Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)

2. Session /Séance. Regional (trans-border) Cooperation / Coopération régionale (transfrontaliere) - Sturm, Joachim: Perspectives for trans-border regional Cooperation: The Case of the Upper Rhine Zone / L’entente Rhénane d’archivistes municipaux (Erasm) (english 123 - français 134)

2. Session/Séance: Sturm, Trans-border Cooperation: Upper Rhine Zone

Let us recall that the Assembly of ERASM itself finally supported this common regional and historical character by adopting for the association, at the Constitutive Assembly on 23 January 1987 in Strasbourg the system of local civil law of Alsace, which is based on the German Civil Code of law and on the German Imperial Law of 1896 relating to associations.

ERASM: Individuality and Intemationality

If ERASM was only a simple cultural vehicle of a body seeking a cultural identity, international cooperation would not be the subject of discussion. However, ERASM displays clearly a life and character all of its own, which as well as being connected to the regional life of the upper Rhine, also goes beyond it from several points of view.

To begin with, ERASM does not allow itself to be counted in every respect amongst those bodies which derive their essential reason for being from the concepts of the Tripartie - Dreiländereck or of the allemanic area.

In view of the mass of applications for membership from archivists in the rectangular area Strasbourg-Basle-Mulhouse-Offenburg, it would seem as if the association found all its meeting places in the allemanic dialect-speaking area. This first impression is wrong and is explained by the pauicity of municipal archivists within its boundaries.

In fact ERASM extends beyond the boundaries of the area delineated mainly on the north and west. As a consequence municipal archivists in Luxembourg and those in the Saar region bordering on France as well as municipal archivists in the border region of Rhineland-Pfalz take part in the life of the association as well as the city archivist of Karlsruhe.

Almost half the area in which ERASM has an influence lies outside the boundaries of the Tripartie and linguistically incorporates the Rhenish Françigne dialect as well as the Lorraine, Saar and Luxembourg dialects. Mention of the dialects spoken within ERASM already indicates that, like any international organisation, it may be faced with the problem of its working language. There is no problem at present since almost all its members speak or understand the Germanic dialects within the area of ERASM together with French and high German.

This is a characteristic entirely special to this society. Unlike other collaborative international bodies who are obliged to resort to interpreting services or to fix a working language, ERASM is characterised by easiness of communication, due to the mastery of the languages spoken in its area of operation. Each member can thus express himself in his/her chosen language without fear of not being understood during annual meetings.

In the case of ERASM the question of a working language, moreover is not yet settled. Indeed this leads on to another explanation of the field of recruitment of members and from there to its field of activity. The linguistic situation jointly with the market complementarity of archival holdings reflects a clear historical set of

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