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)

1. Session/Séance: Csendes, Cooperation between the Successor States

tries. The extensive microfilming projects - often on a mutual basis -, especially between Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia must be mentioned10 11, but these countries were also interested in obtaining copies on microfilm from Austrian archives.

Out of these personal contacts in the sixties an increasing exchange of - mainly historical - publications was started, which provided both sides with information about the progress of research work in the fields of common history. The Austrian State Archives have their own journal (Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs) and the Archives of the provinces (Bundesländer) and larger cities also publish periodicals themselves or work together with local historical societies in this field. Also microfilming projects were initiated. When considering these activities we have to mention that the Austrian archival system is highly decentralized, each province (Bundesland), each type of archives, has its own tradition and also traditional contacts. Collaboration among the archives in the form of regular conferences is restricted to provincial archives and archives of ecclesiastical institutions. The Austrian Society of Archivists (Verband Österreichischer Archivare, VÖA) on the other hand stands only at the beginning of organizing common strategies or countrywide exchanges of information.

The first really important international project in the area of the former Austro- Hungarian Monarchy was developed in 1964, when a symposium on the tricentenary of the Battle of Mogersdorf (300 Jahre Schlacht von Mogersdorf) took place to commemorate a decisive defeat of the Turks. The meaning of this colloquium was not the celebration of a military event, however, but an attempt to accomodate the diverging perspectives - from different national points of view - of a common history. In the following years this symposion, in which archivists - on behalf of Austria the Burgenländisches Landesarchiv - had a leading part, became a regular institution with annual meetings in the member countries. The first members in 1969 were Slovenia, the Hungarian County of Vas and the Burgenland, and they held the first international symposion in 1971. In the same year Croatia became a member, later Styria also joined in". Today such symposions on a multilateral basis are not extraordinary. An example was the meeting on the subject of the Reformation and Catholic Reaction, organized in 1992 by universities and archives in Gorizia, Graz, Klagenfurt and Ljubljana12.

10 Cf. Balâzs, Péter: Das Archivwesen in Ungarn, in: Archivum 11 (1963) p. 159—170; Altmann, Henryk: Dix ans du décret sur les archives d’Etat, in: Ibidem, p. 199-206; Samberger, Zdenek: L’activité des archives de la République socialiste tchécoslovaque, in: Ibidem p. 235-242.

11 The Provincial Archives of the Burgenland had been engaged in the organization from the beginning, the Styrian delegation is led by the director of the Provincial Archives. About the history of the Symposion cf. S e e d o c h, Johann: 10 Jahre Internationales Kulturhistorisches Symposion Mogersdorf (1969-1979), in: Burgenländische Heimatblätter 42 (1980) p. 39-40; Die politische und wirtschaftliche Situation des pan- nonischen Raumes zwischen den zwei Weltkriegen. Internationales Symposion Mogersdorf 1979. Eisenstadt 1981 (Internationales Kulturhistorisches Symposion Mogersdorf 11).

12 D o 1 i n a, France M. - Liebmann, Maximilian - Rumpler, Helmut - T a v a n o, Luigi (ed.): Katholische Reform und Gegenreformation in Innerösterreich 1564-1648. Wien-Graz-Köln 1994.

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