- Archives about the Second World War, which had been available to historians until now, would no longer be available to them.
- In any case, this is what several Internet users say, based on an interview with the professor of contemporary history Jean-Marc Berlière published by Ouest-France .
- This is however misinterpreted since the consultation of these archives remains possible, under certain conditions.
"Who wants to prevent historians from working? "," Sensitive archives of the French State: "secret-defense", the comeback! See which periods and events are concerned ... "On Twitter, several Internet users take offense at a supposed censorship of certain archival documents after 1940, which would now be prohibited from access to researchers working on these themes, in the name of" top secret ".
A concern that is based in particular on an interview with Professor Emeritus of Contemporary History Jean-Marc Berlière in Ouest-France on February 1, 2020, in which he "worried [was] about the closure of the defense archives" and deplored the "great difficulties in obtaining documents from the archives, in particular from the Historical Defense Service, at Vincennes" since the beginning of 2020.
"This essential center for researchers, which depends on the Ministry of the Armed Forces, has received a directive from the authorities which aims at the total" provisional "closure of funds after 1940, while waiting to come back to documents prior to 1940. For a academic who, for example, worked on counterintelligence from 1934 to 1944, everything closed suddenly! ", He affirmed in particular to the daily newspaper.
Since its publication, this interview entitled "Historians no longer have access to the archives of 39-45, their work is threatened" has been particularly taken up by pages or sites of all political stripes. Like the Twitter account “Nantes revolted”, who worries about the unavailability of the archives on “Vichy” and “the colonial wars”, by illustrating his remarks with a screenshot detailing the new consultation instructions within the Historical Defense Service (SHD).
The closure of access to these archives is justified by "the secrecy of national defense". In 2020.
The Macron government definitely has a very special taste and smell. pic.twitter.com/hOYHgl808E
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As indicated on its site, the Historic Center of the Archives of Vincennes, is "one of the three centers of the Historical Defense Service", whose "120 linear kilometers of documents" were notably collected from the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Its role consists in "ensuring the treatment and communication to the public" of this rich heritage.
But contrary to what is rumored, access to these documents remains possible, as explained to us by the director of the SHD, Pierre Laugeay: "This is a very bad interpretation of the rules for consulting documents: there is no closure of the funds [of this time], but simply the application of procedures of the General Secretariat of Defense and National Security (SGDSN), which oblige us to look in each archive box requested to see if any documents contain the "classified" stamp there. "
However, until January 2020, the SDH was based on the Heritage Code, which is less restrictive in terms of the communication of classified documents, since its article L213-2 states that “public archives can be communicated by operation of law '' a period of fifty years from the date of the most recent document or document included in the file, for documents the disclosure of which prejudices the secrecy of national defense, the fundamental interests of the State in the conduct of foreign policy ”.
"Stricter application" of the regulation
"The SGDSN is now asking us to apply it more strictly than what was done before, stressing that only the" classified "stamp is authentic, and that it must therefore be removed in order to communicate the document. It is a completely legitimate legal reminder of the applicable law, ”confirms Pierre Laugeay. And to add: “The slowdown that we are experiencing on certain funds concerns approximately 20% of communication requests: 80% of funds are communicated normally. In the coming weeks, we hope to streamline the process, the objective of an archive service being by nature to communicate [the documents]. "
Contacted by 20 Minutes on this subject, the SGDSN indicates: “There is no change in the law or in the regulations, but simply a reminder of the existing procedure. »Interdepartmental General Instruction No. 1300 on the protection of national defense secrecy - better known by the usual name of IGI 1300 - in fact defines the rules for classification and declassification of documents deemed sensitive, just like the procedure to be followed for their communication to the public.
Its article 63 thus provides that a “classified document added to the public archives is in principle, on the express condition of having been previously declassified, communicable as of right at the expiration of the period of fifty years from its date of issue or that of the most recent classified document included in the file. "
Declassification possible according to three scenarios
Thus, when the SHD receives a request for a document which proves to be classified, it is unable to communicate it before a declassification procedure, as explained by Pierre Laugeay: "If the document has been classified by a ministry, you must ask for declassification. In the case of a stamp placed by an organization still existing at the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the declassification request must be addressed to the service in question. Finally, if the service no longer exists or is without an heir, we can downgrade the document ourselves and communicate it ”. A fairly long procedure, some boxes can contain 1,000 sheets, which must be sorted on each request.
This explains the ten-day period required since January 1, 2020 to follow up on the compulsory "prior reservation" to consult certain funds - including "Algérie 1940-1964" and "Indochine 1940-1956", as specified. the SHD site - the time to operate this sorting then, if necessary, to request declassification from the service concerned - or directly in the third case.
A forthcoming reform of the IGI 1300 should nevertheless, according to information from 20 Minutes , facilitate this approach, since it notably plans to fight against the over-classification of documents and to establish a faster classification review system.
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