Course talk:ARST573/Archives and Repressive Regimes

Hi Mariko,

Great work! I like your introduction and "What are repressive regimes" sections - they really help start your wiki article and provide general information for those not aware of archives.

I just wanted to mention that you begin by a general definition of what repressive regime archives are but do not provide any references/citations. Perhaps you could include some?

Also, I found a website that contains information about the Stasi records that may be of interest to you. Its from a German website that has been translated into English, titled "History and tasks of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi-files." I'm not sure if you have found this resource already, but I wanted to mention it just in case. It can be found here: http://www.bstu.bund.de/EN/Home/home_node.html

Chelsea

Hi Chelsea,

The first "definition" of what repressive regimes are was not taken from any source. It's sort of just how I'm going to define and approach what repressive regime archives are.

Thanks for the resource!

Sorry about that, Mariko!

Hi Mariko,

That was a super interesting read; thank you so much!

Just a couple of tiny edits: Jimerson's name only has one "m" in it. It's "Staatssicherheit" -- you're missing an "s" in the middle of the word.

The Stasi records do belong to the German Federal Archives, but they were kept in Berlin, rather than being transferred to Koblenz. While it is a separate department, focused only on Stasi records, the Stasi archives is administered by the German Federal Archives. I'm trying to find a source in English that confirms this, but mostly I'm coming up with German websites. I'll let you know if anything turns up.

Hi Alexandra,

Thanks for catching my glaring errors!

As for the Stasi records, I was a little confused about it. The way Jedlitschka (and Wikileaks) put it, it sounds like the BStU and the German Federal Archives are different entities. But, yes, if you find an English version, please let me know. Thanks!

Hi Mariko,

Great work! Your entry does a nice job of explaining the complex place that archives occupy in repressive regimes. I like how you have broken down the information in each of the case studies in the same sub-sections - makes for easier reading and comparison. One nit-picky thought I had was top perhaps put all of these into a section called Case Studies.

Also, in the section on Germany, you may want to introduce/contextualize this quote: “... the Stasi attacked and persecuted all internal opposition to communism, often displaying great cruelty and sadism.” And I think the quote should actually be written "[T]he Stasi attacked..." (I could be wrong about that though - I don't think I use a quote like that very often).

Finally, there are a few terms that I thought might benefit from being hyperlinked out to definitions: Soveitization (in the intro), respect des fonds, and original order (in the Archivist's Role section, third paragraph).

Katie

Hi Kathryn,

I appreciate all of the advice. In terms of the case studies, I was initially going to put them under one section called Case Studies as you've suggested, but I thought it might be too long as one section. I agree with your advice on the quote. I wasn't sure either, but I think you are right. I've added hyperlinks to the terms you've suggested. Good idea! I forget that readers may not know what those terms mean. Thanks!

Hello, Mariko!

You have done an amazing job and your group mates and others have offered a number of fantastic suggestions that it's clear you have implemented to very good effect. I am too impressed to have much else to add, but the mention of the Stasi records clerks who were stopped by civil rights activists before they were able to finishing destroying records got me to thinking about what likely happened to those records managers, which got me to thinking about how you might be able to talk about the negative consequences faced by archivists for either complying with or not complying with repressive regimes. If you came across anything about this, it could nicely fit into the section about "Archivists Role." You mention that "If they do voice their own opinions, they may be in danger of losing their jobs," but I imagine they face a lot worse than that in some cases. Anyway, if your interested, something to think about!

Hi Chelsea,

Thanks for the suggestion! I will try to look into that in more detail.

Hey Mariko,

Just noticed that your footnotes 15 and 16 appear to be switched. You have the abbreviated footnote containing just "Stasi" (footnote 15) before you've listed the full citation, which appears in footnote #16. Just wanted to point that out to ya!

-Taryn

Hi Taryn,

Yes, thanks for catching that! I've been rearranging things and it appears I've screwed up my footnotes.

Hi Mariko,

Your wiki is fascinating and very well researched. You also make good use of hyperlinks to direct the reader to related pages outside your wiki. I have a few suggestions. The first is that some of your quotations could be more integrated into the flow of your writing. Here are two I noticed:

“... the Stasi attacked and persecuted all internal opposition to communism, often displaying great cruelty and sadism.”[18] "Its retrieval and use became more standardized."[75]

There are also a couple of sentences that could use further clarification.

'The rescued archives were of various media (textual, photographs, negatives, slides, and sound and video recordings) which created preservation issues.' (Maybe in a footnote or in the body of the text, you could briefly explain what the preservation issues are).

'In addition, the Stasi archives included non-Stasi records stolen by the Stasi, creating more arrangement issues for archivists.[28]' (Same thing, I was wondering, what are the arrangement issues?)

