Classification

Each of the testimonies gathered by Dr Eva Reichmann and her colleagues was originally given a summary sheet. The type of information recorded on these summary sheets is not entirely consistent, but usually it includes:

• An index number
• A title
• A date or dates (sometimes the date when the document was created, sometimes the period covered by the content, sometimes the date received)
• The number of pages
• The language of the material
• The author or source
• The person who recorded the material or the person from whom it was received
• A synopsis of the content
• References

The index number gives an indication of the type of content in each report. The first letter, P, designates the collection as a whole.

The collection was then divided up into the following categories:

1. History up to 1933
1. General
2. Imperial German & Pre-1914 Era generally
3. Weimar Republic & Interwar Years generally
4. Biographical Material
2. From the Seizure of Power to the Outbreak of War (1933-1939)
1. General
2. Economic Elimination of Jews
3. Acts of Violence, Arrests etc.
4. The November Pogrom
5. Jewish Organisation (also Youth Organisation) & Jewish Life.
6. Emigration
3. The “Final Solution”, (September 1939 - May 1945)
1. General
2. Forced Labour
3. Deportations and Transports
4. Illegal LIfe and Escapes
5. “Mischlinge”, Mixed Marriages, “Non-Aryans”, Racial Disgrace
6. Non-Jews Assisting Jews
7. Anti-Nazi Resistance
8. Concentration Camps & Ghettoes: 1) General, 2) alphabetical order
9. Countries outside Germany: 1) General, 2) alphabetical order
10. Liberation
11. Collaborators
4. Fate of Survivors
1. General
2. DP-Camps
3. Resettlement
4. The Children