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Identity statement

Reference code(s)

GB 0099 KCLMA Brixmis Association

Title

Brixmis Association

Date(s)

1946-2015

Level of description

Collection (fonds)

Extent and medium of the unit of description (quantity, bulk, or size)

25 boxes

Context

Name of creator(s)

Brixmis Association

Administrative / Biographical history

The Association was formed to promote social contact between former members of the British Commanders'-in-Chief Mission (BRIXMIS) to the Soviet Forces in Germany, 1946-1990. Under the terms of an agreement signed by Lt Gen Sir Brian Robertson, Deputy Military Governor, Control Commission Germany, and Gen M S Malinin, Deputy Chief of Staff, Soviet Group of Forces of Occupation in Germany, the British and Soviet forces each had liaison missions in each other's zones, officially to foster good working relations, and unofficially to gather military intelligence. Similar agreements for the French and American forces were signed in 1947. BRIXMIS was comprised of Army and RAF personnel. All missions closed when the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was reunited with the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), 1990.

Content & structure

Scope and content

The collection includes personal accounts written or recorded by Brixmis members beginning as far back as 1946, when Brixmis came into being at the end of World War Two following the division of Germany into 4 Military Zones of Occupation, till its dissolution in 1990 at the end of the Cold War; this archive also includes photographs, video, film and audio tape material relating to Brixmis. Following the Brixmis personal narratives are a number of reports and correspondence initiated by the Stasi (East German secret police) and the Soviets on the subject of minimising the intelligence gathering activities of the Allied Missions ( FMLM-French, USMLM-American, BRIXMIS-British ) operating in East Germany but officially attached to the occupying Soviet Forces. There is also a series of Stasi reports covering the detailed monitoring of Brixmis and other Allied Mission operational activities in East Germany. Other third party material ( mainly obtained from web sources and therefore cannot be verified in absolute detail but that forms an important backdrop to the narratives of the Service personnel who served with Brixmis ) has been provided to help the reader or researchers to better understand the environment and circumstances that Brixmis and the other Allied Missions operated in the Soviet Occupied Communist State of East Germany and includes material from the American and French Missions who had the same role as Brixmis. Major political events of worldwide significance e.g. the erection of the Berlin Wall, are covered and an excellent French documentary film (by Artline Films and broadcast on French TV and on the Military History channel in 2010) on the role of the Allied Missions is also included by kind permission of the French production company.

System of arrangement

Arranged into a number of series: personal narratives; Stasi and Soviet reports; reports and information on Soviet and East German equipment; and miscellaneous including film footage.

Conditions of access & use

Conditions governing access

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. The audio recordings may not be copied. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archives and Information Management.

Language/scripts of material

English, Russian, German

Finding aids

File level list available for consultation in the Archives.

Allied materials

Existence and location of originals

King's College London College Archives

Related units of description

The Intelligence Corps Archives at Chicksands has archive material relating to Brixmis including some personal narratives. The National Archives at Kew holds official Brixmis reports.

Description control

Archivist's Note

Entry compiled by Kate O'Brien and Geoff Browell.

Rules or conventions

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997; and UWA Department of Information Studies based on ISAD(G) second edition, 2000.

This catalogue is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License. This catalogue may be updated from time to time in order to reflect additional material and/or new understandings of the material.

Date(s) of descriptions

August 2012, updated 2015

Last updated: Sunday 02, September 2012