The Bundesarchiv (the Federal Archives) collects the documents of all central branches of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949), the German Democratic Republic (1949-1990), the German Reich (1867/71 1945) and the German Confederation (1815-1866), as long as the documents are deemed to have lasting value for the study of the German history, for purposes of citizens' rights, or as information for lawmakers, administration or the judicial system.The central tasks of the Bundesarchiv is thus to make decisions regarding the continuing value of documents as well as their classification, their arrangement, and their long-term survival. Additionally, the archive's holdings are used for scholarly text collections and exhibitions. Archivists can answer questions based on the holdings. Access to collections is free to the general public.The Bundesarchiv also collects the papers of important persons, of political parties, associations, and organizations, when these have a relevance beyond a specific region. It also collects published primary sources. The Bundesarchiv also serves as the central German Film Archives. http://www.bundesarchiv.de