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)
3. Session/Séance: Oldenhage, Scope and Aims of Mobility. A German view devision of the country for more than forty years and last not least the membership of the two Germanies in different political blocks and military alliances may be the major historical examples why I first argue in favour of sharing experiences in the field of archives from the historian’s viewpoint. Probably more strongly than some others, German archivists must emphasize that they cannot do their job properly, unless they are well informed on the historical information kept in so many foreign archives and administered by archivists. This is by no means true for diplomatic sources only. The traditional need of sharing experiences among archivists within the territory of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation did not lead to a major exchange of staff which would deserve this denomination. The reasons for this deplorable situation are mainfold and - this is an understatement - not free of politico- psychological ingredients originating especially from the Nazi period. 3. Captured German and Occupational Records after World War II After the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht in 1945 the Allied powers seized many archives and records of German provenance. This requisition was justified under international law insofar the material was needed to administer Germany as a whole respectively the four zones of occupation. The history of this seizure and of the return of the bulk of the records to East or West German archives cannot be finally described because it still is to be completed. Anyway, the development of the relations between the archives of the Allied powers and German partner archives in East and West differed in more than one respect. The Soviets were first to give back captured German records to their part of Germany, to the German Democratic Republic. But the Potsdam Deutsches Zentralarchiv, later the Zentrales Staatsarchiv der DDR was not involved in the negotiations on the return of captured German archives from the Soviet Union. It is, therefore, not surprising that there was no programme of exchange of staff between the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic including the personell of the State Archives of the GDR. Of course, later in the framework of cooperation among the Socialist countries there were many visits of experts. Up to the present, there is no agreement on the return of captured German records from France to Germany. On the other hand, many German archivists due to the close political co-operation between the two countries from the fifties onwards participated in the Stage Technique and highly benefited from that experience. But one cannot say that there was a regular programme of exchange of staff, since particular lingustic barriers did not allow this option up to now. As far as the British-German relations are concerned the return of captured German records in the late fifties, sixties and seventies was accompanied by many visits of archival experts to the other country. An exchange of staff between the Public Record Office and the German Bundesarchiv was begun but not extended up to the present, less because of the lack of money, more because of linguistic reasons. 280
