The Archivportal-D is a sub-portal of Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and offers you a comprehensive search for archives and archival records in Germany.

With us you will find:

  • A comprehensive directory of German archival institutions
  • Descriptive information on the records of our data partner archives
  • Digitized copies of records of individual data partner archives
  • Online Collections on the topics of the "Weimar Republic" and "Wiedergutmachung for National Socialist Injustice"

Use Archives to search for individual archives from different sectors in the various federal states. Find archival records from our data partner archives via Search. Search for archival material on specific topics, such as the "Weimar Republic", using the tab Online collections in the header menu. You can find more information on the functions of the Archivportal-D on our help page.

Archivportal-D introductional film - a produktion of musealis GmbH for the Bundesarchiv, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg and FIZ Karlsruhe. | musealis GmbH, 2021 |

Please also visit our main portal: the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek

Here you will find archival records from more than 200 archives as well as more digitised cultural assets from libraries, museums, media libraries, monument preservation and other institutions.

Archivportal-D was the 2016 winner of the European multimedia cultural competition Heritage in Motion in the category "Websites and online content". We are continuously developing our offer further in order to make cultural assets from German archives searchable online in the future as well. Step by step, the Archivportal-D is to be expanded to become the central reference portal for archival records in Germany.

The beginning: DFG project "Building an Archivportal-D"

The project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft was implemented as a sub-project of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek from October 2012 to April 2017. Since May 2017, Archivportal-D has been in regular operation and enables a Germany-wide, cross-archival and professional search for archival records.

The development of Archivportal-D was realised by:

Read more

Online collection „Urkunden der Pfalzgrafen“

The online collection "Urkunden der Pfalzgrafen" contains documents with their regesta (summaries of content) from the reigns of Electors Frederick I (1425-1476) and Philip (1448-1508). The indexing and digitization of the records and their joint presentation as an online collection within Archivportal-D was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2022 to 2025 and forms the starting point for future expansions by other archives.

Project partners of the DFG project were:

Information on how to search in the online collection can be accessed here (only available in German).

Online collection "Weimar Republic"

In the online collection "Weimar Republic", you will find archival material from the period of the Weimar Republic from various archives in Germany in one place. The development of the Weimar Republic thematic portal was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2018 to 2022 and is the prelude to further online collections in Archivportal-D.

Project partners of the DFG project were:

The film shows new research options in Archivportal-D using the example of the “Weimar Republic” online collection. | musealis GmbH, 2020 |

Online collection "Wiedergutmachung for National Socialist Injustice"

The Online Collection „Wiedergutmachung for National Socialist Injustice” as part of the DDB’s sub-collection Archivportal-D offers a centralized access to millions of records created in the context of the German Wiedergutmachung policy. In the years and decades to come, it will expand its content and provide comprehensive access to this documentary legacy for an international public. The online collection will allow families and descendants to research information on the fate of people persecuted by the National Socialist regime and on their own family history. International academic research and educational projects of all kinds will have access to suitable research options, digital copies and a broad range of educational material.

The collection already includes the most important archival holdings from German federal and Land archives, and from multiple municipal and independent archives. Moreover, users can find the majority of relevant records already available in the Archivportal-D via a search bar (‚Archivgut‘) on the collection’s landing page. A demo version of the person search offers a low-threshold access point to search for individual persons. This will make it much easier to find records and documents relating to a particular person.

The Federal Ministry of Finance initiated and finances the thematic portal as a follow-up task of the Wiedergutmachung. The Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, FIZ Karlsruhe and the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek are responsible for implementation within the framework of Archivportal-D, while the Federal Archives is responsible for archival support and coordination.