The Network Annual Fall Conference was held in Berlin on 16-18 October 2023, hosted by the Bundesarchiv - Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv (the Presiding Organisation for the 2022-2023 term).

The short information on the Conference was published on the Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv website (see: Europäische Netzwerk-Tagung auf dem Campus für Demokratie Jubiläumskonferenz der Geheimpolizei-Archive vom 16. bis 18. Oktober 2023).

Photo: Network Annual Fall Conference - Berlin, 16-18 October 2023.  BArch B 198 Bild-2023-1016-001, Photographer: Matthias Stange

For the 2023-2024 term the presiding organisation is the Autoriteti për Informimin mbi Dokumentet e ish-Sigurimit të Shtetit (Albanian Authority for Information on Former State Security Documents)

The European Network Conference 2023, “15 Years of the European Network – New Tasks, New Strategies,” Berlin, October 16–18, 2023

Opening Lecture:

• Dr. Evgenia Lezina (ZZF Potsdam), “The Chronicle of Violence: The Files of the Soviet Secret Police as Evidence, Source and Scientific Challenge”

Section I: Fifteen Years of the European Network: What Are the Tasks Ahead of Us?

Keynote speaker:

• Andreas Petter (BArch/StUA), Archives Portal Europe (APE), “A (Possible) Gateway to Promote the Archival Heritage of European Secret Police Files in a Broader Context”

Resolutions:

• The European Network is a very suitable platform for sharing common practice and creating (and supporting) new members and observers.
• We need to know more about each other, e.g. how is access provided, what rules apply, what kind of restrictions must be observed? A new reader (printed and online) could be an appropriate format that could be translated into the respective languages.
• Germany will organise a digital workshop on this matter in February.
• We will set up a contact list that contains the names and contact data of experts on specific topics in our organizations.
• We will cooperate in establishing a common vocabulary: as a first step, each member and observer can publish their vocabulary on the joint website (see below: resolutions for section IV).
• Some participants suggested that the Federal Archives/Stasi Records Archive present their holdings in APE in more detail (files, audios, videos).

Section II: Developing the European Network Further: Short-term Exchange of Archivists, Mutual Internships, etc.

Keynote:

• Sebastian Nagel (BArch/StUA), Documents of the GDR Foreign Intelligence Service in European Archives

Resolutions:

• We will invite agencies from Moldavia, Serbia, and Georgia as observers.
• We will intensify networking: in addition to the annual network conference, we will use digital or hybrid formats to come together and develop the network further.
• We will create new levels of collaboration by organizing internships and/or the exchange of employees on special issues.
• We will issue open invitations to projects: whoever is interested and wants to join is welcome.

Section IV: Digitization and Access – Experiences from Practice

Keynotes:

• Matthias Clemens Becker (BArch/StUA), The Digital Reading Room of the German Federal Archives
• Sven Lepa (Rahvusarhiiv, EE), Digitization and Access – Experiences of the Estonia National Archives

Resolutions:

• IPN offers a hybrid conference on their handling the challenges of digitization / digital access

Section V: Status of the projects „Common website“ and „Travel exhibition“

Presentations:

• The common website (draft) by Dr. Franciszek Dąbrowski and Marek Dąbrowski (IPN, PL)
• Design and outline of the new travelling exhibition about popular music and the secret police by Dr. Gergő Cseh-Bendegúz and Dr. István Papp (ABTL, HU)

Resolutions:

• We will continue to pursue and complete both projects that were initiated at the European Network conference 2022 in Budapest.
• The colleagues of ABTL will send information about the design, the maximum number of words on a roll-up, the maximum size of pictures for the travelling exhibition etc.

Other:

• The chair of the European Network was handed to the Albanian Authority for Information on Former State Security Documents (AIDSSH).

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