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)

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

circumstances, which makes it possible to see that this common past is based on a type of international cooperation similar to that of ERASM.

An analysis of membership discloses that the territorial limits of recruitment correspond closely to a western frontier zone of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the 15th and 16th centuries, bordering on the kingdom of France in the geographical sector of the Upper Rhine and that these limits coincide almost exactly with the imperial bailiwicks of Alsace, Brisgau and Ortenau.

So, the flag of ERASM would fly in the breeze of a long historical tradition and would recall like a remote reflection, the way of life, in several countries on both sides of the Rhine,of the Rhenish knights. Of the lesser Rhenish nobility, often vassals of the French king and of the Emperor of the German Holy Roman Empire, it was said that they lived on horseback on the Rhine and naturally put into practice this cultural community beyond the frontiers which is today basic to ERASM.

It is possible, however, once more to specify within this historical framework the bases which unite the members of the association. As the name „Entente municipale“ indicates, they are the archivists of the towns which support this grouping of archive services. Looked at historically, ERASM could thus also revive, with its own special structure for mutual assistance and protection by the Alsation towns on the Rhine, which was, for example, the association of Alsatian towns between the 14th and 18th centuries, known as the „Décapole“. This also explains why the municipal archivist of Landau, once the northernmost city in that group is a member of the association.

ERASM, if a historical or territorial purpose can be attributed to this form of international cooperation, calls on the relationships for mutual assistance and good neighbourly contacts by the towns along the Upper Rhine in remembrance of the former historical bonds, which are apparent in the holdings of archives in the custody of members of ERASM. From a geographical point of view, ERASM also has a field of recruitment and operation made up of a central zone of municipal archivists - the historical network of towns in Alsace and their neighbours on the perimeter of the former imperial bailiwicks, to which are linked the archivists of municipalities or regions, which once upon a time maintained close cultural and political relations with these cities.

ERASM: A Force for Development and Intervention

The particular type of international cooperation practised by ERASM, distinguished by close neighbourly relationships, which are reviving a shared history, rapidly led to the development of its own perspectives going beyond those of a simple society.

The fust early improvised study days and meetings were subsequently extended after less than two years. By deciding to transform the society into an association, ERASM hoped to provide itself with a more conspicuons capacity for intervention at regional level. Its legally recognised status, gained in 1987, conferred on ERASM the legal basis necessary for it to be regarded as a spokesman of whom account must be taken.

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