Records of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany [USHCG]
(Record Group 466)
1944-58
Table of Contents
- 466.1 Administrative History
- 466.2 General Records of USHCG
1945-58
- 466.3 Records of the Land Commissioners
1945-52
- 466.4 Records of the Berlin Element 1948-55
- 466.5 Records of the U.S. Element of the Military Security Board 1947-55
- 466.6 Records of the U.S. Element of the Extradition Board 1945-55
- 466.7 Records of U.S. Courts of the Allied High Commission for Germany 1944-55
- 466.8 Records of Other USHCG Organizational Units 1950-55
- 466.9 Records of the Combined Travel Board of the Allied High Commission for Germany 1945-54
Established: Position of USHCG (commonly referred to as "HICOG"), in the Department of State, by EO 10062, June 6, 1949, following the Presidential appointment of John J. McCloy as USHCG, announced May 18, 1949. Office of USHCG established in the State Department, September 21, 1949.
Predecessor Agencies:
- U.S. Group Control Council, Germany (USGCC, Aug. 1944-Oct. 1945)
Office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.) [OMGUS] (Oct. 1945-Sept. 1949)
Functions: Represented the U.S. Government in Germany, including on the Allied High Commission for Germany, and with respect to economic matters of concern to the Economic Cooperation Administration and the Mutual Security Agency.
Abolished: May 5, 1955, by proclamation of the Allied High Commission for Germany.
Successor Agencies: Department of State (U.S. Embassy, Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany).
Security-Classified Records: This record group may include material that is security-classified.
Related Records: USGCC and OMGUS records in RG 260, Records of U.S. Occupation Headquarters, World War II.
466.2 General Records of USHCG
1945-58
History: For administrative histories of predecessors, USGCC and OMGUS, see 260.2 and 260.3.
466.2.1 Records of the U.S. High Commissioner
Textual Records: Publications relating to the United States occupation of Germany, 1945-53. Top secret and other security-classified records of U.S. High Commissioner John J. McCloy, 1949-52. Historical analyses of the McCloy administration, 1949-52. Extracts from staff conferences, 1949-52.
466.2.2 Records of the Office of the Executive Director
Textual Records: Security-classified and unclassified general records, 1949-55. Outgoing dispatches, 1952-53.
466.2.3 Records of the Office of the General Counsel
Textual Records: Records of the Chief Attorney, 1945-55. Subject files, 1947-54, and case files, 1947-53, of the Administration of Justice Division. Records of the Decartelization and Deconcentration Division, consisting of general subject files, 1948-55; cartel subject files, 1947-55; records concerning the motion picture industry, 1945-55; and records of the U.S. Element, Tripartite I.G. Farben Control Group, 1945-55. Records of the Prisons Division, including war criminal case files, 1946-54; inspection reports, 1946-54; petitions for clemency or parole and related records on persons convicted by the U.S. military tribunals at Nuremberg, 1947-57; records of the HICOG Clemency Board, 1945-55; administrative and medical records of Landsberg prisoners, 1947-58; and issues of Zeitschrift Fuer Strafvollzug (The Prison Journal) and related records, 1949-53. Legislation Division correspondence and other records concerning the review of Allied and German legislation, 1946-51. Records relating to agreements between the Allied High Commission and the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949-55. Records of the U.S. representative to the HICOM Law Committee, 1949-55. Records pertaining to Allied High Commission laws and regulations, 1949-55.
466.2.4 Records of the Office of Economic Affairs
Textual Records: Combined Coal Control Group orders of seizure and transfer of German coal company assets, 1951-53. Combined Steel Group orders of seizure and transfer of German steel company assets, 1949-55.
466.2.5 Records of the Office of Political Affairs
Textual Records: Passport Control and Security Section records of the U.S. representative to the Combined Travel Board, 1945-52.
466.3 Records of the Land Commissioners
1945-52
466.3.1 Records of the Land Commissioner for Bremen
Textual Records: General and administrative records of the Land Commissioner, the Deputy Land Commissioner, and the Administrative Officer, 1945-52. Records and reports of the Statistics Branch and the Operating Facilities Branch, 1950-52. General records, letters, reports, and lists of the Political Affairs Division, 1949-52. General records, letters, and case files of the Legal Affairs Division, 1946-52. Records of the Economic Affairs Division, including records pertaining to the Bremerhaven Port of Embarkation, 1949-50; and general records, 1951-52. Records of the Military Security Division, 1948-52. General and related records of the U.S. Resident Officer of the Field Operations Division, 1947-52.
