Special Collection: Protest, Resistance and Utopia in the Federal Republic of Germany
Parts of the special collection have already been cataloged electronically in the Archives database. The contents of the documents are described and made accessible with the aid of a comprehensive thesaurus. Other parts of the collection are accessible with the help of finding aids. The arrangement of some of the holdings follows a system designed expressly for this section, the SBe (social movements) system). It divides the special collection into about 50 major groupings, each of which is subdivided according to formal criteria and content.
The systematic arrangement of all materials, including documents that have not yet been indexed, such as flyers and brochures, provides user-friendly access to the collection.
Moreover, the same classification categories are used in the special collection in the Archives and in the Library holdings in Social Movements / New Social Movements / Protest Movements in the Federal Republic of Germany. The Archives staff is also responsible for acquiring new titles and out-of-print books on this theme as well as literature dealing with international connections and developments.
In two separate documentation systems (FAUST), the Archives database, and the literature and periodical holdings on protest movements, we present the electronic holdings of the Archives and the Library. With a combined data search, users can identify archival material as well as periodicals and primary and secondary literature on a given topic.
Currently, the special collection of materials on protest, resistance, and utopia in the Federal Republic of Germany occupies about 2,000 meters of shelf space. The following overview offers a first impression.