Project Description
Within this series, all important sources are published that can be used to trace the emergence and development of the modern welfare state in Germany in the 19th and early 20th centuries. They also provide basic information on the functioning and role of constitutional institutions (including the Reichstag and the Bundesrat), the administration, the civil service, parties and associations, with short biographies of all the persons mentioned.
All sources - about 190-230 documents per volume - are arranged chronologically and provided with explanatory notes, most of which also contain references to further sources. The sources come mainly from archives and have - apart from the governmental level - different regional focuses, e.g. Rhine Province, Westphalia or Berlin-Brandenburg as well as Baden, Bavaria, Saxony and the Hanseatic cities. The volumes are indexed, among other things, by an introduction and extensive regional, place, person, company and subject indexes.
Departments:
I. From the Founding of the Empire to the Imperial Social Embassy (1867-1881)
II. from the Imperial Social Message to the February Decrees of Wilhelm II (1881-1890)
III. expansion and differentiation of social policy since the beginning of the New Course (1890-1904)
IV. Social Policy in the Last Peace Years of the Empire (1905-1914)
Information on how to obtain the source volumes: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt (WBG)