466.3.2 Records of the Land Commissioner for Bavaria
Textual Records: General records of the Land Commissioner, 1948- 52. Records and reports of the Intelligence Division, 1949-51. Civil and criminal case files, general records, and reports of the Legal Affairs Division, 1947-51. Records of the Displaced Population Branch of the Political Affairs Division, 1946-52, consisting of case files and of correspondence relating to children. Monthly reports of the Public Affairs Division, 1950- 51. Records and reports of the Field Operations Division, 1947- 52.
466.3.3 Records of the Land Commissioner for Wuerttemberg-Baden
Textual Records: Central files, 1945-51. Correspondence files of the Land Commissioner and Deputy Land Commissioner, 1949-52. Records of the Legal Affairs Division, 1945-52. Weekly intelligence reports of the Field Operations Division, 1949-50. Narrative activity reports of the Public Affairs Division, 1945-51. Records of the Intelligence Division, 1947-52.
466.3.4 Records of the Land Commissioner for Hesse
Textual Records: General records, 1947-52. Records relating to the review and regulation of Hessian state economic and financial affairs, 1948-51. Records relating to food production, forest conservation, and game preservation. Subject files of the Political Affairs Division Chief, 1946-52. Records of the Legal Affairs Division, 1946-52. Correspondence and narrative reports of the Field Operations Division, 1948-52. Records of the Public Affairs Division, including records relating to youth and community activities, 1949-51; Educational and Cultural Relations Branch records relating to rural youth education and recreation, 1949-51; correspondence and other records of the Public Health and Welfare Branch, 1948-51; records of the Press and Publications Section Chief of the Information Services Branch, 1949-51; and Intelligence Division intelligence files, 1945-51.
466.4 Records of the Berlin Element
1948-55
Textual Records: Security-classified general records of the Administrative Division, 1949-55. General and other records of the Allied Kommandatura, 1948-51. Subject files and general records of the Eastern Affairs, Labor Affairs, Legal Affairs, Economic Affairs, Political Affairs, Public Safety, and Public Affairs Divisions, 1948-53.
466.5 Records of the U.S. Element of the Military Security Board
1947-55
Textual Records: Records of the U.S. Commissioner and the Deputy U.S. Commissioner, 1947-55, including minutes of meetings, subject files, papers, policy books, and intelligence analyses. Reports, letters, and notices of the U.S. Secretariat, 1949-55. Minutes of meetings, correspondence, memorandums, issuances, subject files, and statistical papers of the Industry Division, 1949-55. Issuances, general records, reports, and statistical papers of the Military Division, 1949-55. Minutes of meetings, general records, and subject files of the Scientific Research Division, 1948-55; and subject files of its Patent Branch, 1948-55.
466.6 Records of the U.S. Element of the Extradition Board
1945-55
Textual Records: Minutes of meetings, general correspondence, war crimes correspondence, and general and country subject files, 1945-54. War crimes extradition case files, 1945-54. Extradition case files, for crimes other than war crimes, of the Judicial Subcommittee of the Law Committee, Allied High Commissioner for Germany, 1953-55. Registers of war crime extraditions, 1945-51.
466.7 Records of U.S. Courts of the Allied High Commission for
Germany
1944-55
Textual Records: Criminal case files, 1945-55 (1,720 ft.). Court of Appeals criminal case files, 1948-55 (122 ft.). Children's resettlement case files, 1949-54. Court case registers and indexes, 1944-54. Cross reference sheets, 1945-55.
466.8 Records of Other USHCG Organizational Units
1950-55
Textual Records: General records of the U.S. Observer for Land Baden (at Freiburg), 1950-52. Reports and records of the Peripheral Reporting Unit relating to interrogations, 1953-55.
466.9 Records of the Combined Travel Board of the Allied High Commission for Germany
1945-54
History: The Combined Travel Board (CTB) was established as an integrated triparite organization under the Allied High Commission for Germany on October 7, 1949. The CTB replaced the former loosely organized and coordinated Combined Travel Board, which had functioned under different elements of the Allied Military Government for Germany. The CTB, established to develop and supervise a single uniform travel policy for Western Germany, held responsibility for recommended policy on entry, exit, and transit travel control to the Political Affairs Committee of the AHC, and for the direction and supervision of the executive organization concerned with implementing that policy. Headed by a Director General and two Deputy Directors General, the CTB was composed of three principal functional directorates (Passport Control and Security, Internal Affairs, and External Affairs), a Chief Secretary, an international network of 20 Military Permit Offices and 110 consulates, a European network of 14 Branch Offices, and British, American, and French immigration inspectors. The CTB was terminated on May 5, 1955, upon assumption of its functions by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Textual Records: Policy files, 1945-54 (123 rolls of microfilm). Records relating to the issuance and revocation of passports, permits, and certificates of travel, 1945-54.
Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.
This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.
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