Service Civil International
East-West-Archives Online
by Philipp Rodriguez (Aug 11, 2007)
Recently the on-line Archives Collection of SCI Archives was enlarged with 750 Documents (PDF-files)on the East-West exchange.
The SCI lorry has been decorated for a local celebration, Stitina (Czechoslovakia 1946)
Bertram Schröter, German SCI veteran, worked three years in editing the documents of one of the most intense and controversial activities in the history of SCI. The outcome of this work is comprehensive. In the Zeitgeist of cold war SCI tried to make a own way between both side. Many documents shows, that it was definitely not self-evident to do East West exchange then. Especially SCI Germany was in difficult situation. While the West German government did threat by cutting financial support, the Eastern organisation tried to exploit SCI presence in workcamps for propaganda.
People nowadays may not understand anymore that 'delicate' situation. It is a concern of Bertram, to give chance to study now the history based on original documents. Although he limits collection on West Germany, many international relevant documents have been included. Several times Bertram travelled to La Switzerland in order to complete his collection with material from SCI International Archives. Also to mention is a by-product of his work: a 100 page strong commentary of the collection. Lots of useful information can be found here: a list of abbreviations of organisations, list of all east-west workcamp 1946-1968, index of persons, places and topics. For sure this will a important tool for further studies in that topic.
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