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) - Discussion / Interventions

2. Session/Séance: Discussion - Interventions

outcome of the discussions about regional cooperation this morning is that you have to start from the basis of these conditions as they are, now.

Charles Kecskeméti: There were a number of interventions regarding disputed archivals, claims, migrated archives, microfilming problems, the consequences of World War II and how to get rid of these consequences in view of the access. If we would like to make reprogress at a reasonable base, there is a first precondition - and I don’t know whether time has come to fulfil this precondition at that -, to survey the scope of the problem, just to open the cupboards which are now closed in various European countries and to see what do we are speaking about. And if the European countries, the archival authorities or the higher political authorities agree, the time has come for making this survey. Then, I am sure, in a not too distant future a solution will come. This conference or ICA would not be in a position to make recommendations, but I am sure that if we want to achieve something reasonable, general, sensible, we have to start at the beginning.

You see what happened after - somebody mentioned earlier - the Thirty Years War and the Peace of Munster. A lot of archives went back and forth between the belligerent countries during this Thirty Years War. The Peace Treaty said as far as the archives were concerned, the status quo will be maintained and decreed absolut stop of any further archival movement. After the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna nearly everything has to be restored. After World War II - nothing happened. So the question is: Will there be a second Munster treaty or a second Paris treaty? I am in favor of the Paris method and not the Munster method, and in order to achieve that aim, let us start at the beginning.

Klaus Oldenhage: Lieber Charles! In einem Punkt bin ich nicht ganz Deiner Meinung. Wir stehen nicht am Anfang. Eine ehrliche Bestandsaufnahme muß auch die Fälle umfassen, die als gelöst angesehen werden können, wenigstens aus bilateraler Sicht. Ich möchte wirklich vermeiden, daß die internationale Gemeinschaft gelöste Fälle wieder aufgreifen muß, um bestimmte Prinzipien oder Grundsätze beachtet zu sehen. Das hast Du sicherlich so nicht gemeint, aber ich wollte es zur Klarheit hinzugefügt haben.

Charles Kecskeméti: I do not fully share your opinion that we have to start from the very beginning, and I would like to have those problems which have been settled in the meantime bilaterally not be taken up again. There is a new beginning but not from the vers' beginning.

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