These are documents containing data of at least one natural person. They are subject to a special protection period of 100 years. The period begins with the year of birth of the person(s) concerned if no date of death can be determined. However, the protection period can be shortened on application, e.g. if - as in the case of family research - a legitimate interest can be proven. The basis for the protection period is the \u00a7 11 of the Federal Archives Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t Subject files are documents that are assigned to a subject. Depending on the tradition, these files have their own holdings or are integrated into thematically similar holdings. If there is no other regulation, e.g. provisions on secrecy, the protection period for subject files ends after 30 years. Here, too, the basis is \u00a7 11 of the Federal Archives Act. Examples of subject files that may be helpful for family research in the Federal Archives can be found here (Example resettlement<\/a>).<\/p>\n\tWhat are subject files?<\/h3>\n\t