RBNr. - District Codes (Kreiskennziffer):

Table of Contents:

• Description and structure of District Codes
• Map of District Codes
• Index of District Codes
• References

Description and structure of District Codes (Kreiskennziffer):

The four-digit District Code indicates the location of a company in a specific geographical area. For this purpose, the districs were numbered as the lowest administrative authority of the German Reich.

Already the first two digits of this four-digit number allow to determine to which individual countries or provinces of the German Reich the district belongs, as the different number blocks are based on their administrative boundaries. Each district then was clearly numbered by the last two digits.

With the district code 0845, for example, the first two numbers 08 already show the location of the district in one of the Bavarian administrative districts of Schwaben, Nieder-Bayern or Ober-Bayern. Together with the last two numbers, the exact district of Sonthofen is defined.

The earliest complete list of Disrict Codes known to me from contemporary sources was made available on Nov. 1st 1942 by the Rüstungsamt / MB III des Reichsministers für Bewaffnung und Munition as MB 010 /  Verzeichnis der Kreiskennziffern als Teil der Reichsbetriebsnummerung ⁽¹⁾.

However, the district division and numbering presented there has been revised over time. For example, due to changes in the administrative structure of the German Reich, repeatedly individual circles were dissolved or new ones were created. In such cases, affected District Codes were no longer needed or had to be reassigned.

Especially in the number range 1200 - 1499, of the eastern areas integrated into the Reich, there have been fundamental changes. There is a list Neue Kreiseinteilung ⁽²⁾, which is unfortunately undated and without further description, but reveals an almost complete reassignment of the District Codes 1200 - 1299 of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

However, due to the missing date on the document, an exact timing of this adjustment is difficult.

With the document Verzeichnis der Nummerung der geographischen Einteilung ⁽³⁾ of Maschinellen Berichtwesen des Reichsministers für Rüstung u. Kriegsproduktion dated May 1st 1944 there is the next complete list of District Codes, in which this reassignment is already included. In addition to several changes to individual districts, however, there is also a clear deviation from the list of 1942 for the districts 1400 - 1499 of the General Government.

In the list dated Jan. 17th 1945 Verzeichnis der politischen Kreise unterteilt nach Gauen ⁽³⁾ further changes become apparent. In this case there documents for these changes from which they can be determined precisely in time.

For example, on Apr. 29th 1944 a new classification of the districs in Alsace was orderd (Neue Kreiseinteilung im Elsaß ⁽²⁾). On Aug. 29th 1944 the administrative units of Eupen and Malmedy were given their own District Codes ⁽²⁾.

Since the Codes published in the list dated 1944 published list 1944 ⁽³⁾ largely correspond to the RBNrs. and companies included in my database, this list serves as the basis for the Index of District Codes (Kreiskennziffer) presented on this website. If different assignments of the Codes are known, this will be indicated in the Index.

Map of District Codes (Kreiskennziffer):