From a statement to the press (at
http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/00262/index.html ):
Am 5. November 2008 werden über das Digitale Bildarchiv des Bundesarchivs (http://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/) 60 000 Fotos des Presse- und Informationsamtes der Bundesregierung (BPA) für die Recherche und den Download im Internet freigeschaltet. Gleichzeitig sind diese Bilder auch über die Internetadresse http://www.bundesbildstelle.de/ online erreichbar.
This says: From November 5, 2008 the photos of the Press and Information Service of the Federal German Government (BPA) can be freely downloaded from the internet. The federal digital image archive:
http://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/, containing 60 000 photos, can be searched. The photos can also be accessed at
http://www.bundesbildstelle.de/.
See also:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:BundesarchivPS. After I wrote this, I spent a little time on searching the archive. First Gorbachev (no luck), Gorbatschow (132 hits) and then Hitler, Adolf. At first I was startled: 32 hits for Hitler, but then it appeared that only 6 fairly lousy photos were free, the other 26 were not shown and require special permission. I saw a nice black and white of Reagan and Gorbachev on Iceland, suitable for CZ, but it has in big letters "Bundesarchiv" in the center. It is probably not allowed to photoshop this away, so I decided not to upload it.
