Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)
3. Session / Séance. Sharing of Experience and Exchange of Staff / Partage d’Expériences et Echange des Personnes - Oldenhage, Klaus: Scope and Aims of Mobility. A German View / Portée et buts de la mobilité. Un point de vue allemand (english 279 - français 285)
Klaus Oldenhage Scope and Aims of Mobility. A German view 1. Preface Mobility, in particular mobility of archivists is not a value for ist own. It is not needed unless it serves the preservation and use of materials the concerned archivists are in charge of. Cultural traditions of a country, of a region, of a language or any other community require self-consciousness and indepence. Internationally standardized professional methods and techniques require the sharing of professional experiences and the exchange of staff. Both needs may, but do not necessarily enter into rivalry. Our main problem will be to chose among alternatives when and how to do what. In order to avoid major mistakes scope and aims of mobility, therefore, ought not be determined by any professional international or national community without having reviewed the experiences of many archives and archivists. A German view, more rightly my personal experience as a German archivists may be taken into consideration for some reasons several of which are very German. 2. The Special German Historical Situation An archivist more than many other professionals depends on the history of her or his country. Opening the 10th International Congress on Archives held at Bonn in September 1984, Friedrich Zimmermann, the later Federal German Minister of the Interior, strongly underlined the special German interest in sharing of experiences by international archival cooperation. This statement was justified for so many good historical reasons the most important of which was and still is the simplest one: there never was nor ever will be a German National Archives. In respect to my own very personal experience when preparing my dissertation on Empress Mary Theresia’s youngest son in two Viennese archives and seven archival institutions in Germany, I do know that German history for so many centuries cannot be written by consulting German archives only. It is due to Germany’s history as well as to her geographical location that sharing of archival and historical experiences within Germany and her territories as well as the contact with archives abroad are an urgent need not only for Germany’s Central or Federal Archives but for almost all german archives and archivists irrespective of level and kind of parent authority. The Holy Roman Empire of German Nation, Austria’s and Prussia’s historical relations to many non-German countries and peoples, the variety of more than 300 territories in the medieval and early modern times, the colonial policy of Bismarck’s Reich, Hitler’s crimes are committed not only on the European continent. The 279
