What Your Family Did Under Hitler - Find Out Here [View all]

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/nsdap-archive-find-out-what-your-family-did-under-hitler-a-4c62a29b-054a-409f-8cc2-cfb8c46f98a9

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https://archive.md/20260529113522/https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/nsdap-archive-find-out-what-your-family-did-under-hitler-a-4c62a29b-054a-409f-8cc2-cfb8c46f98a9

What did my grandparents do during the Nazi era? How deeply was our family entangled? For the past several weeks, millions of Germans have been confronting such questions: They have begun digging into their ancestors’ past, researching, investigating, tracking down new information.

Suddenly, myths passed down from generation to generation are beginning to crumble: Grandpa really was a Nazi? Great-grandma was in the party? And what about Aunt Anne and Uncle Walter?

For Germans interested in learning more about the role played by their family during the Nazi era, the time has never been better. For three reasons:

1. The treasure. This spring, the US National Archives published the surviving NSDAP membership card files online. The millions of entries provide a list – though incomplete – of those people who, at least on paper, supported Nazi rule and the crimes the Nazis committed until 1945. It was a sensation, which DER SPIEGEL reported on first among major German media outlets.

2. The technology. Anyone can search the roughly 12 million index cards on a smartphone, tablet or laptop (though the archive website was initially overloaded by high demand and at times could not be reached). With the help of artificial intelligence, handwriting and scrawls on millions of cards can now be deciphered at a level of accuracy which, only months ago, even experts would scarcely have dared to dream of.

3. The reawakened interest. For decades, millions of Germans wanted to believe their families had not been involved in the violence, the war crimes and the murder of Jews perpetrated by the Nazis. Now, 80 years after the end of the war, many have begun to question taboos and family legends anew – in part because of how easy it has now become to search the records.

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