German Records in the National Archives of Tanzania

Extract

The National Archives of Tanzania (Idara ya Kumbukumbu za Taifa la Tanzania) were established on 28 August 1965. Since this date energies have been directed toward building an efficient archival service: better storage facilities have been acquired, trained Tanzanian personnel have been hired, and there is now seating space for ten researchers. The most significant development from the historian's point of view has been the recent organization of the German records into a concise and convenient index catalogue.

In June 1967 the West German Government Technical Aid Program sent Mr. Peter Geissler, an Archivinspektor at Hessiches Staatsarchiv, Marburg, on a two-year project to reorganize the German records. Mr. Geissler is already familiar to historians of the American Revolution for his research on the Hessian troop records at Marburg. In Deutsch-Ostafrika the old German Registry System (renewed in 1902 and in effect until 1916) had been utilized in numbering the various files. A still extant two-volume Registry lists all the documents in existence before the First World War, but many of these have since been lost, eaten by white ants, stolen, or destroyed. It is evident that only a few records concerning district political administration have survived, while land, legal, mission, public works, and education files are among the most complete. The files have been divided into two main groupings: (1) the old German Registry and other German Government Administration (G 1 - G 65); and (2) Private Archives (G 66 - G 86). Each file card contains both the new “G” number and the old German Registry designation. In addition Mr. Geissler has performed a painstaking task in listing on each card some of the outstanding names, places, etc. mentioned in the particular file.