Archiv der Republik

Information in brief

The Archiv der Republik (AdR), whose inception was closely linked to the construction of the new State Archives building in the Erdberg district of Vienna, has existed as a department of the Austrian State Archives in its own right since 1983. In 1987, it was the first department to move into the new State Archives building at Nottendorfergasse 3.

The AdR is a centre of research into contemporary history. Its archival responsibilities encompass the evaluation, acquisition, preservation, restoration and preparation of all records produced by the central Austrian government institutions (federal ministries, central government agencies and subordinate institutions) from 1918 onwards.

In legal terms, the work of the AdR is governed by the Bundesarchivgesetz (law on federal archives), Federal Law Gazette I no. 162/1999, the Bundesarchivgutverordnung (regulation on federal archival holdings), Federal Law Gazette II no. 367/2002, and the Verordnung über nicht archivwürdiges Schriftgut des Bundes (regulation on records which do not qualify for archival preservation), Federal Law Gazette II no. 366/2002.

Upon moving to the new building at Nottendorfer Gasse, pertinent records which had so far been held by other departments of the Austrian State Archives were transferred to the AdR.

The archival holdings of the AdR, comprising a total of 66.000 linear metres, are now organised in 22 record groups, structured according to content, with at present over 860 sub-holdings, facilitating both internal handling and orientation for researchers.

In cases where it was not possible to cleanly split up holdings at the cut-off year of 1918, the allocation of records was decided on a case-by-case basis. It is for this reason that the AdR does not hold any records belonging to the administrative areas of justice and education dating to the First Austrian Republic. These holdings continue to be part of the Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv (AVA).

Similarly, it was difficult to divide up records from the area of transportation. For example, a series of documents reaching back as far as 1867 was transferred into the AdR. Holdings from the period of 1938 to 1945 do not fit into the stricter administrative framework either. Records of a non-military nature were allocated to the individual record groups according to contents.