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Residents’ registration card

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RegisterZahlenreiheName bis BerufFamilienstand bis GlaubensbekenntnisReichsarbeitsdienstEhefrau / Eltern der EhefrauElternKinderVol. Nr. bis 250 g Rückseite/Zugezogen bis FortgezogenRückseite/BerufRückseite/Vermerke

Civilian forced laborers were subject to compulsory registration in the German Reich. They were therefore required to register and deregister with the relevant residents’ registration offices (Einwohnermeldeämter) within a certain period of time. Staff at the residents’ registration offices noted on residents’ registration cards (Einwohnermeldekarten) details such as the exact address of the civilian forced laborers’ accommodation. Often they had to live in camps run by individual companies, or in communal accommodation where they were often required to live in wooden barracks.

Various types of residents’ registration cards were used by the municipal registration authorities in the German Reich. Although they look different, they can be easily identified by the presence of fields labeled Zuzug (moving in date) or zugezogen am (moved to the area on) – indicating when the civilian forced laborers moved into the area and from where – as well as their exact residential address.

Civilian forced laborers were subject to compulsory registration in the German Reich. They were therefore required to register and deregister with the relevant residents’ registration offices (Einwohnermeldeämter) within a certain period of time. Staff at the residents’ registration offices noted on residents’ registration cards (Einwohnermeldekarten) details such as the exact address of the civilian forced laborers’ accommodation. Often they had to live in camps run by individual companies, or in communal accommodation where they were often required to live in wooden barracks.

Various types of residents’ registration cards were used by the municipal registration authorities in the German Reich. Although they look different, they can be easily identified by the presence of fields labeled Zuzug (moving in date) or zugezogen am (moved to the area on) – indicating when the civilian forced laborers moved into the area and from where – as well as their exact residential address.

Background information on documents relating to forced laborers

Further examples

Questions and answers

  • Where was the document used and who created it?

    Residents’ registration offices were located at the local police department or, in smaller local authorities, at the mayor’s office. The staff at these offices either placed the cards for civilian forced laborers in the general residents’ registration card file or kept a separate card file for them. Residents’ registration cards remained in situ and did not travel with the civilian forced laborers, even if the employment offices assigned them to a job in a different place.

  • When was the document used?

    Residents’ registration card files began to be used in the German Reich at the end of the 19th century. However, each place and each administrative district could decide for itself whether it kept such a card file and what information it would contain. A standard obligation to register in a place of residence when moving there, and to deregister when leaving, was first introduced in Germany through the Reich Order on Residential Registration (Reichsmeldeordnung) in January 1938. The Nazis maintained compulsory registration when civilian forced laborers began arriving in the German Reich, or were deported there, after 1939. After the end of the war, their cards often remained in the card files of residents’ registration offices if they had not been destroyed.

  • What was the document used for?

    As with many documents relating to civilian forced laborers, residents’ registration cards were a continuation of a practice that was already in place. They contain all the information about a person that relates to their place of residence. For instance, when they moved to the area, what address they lived at, and with which family members, and, if applicable, when they moved away. It is still the case today that all persons living in Germany are required to register and deregister with the relevant registration authorities.

    Civilian forced laborers were also registered using residents’ registration cards. However, there was no special form for them. Staff at the residents’ registration offices used the same cards as for Germans. No standard form was used across the Reich, instead different preprinted forms were used in the various residents’ registration offices. However, the information they contain is similar: Fields for personal details such as people’s names and places of birth, information about their parents, but also about their wives and children can always be found on residents’ registration cards. However, these fields are often left blank on the cards of foreign civilian laborers. The crucial information for the registration authorities was their place of residence. Any change of living accommodation within the same town or city therefore had to be recorded with the exact address, including the street and house number. In the case of civilian forced laborers, communal accommodation is often given as place of residence. For a time, Soviet civilian laborers were not allowed to leave this accommodation outside their working hours.

    How exactly the registration and deregistration of civilian forced laborers worked, and which registration forms they were required to complete, is still unclear. According to the extended Reich Order on Residential Registration of September 1939, they were required to report to the registration authority in person within 24 hours. However, there is evidence that companies that managed their own communal accommodation also passed on the relevant information to the residents’ registration authorities.

    After the end of the Second World War, residents’ registration offices also received orders from the Allies to compile information on all non-German nationals who had been registered with them since September 1939. Residents’ registration cards – and other documents – were to be used to gather information on the fate and the whereabouts of civilian forced workers. Large numbers of lists that were produced in this context are available in the Arolsen Archives today.

  • How common is the document?

    In theory, there must have been at least one residents’ registration card for each civilian forced laborer. Every time an employment office ordered a transfer to a company or business under the jurisdiction of another residents’ registration office, additional cards must have been produced.

    Staff at the International Tracing Service (ITS), the predecessor institution of the Arolsen Archives, did not file the residents’ registration cards that they received from individual local authorities in a separate card file, but sorted them together with other documents into the War Time Card File (Collection 2.2.2.1). This comprises a total of around 4.2 million documents. Consequently, it is impossible to say how many residents’ registration cards, either originals or copies, are held in the Arolsen Archives today. But in the near future, modern computer technology will find the answer: clustering techniques will make it possible to identify residents’ registration cards, as well as other documents, and to virtually collate cards of the same type. However, by no means all civilian forced laborers’ residents’ registration cards have survived.

  • What should be considered when working with the document?

    The residents’ registration cards do not indicate the local authority in which they were managed. Since they were part of the card file of a particular residents’ registration office and were not sent anywhere else, putting this information on the cards was unnecessary for their original purpose. However, when the residents’ registration cards came to the International Tracing Service (ITS), the predecessor institution of the Arolsen Archives, the staff sometimes stamped the place of origin on the front or back of the cards. In other cases, this information can be found in the archival description linked to the document. Unfortunately, however, it often remains unclear where a card came from, and consequently where the person concerned was required to perform forced labor. In these cases, an online search for the street names indicated on the card may be helpful. In other cases, comparison with other documents relating to the person that may have been preserved in the Arolsen Archives may help.

    If you have any additional information about this document, please send your feedback to eguide@arolsen-archives.org. The document descriptions in the e-Guide are updated regularly – and the best way for us to do this is by incorporating the knowledge you share with us.

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