Historické prameny v utajovaném režimu

• Authors: Mikuláš Čtvrtník

Title variants

EN

Historical sources under the regime of security classification

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

Records classified under the regime of security classification at its very origins represent an important part of future historical resource materials. Their information contents and evidential value in terms of quality are in many cases over and above the standard even for the historical science. For this reason, the historical science should pursue most diligently the fortunes of records under the regime of classification, including currently emerging documents. The phenomenon of classified records and access to them is, however, crucially relevant for the civic society and, in general, for the maintenance of fundamental democratic orders. In the Czech Republic there has not practically been held any discussion about the institution of classified documents. How do the secret services, for example, handle their records? Are they destroyed willfully? Are these records kept classified for a long time and unnecessarily? The Czech legal system does not exert any real pressure to have the materials, which were once classified, released. Does this state of affairs represent a potential threat to a democratic and free society? The following study will focus on the subject matter of the institution of records security classification and their declassification in some countries with developed democratic orders and advanced archival systems, in particular in the USA and United Kingdom, and to some extent in France and Germany also, while simultaneously addressing the historical development of this institution in the second half of the 20th century. It will also pay attention to some frapant and well documented examples of unauthorised destruction of classfied records.

Keywords

EN

historical sources, classified information; classified records; the disclosure of information; archival science; archival theory; archival studies; management of documents; history of the USA in the 20th century; history of Great Britain in the 20th century

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Český časopis historický (The Czech Historical Review)
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 116
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 1012-1058
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Mikuláš Čtvrtník

• Český časopis historický, redakce, Historický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Prosecká 76, 190 00 Praha 9, Czech Republic

unknown

Alena  Linhartová

• Český časopis historický, redakce, Historický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Prosecká 76, 190 00 Praha 9, Czech Republic