The Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv

Abstract

When the imperial archives in Vienna were reorganized to form the Austrian state archives shortly after the end of the Second World War, it became clear that the former name of the archive referred to in non-archival circles after 1945 as the “second division”—Staatsarchiv des Innern und der Justiz (state archive for internal affairs and justice)—no longer accurately reflected its contents. During the decade before the war, the records of all the central offices or ministries except those for foreign affairs, finances, defense, and railways (later transportation) had been added to it. In other words, the archive had become a repository for all documents not housed in the other divisions of the Austrian state archives. Or, to put it more positively, most documents dealing with the internal administration, in its broadest sense, had been stored in the archive. Other branches, such as education and economic affairs, had been only gradually detached from the ministry of interior. For these reasons, the name of the archive was changed to Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv in 1945.