Archive of Liberalism


The Archive of Liberalism of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Gummersbach has been in existence since 1968 and is thus the oldest of the six archives of political foundations in Germany.

Content

The Archive of Liberalism collects documents on the history of organized liberalism. In addition to "classical" file material, it also catalogues printed matter, leaflets, posters and other advertising material, as well as photos, films, videos, audio tapes and digital media. The focus of the collections is on Germany and the period after 1945; a few individual holdings date from the Weimar Republic, very few from the late 19th century. In total, the holdings comprise some 4.9 linear kilometres of files and some 25,000 units of audiovisual material. The archive also includes a specialist scientific library with about 42,000 volumes. The vast majority of the holdings are indexed in a database as well as in analogue or digital finding aids and are made available to users - in compliance with the terms of protection under the Federal Archives Act.

People

In addition, the archive holds the estates of liberal politicians, including former members of the Bundestag and federal chairmen of the FDP, such as those of the Federal Minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the Federal President and Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Walter Scheel, the Federal Minister of Justice Thomas Dehler or the Federal Minister of Economics Otto Graf Lambsdorff, the long-standing chairman of the FDP parliamentary group Wolfgang Mischnick or the Vice-President of the German Bundestag Liselotte Funcke.
Further holdings can be found in the archives by the following personalities, among others: