unknown cards (database?)

[Laurens Q-fin]

Hi guys,

A friend of mine has a whole group of cards as can be seen below and were purchased on a French flea market. I picked out two in the best condition to ask an opinion here. I have never seen anything like this and I have a feeling they were used in some kind of database, apparently from the Alg. SS?? Could these be fantasy? Otherwise, I cannot provide any more information but welcome any reactions...

Thanks,
Laurens

[Laurens Q-fin]

1st:

[Laurens Q-fin]

2nd:

[F L Clemens]

Those are cards from a Verlustmeldungen-Kartei, probably from a regional Allgemeine SS office. I use a similar set of index cards on microfilm to look up officer losses in the Army. If you looked up all the units on the cards, you would be able to pinpoint which regional office maintained the index.

The bureaucracies of the Third Reich had many such databases of index cards for various purposes. The most famous is the NSDAP master card file which was rescued from a paper mill at the end of the war.

The Germans were also introducing the punch-card system (Hollbein or IBM) into their bureaucracy as a more efficient database method rather then these handwritten cards.

Its a shame that your file was broken up instead of being filmed for archival and researcher use.