THE  EVANGELICAL  CENTRAL  ARCHIVE  IN  BERLIN	The Building

The  Central   Archives  of   the  Evangelical  Church  in Berlin  (EZA)  was   founded  in  1979  as  the  result  of the  joining  of  the  Archive of  the  Evangelical  Church of Germany (EKD) and  the  Archive  of  the Evangelical Church  of  the  Union  (EKU). The  Evangelical  Church  of  Germany (EKD) is  itself a union of all the Protestant churches  in  the several Ger- man  states,  creating  an alliance of  independent  chur- ches of the various Protestant denominations. The EKD archive  was  established in Berlin in 1939 and was composed of  the records of  the German  Evangeli- cal  Church  and  its  various  antecedent  organizations ( see  General  Outline of  Holdings ). This  archive  was transferred  to Hannover  in 1960  and  later, in 1972, to Soest, where  the holdings of  the "Ecumenical  Archive" (today, Record Group 51) were added to it. In 1974, the archive was transferred back to Berlin. The  Evangelical   Church  of   the  Union  (EKU)  is  the successor  organization of  the  Prussian  State  Church, the  jurisdiction of which  extended  until 1945  from  the Memel to  the  Rhein  and  Saar Rivers, but  did  not  in- clude  the provinces of  Hannover, Hessen-Nassau, and Schleswig - Holstein  which   had   been   conquered  by Prussia  in 1866. These  three  provinces  continued  to maintain  their  autonomous  churches. In 1945, the then "Evangelical Church of  the Old  Prus- sian Union" lost  its  church  provinces east of  the Oder and  Neisse  Rivers.  The  remaining  church  provinces declared  themselves  independent  state churches, but still  associated  themselves  in a special  union. In 2003 the  EKU  merged  into  the  "Union  of  the  Evangelical  Churches in the EKD" (UEK). The Evangelical Church of the Union (EKU) established its  own  archive  in  1964, to  which  the  "Archive of the History  of  the  Kirchenkampf" which had been collected by  Prof.  Günter  Harder,  was  in 1976  donated  by the Theological  College, Berlin-Zehlendorf  (today, Record Group 50).

Evangelical Central Archives in Berlin Bethaniendamm 29 10997 Berlin Germany Phone / E-Mail: : Family research: +49 30 22 50 45 36 kirchenbuchstelle@ezab.de Reservation for workplaces: Fax: +49 30 22 50 45 40 reservierung@ezab.de General: +49 30 22 50 45 20 archiv@ezab.de Fax: +49 30 22 50 45 40

As a result  of the division  of Germany  after the Second World War, the  Evangelical  Churches  of the GDR,  formed  their  own "Union  of  Evangelical  Churches  of  the  GDR" (BEK) in 1969, and  from 1972 the  EKU was  henceforth  divided into two areas. The BEK,  together with the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg, established a "Joint Archive" in 1987 in Berlin-Mitte. In 1992, the holdings of the BEK and the  EKU-Section GDR were transferred to the Central Archive of the Evangelical Church in Berlin (EZA). The EZA is responsible for all archival  material  from offices, organizations  and institutions of the EKD and  the EKU and  their  legal  and  functional  antecedents. In addition, the  EZA has collected  archival material  from  independent  supraregional  organizations and  associations that work closely with the Evangelical church and support it in its message and work as well as from the estates of important  individuals who  were active within the sphere of the church and related activities.

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