Work of the Archive
The Archive of Security Services was established through Act 181/2007 Coll. as of 1 August 2007 and was effectively opened on 1 February 2008. It does the following tasks as stipulated by the relevant laws:
A. Archival Management
This is the main task of the Archive of Security Services. We manage archival materials produced by the security services of the former totalitarian regimes in Czechoslovakia which we have in custody. Besides physical care, this includes organising materials, creating new search aids and other related work. As of 1 January 2017, we kept 748 archival collections spanning almost 20 thousand linear metres. Our collections are described in the Manual. The physical care is closely related to digitisation, a process we conduct on a systematic basis. The materials are divided among three of our departments, located at Branicke namesti and Na Struze in Prague, and in Kanice, near Brno. For details on the locations, see the description of collections.
B.Viewing Archival Materials
The Archive of Security Services has long provided high quality researcher services. We have some 2 thousand individual researchers visiting every year, making up around 4 500 individual visits to view 40 thousand inventory units. Many requests are aimed at retrieving materials, mostly personal files, relating to a specific name. For this, our 6th department checks data in old as well as new registries. Every year we prepare materials for some 6 500 names. Our materials can be viewed in our study rooms in Prague Na Struze and in Kanice, near Brno. Quite a large number of materials are viewed in digitised form. Since 2016 fully registered researchers are also welcome to remotely access materials which are available in our electronic archives at eBadatelna.
C. Official Tasks of the Archive
The Archive has been delegated various tasks within the Czech national administrative system. To name but a few, we supply underlying documents for personal security procedures of the Ministry of the Interior (i.e. clearance of personal records), retrieve archival materials and facts for the National Security Agency, Czech intelligence services and the Police. An extensive amount of work is also done to supply evidence for compensatory procedures as per Act 262/2001 Coll. (Resistance Act), which is the task of the 4th department.
D. Education and Science in the Archive
Our staff support scientific projects, both alone and in cooperation with other Czech or foreign colleagues. We publish articles in the “Sbornik Archivu bezpecnostnich slozek” and other publications. The Archive is also gradually expanding its educational activities, which include excursions for those looking for resources on our recent past, as well as the geocaching project, for instance, which facilitates education in a popular form, outside the boundaries of archives and schools.