Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)
4. Session / Séance. Strategies for Links with Historical Research / Stratégies de Communication envers la Recherche historique - Palayret Jean-Marie: Towards a New History of Europe (integration period) / Pour une nouvelle Histoire européenne. La période de l’intégration) (english 393 - français 413)
4. Session/Séance: Palayret, Towards a new History of Europe sential events in throwing light on the „relaunching of Europe“ and the first attempts at British membership in the Communities (the Thorneycroft and Maudling negotiations) were made public only very partially17. It should be noted that the Public Records Office houses at Kew, and makes available to bona fide researchers, the political and military archives of the Brussels Pact Organization (1948-54) and of the Western European Union (WEU) that succeeded it (for the period 1954-8). In Germany, the historiography of integration already has some tradition, with a predilection for the study of questions having to do with the incorporation of Federal Germany into the cooperation structures of Western Europe, or relations developed in this framework with the United States. Access to archives was not always easy there for researchers, and the reorganization following reunification still leaves a number of uncertainties in the air as to the fate of the archives located on the territory of former West Germany18. The Bundesarchiv and the Ministry for Economic Affairs have the most important holdings for our subject (e. g. the series „Bundesministerium für den Marshall Plan, Deutsche Dienststellen zur Vorbereitung der EVG“); mention should be made of the „Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes: Abteilung 2: Sekretariat für Fragen des Schuman-Plans“. The problems of the European Defence Community led in Germany to a remarkable study by the „Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt“ team, in its fundamental project o the history of German rearmament19. In France and Italy, the Archives of the Foreign Ministries are the reference point. In France, the recent opening in the Quai d’Orsay archives of the holdings coming from the „service de coopération économique“ that coordinated activity relating to integration in the Six, with as a political annex the series on „European International Questions“, are throwing new light on the initiatives taken or hesitations expressed by French diplomacy regarding integration. In Italy, the holdings of the Ministero degli Esteri (Farnesina) coming from the directorates for legal affairs and economic affairs document Italien participation in the Marshall Plan and the OEEC, in the negotiations on political union and on the various aspects of economic integration. The series called „cassaforte“ brings together important material on the launching of the Pleven plan, the failure of the European Defence Community (EDC) negotiations and the creation of its substitute, the WEU. One migth, however, regret that the military archives of both countries remain „padlocked“. The Archives Nationales and Archivio Centrale dello Stato We are here using the conclusions in the report by R. N. T a y 1 o r presented to the Maastricht colloquium „Archives and Europe Without Boundaries“, published in Janus 1992/2, p. 41-46. In this connection see Loth, W.: L’historiographie sur l’intégration européenne en Allemagne fédérale, in: Lettre d’information des historiens de l’Europe contemporaine, vol. 7/1-2 (June 1992) and Z i e 1 i n s k y, Bernd - R a d t k e, Ame: La mémoire unifiée? L’héritage équivoque des archives de la RD A, in: Vingtième siècle, n° 34 (April-June 1992), p. 53-68. 19 Two volumes out so far: Maier, K. A-Volkmann, H. E. - Wiggerhans, N.: Anfänge Westdeutscher Sicherheitspolitik 1945-1956. Vol. 1-2. München 1982-1990. 403
