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)

The foundation of an international group of municipal archivists in the zone of the Upper Rhine is partly explicable by the existence of a formidable legal and administrative framework. Policies, laws and administrative actions are often the well- springs of deeper social and cultural developments.

In this context ERASM can not be thought of without mention of the evolution of the concept of the Allemanic area, commonly called the Dreiländereck - Tripartie. This pseudo-rebirth of an historic region, regarded as having a common identity language and culture look shape in the mid 1970s at the time of demonstrations by the younger elements of the population, mainly students, against the establishment of nuclear electric power stations on the Rhine at Wyhl (Germany) and Fessenheim (France). This wave of so-called democracy and resistance against remote national authorities, supported by the political organisations „Badisch-elsässische Bürgerinitiativen“ and intensified principally by the publicity in the media from this movement, also prepared the ground for archival cooperation.

The appearance of periodicals, which speculated on what might have been Almaine, as well as the publication of studies, the preparation of exhibitions on subjects relevant to the national territories of France, Germany or Switzerland, all, with the passage of time, carved an indistinct outline of the thinking behind this regional concept.

For example, an exhibition such as that relating to the Dukes of Zähringen in 1986 at Freiburg, with its lengthy preparations and research brought to light the many relationships, which existed between the historical sources held by the archives or the complementarity of their cultural services such as those of archaelogy or museums for knowledge of the region under scrutiny. Even if the field covered by such events only partly tallied with the more ideal than real allemanic cultural area, the research involved strengthened awareness of the common historical heritage throughout the Upper Rhine. Since this allemanic revival then, the historical topics treated, obviously, often reflected the emphasis on the past common history and recreated the history of a shared area, at the same time making use of the connection between complementary archives on both banks of the Rhine. In this sense, the large number of searchers, who at that time visited the search rooms, prepared the ground for ERASM to renew the historical ties and at the same time to weave new ties between archives.

This sheaf of reasons, political, administrative, social, economic and lastly historical lead to the condusion that ERASM is not the result of chance or the product of a professional group, isolated in time and space. Its creation is in keeping with the political and social circumstances of the regions and the countries concerned, to put it otherwise, all international archival cooperation is dependent on a favourable constellation which reaches beyond the established cultural framework, independently of the historical ties which there are between archives. That they stress the mere special historical relationships so as to join together is an obvions result of their specificity and their field of activity.

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

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