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

1. Session / Séance. Experiences gained, current Situation, future Prospects / Expériences acquises, Situation actuelle, Perspectives futures - Csendes, Peter: Cooperation between the Successor States of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy / Coopération entre les Etats Successeurs de la Monarchie austro-hongroise (english 59 - français 66)

Peter Csendes

Cooperation between the Successor States of the Austro- Hungarian Monarchy

With the end of World War I, in Europe boundaries had changed fundamentally. The multinational Austro-Hungarian Monarchy had disappeared, the new Austria was left behind as a small state, other Kronländer of the former empire had become sovereign countries. Even parts of the Austrian nucleus now belonged to foreign states, such as Southern Tyrol or Lower Styria, on the other hand, Western Hungarian counties, the Burgenland, were united with Austria.

For administration and for the archives, of course, a big problem arose from this situation: important administrative material and historical sources for a once common history and tradition, especially those produced by the central administration, were suddenly kept in various institutions in several different countries. In this special respect, Austria and her archives became of special interest to the other successor states - even after World War II - and therefore it may be permissible to stress in this paper the Austrian angle. As a result of the new situation after 1918, negotiations between Austria, Italy, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia took place dealing with this matter and treaties were concluded1, but not all the problems could be solved. Further contacts and talks, especially between Austria and the former Yugoslavia, and the subsequent transfer of archival material lasted until recently. Because of the changes in former Yugoslavia one can observe another approach to that subject nowadays.

Another way was chosen between Austria and Hungary1 2. A treaty was concluded in 1926, which determined to hand over certain fonds to Budapest, but also to establish a permanent Hungarian delegation to the Viennese Archives to work on the contents belonging to the common intellectual heritage. This institution, with an interruption after World War II, is still in function and successful, a fine example of international cooperation in common interests.

1 Cf. the articles of Ludwig Bittner in: Archiv für Politik und Geschichte 3/1 (1925), p. 58-95; in: Archivalische Zeitschrift 35 (1925) p. 141-203, and in: Gesamtinventar des Wiener Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchivs. Vol. 1. Wien 1936, p. 38*-49*; also Neck, Rudolf: Zu den österreichisch-italienischen Archivverhandlungen nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg, in: Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 31 (1978) p. 434-441; Rill, Gerhard - Springer, Elisabeth - Thomas, Christiane: Österreichisch- jugoslawische Archivverhandlungen 1923-1982. Eine Zwischenbilanz, in: Mitteilungen des österreichischen Staatsarchivs 35 (1982) p. 288-347.

For extradition after World War II cf. Kraus, Wilhelm: 10 Jahre Österreichisches Staatsarchiv 1945— 1955, in: Mitteilungen des österreichischen Staatsarchivs 8 (1955) p. 238-304, esp. 253-255.

2 Cf. R e s s, Imre: Die Ungarische Archivdelegation in Wien als eine Institution zur Lösung von grenzüberschreitenden Archivproblemen, in: Scrinium 36/37 (1987) p. 264-272.

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