Niedersächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv

In Hanover stands the Niedersächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, a major archive in Germany. It gathers a wide range of historical documents, some of them centuries old. Together these papers preserve the history of the city and the region around it.

Historians and researchers work here, and the public can engage with that history as well. If you are tracing a family line or exploring the wider history of Germany, the collections hold material for both. Meticulous ordering helps visitors navigate the extensive materials. The holdings include documents of the Kingdom of Hanover and military records. Personal papers of notable figures from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries add private voices to the official record. The National Socialist period has its own files here. Documents on the city's Jewish population run from 1934 to 1960. Microfilm makes those files accessible abroad, through a partnership with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.