Berlin-Dahlem,
1931–33
Albert Brackmann initiated a publication fund for Grenzmark Posen-Westpreußen at the Prussian Secret State Archives in 1931. In 1933 it became the Publikationsstelle Berlin-Dahlem, a department of the archive and office of the Nord- und Ostdeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Its work concentrated archival access, research and political contacts around revisionist claims on Germany’s eastern borders.
By 1936 one card index contained about 90,000 entries on people, institutions and enterprises in Polish, Baltic and Czech scholarship; a separate “Volkstumskartei” existed alongside it. Press monitoring, translation, statistics, maps and controlled circulation turned research into material for different political and administrative audiences.
During the war, this knowledge infrastructure became directly actionable. Translations and data supported security agencies and military commands; maps and population records entered registration, forced resettlement and territorial planning. The office also participated in the seizure and exploitation of libraries and archives. In 1943 it was assigned to the Reich Security Main Office.