which tend to participate in long-running infrastructure projects rather than cycling through research topics.

Bundesarchiv is on a trajectory of deepening integration into pan-European Holocaust research infrastructure, making them a predictable long-term partner for any future EHRI phases or related digital humanities infrastructure projects.

How they like to work

Bundesarchiv participates exclusively as a consortium member, never as a project coordinator — consistent with how national state archives engage in EU-funded research: they contribute unique collections and expertise rather than driving project management. Both of their projects sit within a large, geographically distributed consortium of 25 partners across 18 countries, which is typical for research infrastructure actions of this scale. Working with them means accessing their archival holdings and institutional authority, not a flexible research partner that will adapt to varied project directions.

Bundesarchiv has built connections with 25 unique partners across 18 countries, entirely through the EHRI consortium — a broad European network of Holocaust archives, university research centers, and memory institutions. Their network is geographically wide but thematically concentrated within historical research infrastructure.

What sets them apart

As Germany's federal archives, the Bundesarchiv holds one of the most significant collections of Nazi-era state records in the world — including documentation of perpetrating institutions, victim registries, and wartime administrative records — that no other German institution can replicate. Their legal mandate to preserve and provide access to these materials gives them a position in Holocaust research infrastructure that is defined by institutional necessity rather than competitive advantage. For consortium builders working on historical research infrastructure, cultural heritage, or digital humanities, including the Bundesarchiv means access to primary sources that are foundational to the field.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EHRI-3
  The most recent and largest-funded project (€120,884), representing the third phase of a decade-long European effort to build shared infrastructure for Holocaust research — ongoing through 2025.
• EHRI
  The founding phase of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (2015–2019), in which Bundesarchiv established its role as a key national archive contributor within a 25-partner European consortium.