Dr. Peter Quadflieg: As the historical memory of the state capital of Wiesbaden, the Wiesbaden City Archives preserve files and official records, documents and photographs, posters and engravings, flyers, films and audio recordings, printed materials and books, as well as purely digital records such as data from specialized procedures, digital images, and files. We also have a small collection of artifacts—that is, physical objects. 

Dr. Peter Quadflieg: Our oldest artifact is a document dating from 1351. In it, King Charles IV grants Countess Irmgard of Nassau permission to found and fortify a town on her estate in Sonnenberg. It’s wonderful that the wax seal with its silk cord is still preserved on this charter. We enjoy showing the charter during guided tours and can give visitors a sense of what a medieval charter looked like.

Dr. Peter Quadflieg: The Wiesbaden City Archives preserve documents and records that are of lasting historical value, document important events and facts, or must be retained permanently for legal reasons. 

We accept selected documents from municipal departments and private individuals and catalog them in our Arcinsys database. As a result, most of the records stored in our archives are available to everyone online. Our database can be searched online (opens in a new tab) by keyword.

We package our archival materials professionally to protect them from dirt and temperature fluctuations, thereby preventing long-term damage to the records. In the reading room, over the phone, and in writing, we advise users on all questions regarding the city’s history and, when needed, prepare expert reports when our historical expertise is required.

Through events and archival education programs for all age groups, we convey the city’s history in a way tailored to each audience. In addition, we contribute to the training of the next generation of archivists by offering internships to students and by training them ourselves to become certified media and information services specialists (opens in a new tab). We organize conferences on significant historical events and topics, such as the end of the war in 1945, and publish research findings in our series of publications, other publications, and online.

Dr. Peter Quadflieg: Essentially, the entire history of the city since the early modern period is reflected in the city archives. The period when Wiesbaden was known as a “world spa city” in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is particularly well-documented, as is the postwar period beginning in 1945, during which the establishment of the state of Hesse and Wiesbaden’s rise to become the state capital can be traced. We also have interesting sources on the incorporation of today’s city districts, which were previously independent and became part of Wiesbaden in 1926, 1928, 1945, and 1977. We will be presenting a book on this topic this fall, featuring sources from our archives.

Dr. Peter Quadflieg: One particularly significant archival document that we have been preserving since 2002 as a deposit from the Jewish Community of Wiesbaden is the so-called Gestapo index file from the Nazi era. The card index, which contains approximately 1,000 names, had to be maintained by the Jewish Community of Wiesbaden starting in 1938 on the orders of the Secret State Police and ultimately served to facilitate the deportation and murder of Wiesbaden’s Jewish men and women. It contains information on family relationships, marriage records, and details regarding changes of residence and emigration. It also provides the dates of deportation. The card index has been fully cataloged and is now used to reconstruct the life stories and circumstances under which these people were deported and murdered.

Dr. Peter Quadflieg: In that case, I would probably choose Carl Bernhard von Ibell (opens in a new tab). Ibell, a lawyer from Bad Ems, served as mayor of Wiesbaden from 1883 to 1913 and played a decisive role in shaping the city during its heyday at the turn of the century. His tenure was marked by landmark urban planning decisions and significant historical events. I believe it would be a controversial conversation, since Ibell pursued a rather one-sided policy for the city and didn’t always recognize the signs of the times, but the exchange would certainly be interesting.