The diplomatic archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is based on former activities of the diplomatic archive of the Kingdom of Serbia and Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was founded soon after the creation of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. As the date of foundation 05 May 1919 is taken, when the Decree of organization of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MIP), diplomatic and consular missions of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, was passed. As one of the organization units, the Main Archive was founded on the basis of the Decree, and it consisted of Documentation and Library of the Ministry, taken over from the Ministry of the Kingdom of Serbia and Montenegro. The Main Archive started to operate more effectively in the fall of 1924 since it was then that the Minister of Foreign Affairs formed an expert commission whose task was to inspect gathered documents on the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and make a plan of future operation of the Main archive.
The Law on archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic and consular missions of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia abroad has from 05 April 1930 been precise in stating which holdings of the archive would become part of the Main Archive. Those were the archives of former Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Montenegro and their missions abroad, as well as foreign diplomatic and consular archives or correspondence, which belong to our country according to international contracts, or which were given to the State by foreign states, to preserve. Under the same conditions, the Law protected private archives as well, which had, as a gift, by means of purchase or any other, become part of any of the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or missions of the Kingdom abroad. Ever since that time, destroyed documents or damaged papers are being reconstructed; the scientific and other research is granted to private persons according to regulations; diplomatic documents of interest for the national history are being published; the research in foreign archives and papers of foreign documents concerning the national history; arrangement and preservation of holdings of interest to our diplomatic history; participation in signing and implementation of international contracts and conventions concerning the archives. By the Decree with legal power, on organizing of MFA and DCM (Diplomatic and Consular Missions) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia abroad from 10 August 1939, the Main archive was reorganized by becoming the History Department whose competence included:
The Library of the Ministry was part of the History Department, and was interrupted by the war for the period of almost four years. At that time, the Archive suffered irretrievable damage due to destruction of material and its transfer to Germany, and later to the USSR. The History Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Federative Yugoslavia began to operate in March 1945. The needs of the new Ministry soon started to enlarge, and therefore the History Department was soon organized into three sections - Diplomatic Archive, Documentation and Library. The Diplomatic Archive soon became independent as a separate organization unit of the Ministry. From March 1945 until the middle of 1949, it mainly dealt with restitution of documents taken from our country in the course of the Second World War. Due to the external danger, to which Yugoslavia was exposed at the time, the Diplomatic Archive was closed again in 1949, and the documents transferred in the country's province. It started to operate by the end of 1957 in Dubrovnik, in the old building of the Benedictine monastery St. Jacob. In 1960 it was moved to Belgrade, and is since 1961, permanently open for scientific research. Since its foundation, the Diplomatic Archive had performed a conventional archival function, with the organization of work similar to archives of other Ministries in the world. It is a specialized archive necessary for the regular operation of the Ministry and other institutions of the country in charge of activities concerning foreign affairs, as well as scientific research. The basic task of the Diplomatic Archive is systematic gathering, arranging and preservation of material resulted from the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic and consular missions, as well as the use of the material for scientific, cultural, educational, informative and operational needs. By dividing of competence in 1981, the complete archive of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Serbia and its diplomatic and consular missions, from the period of 1854-1918, in total 128 files, was handed over to the Archive of Serbia. On the basis of Article 46 of the Archive material of the Federation Law (Official Register of the SFRY No. 11, March 7 1986), the archive material of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its diplomatic and consular missions for the period of 1918-1945, as well as the material which was not made by the Ministry, was handed over to the Archives of Serbia and Montenegro. Out of all archive holdings of the Kingdom of Serbia and Kingdom of Montenegro, in other words, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Ministry (Foreign Legal Affairs Service) is only in possession of the Collection of international contracts, which, together with the contracts of the Republic of Yugoslavia, makes 7,877 files of bilateral contracts and 1,107 files of multilateral contracts (all computer processed). The Diplomatic Archive today handles 149 holdings resulting from the work of the Ministry and its missions in the period from 1945-1995, which consist of materials from bilateral and multilateral activity of our country. The information means - registers of material, books and guides to the archive material and depots - were also made. The use of the archive material in the Diplomatic Archive is done on basis of the Regulations for use of archive material (Official Register of the SFRY No. 49, July 25 1987) and may be accessed for purposes of research or any other, after 30 years since its foundation. The archive also includes a reading room and information card catalog about the users. The Diplomatic Archive has published the collections of public documents on foreign affairs of the SFRY from 07 March 1945-1950, by the name of Blue edition in eight volumes:
As well as the collection of documents from the period of 1941-1945; documents on foreign affairs of the SFRY from 1941-1945, volume 1, Yugoslav Survey, Belgrade, 1988 and volume 2, Yugoslav Survey, Belgrade, 1989. The Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the FRY and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation have published a document code Relations between Yugoslavia and Russia (USSR) 1941-1945. The Code was published by the Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Military Historic Institute and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, in Belgrade, 1996, in Serbian language. |
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