The only other suggestion I have is perhaps to break up the section Archivist's role. It's a little long. But, it's not so long that it seems overwhelming.

Great work!

Hi Cristen,

Thanks for your suggestions. I've attempted now to make them a bit more streamlined and clearer. I agree with you on the Archivist's role section. I kept trying to break it up but I wasn't sure what was the best way to approach it. I've now added a subheading so we'll see how that goes.

Hey Mariko,

I know you said you were done the other day but it appears that you're still missing your final subsection under South Africa. Other than that everything looks great!

I know, but thanks Kathryn.

Hi Mariko,

I really like your "further reading" section. I was wondering if perhaps you could enhance this list by writing a sentence about why we should consider reading/viewing these materials. I think this could enhance your list and make users more prone to go out and actually see the suggested materials.

Chelsea

Hi Chelsea,

Ooh yes, that would be very handy. I will work on that. Thanks for the suggestion!

Mariko

Hey Mariko,

Just a small thing, the wording of this sentence seems a bit odd to me:

Finally, repressive regimes can destroy these records they have created in order to erase any proof of their deeds.

I would change “can” to “may,” “these” to “the,” and “deeds” to “misdeeds” so that it reads:

Finally, repressive regimes may destroy the records they have created in order to erase any proof of their misdeeds.

Thanks, Kathryn. I appreciate it! I hope you're okay with me plagiarizing your work :)

Hey Mariko,

I see that you have a new "What are repressive regimes?" section - I like it! I think it does a good job providing more context on your topic before delving into the specific cases you highlight.

I was wondering about citation for the photos you use... I don't see any attribution to the photos in your bibliography or as general citations in the text of your wiki. Perhaps this could be added?

Also, there are a few good papers about German archives, including the Stasi years, available on UBC's institutional repository. If you are looking for further information you could check out Regina Landwehrs' "The German Archival System 1945-1995" written in 1996 (https://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/4378). Klumpenhouwer also wrote about German archival practices in his thesis "concepts of value in Archival Appraisal Literature: A Historical and Critical Analysis" written in 1988 (https://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/27259). I found these papers useful for another class paper I wrote on German archives last year.

Chelsea

Hi Chelsea,

Good point! I'll reference my photos.

Thanks for the article suggestions. I'll look into them.

Mariko

Hey Mariko,

The see also section is a good idea and it would be even better if it actually linked to those topics. :) If you're looking for more resources you might want to check out this book (available in rare books and special collections)http://webcat1.library.ubc.ca/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=3618838 it's about the impact of political pressure on archives.

Haha, yes thanks Kathryn. I was going to do that once everyone's was up but I just haven't done it yet. Thanks for the book suggestion!

Hey Mariko,

I'm not sure how much content we are supposed to have for our wikis, but I was wondering if it would be possible to further discuss the background of the regimes in your case studies. I think this could provide more of a context for the regime's effect on archives.

A few years ago I watched a film titled "The Lives of Others." Perhaps you have seen it? It details the records system for East Germany and the stasi. I'm not sure how/if you could use the film in your wiki - for further information, perhaps a media file of some sort, or at least a mention in your "further reading" section?

IMDB URL to The Lives of Others - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Hi Chelsea,

That's a really good suggestion. And thanks for the movie link!

Hey Mariko! Fantastic work so far! Can't wait to see how this turns out. I seem to recall reading an interesting discussion on the Khmer Rouge in Randal Jimerson's article Archives for All. If you haven't already re-read it to see if there is anything relevant, it might be worth a look. Also adding a section on South Africa might benefit this article as well. Good luck!

Thanks Rob! I will definitely check that out.

Hey Mariko,

As mentioned on Wednesday - I like your draft and can tell that you have put thought into it. I really like that you have included 'See also' and 'Further reading' sections along with your footnotes and bibliography - they are great additions and something I am thinking of adding to my own wiki now!

I do have some suggestions:

I saw that you only have ARST 573 listed as a category. I'm not sure if this is mandatory, but I know the home page for all of our wikis mentions having the categories of "ARST 573," "Archival Studies," and "ARST."

There are a few minor grammatical issues within the article. For example, in the Iraq section it is written "After the Human Rights Watch/Middle East heard about the records, they were sent to the United States for assessment." This is a bit nit-picky (on my part), but perhaps instead of the "/" you could write "and"?

Earlier this semester we had to read about South African archives. If you are looking to widen your wiki's scope you could include a section about that region.

I agree with Taryn's comment on your discussion page about the addition of a generic overview on what a 'regime' is before you discuss the case studies. I think this would help contextualize your article. Alternatively, I was thinking that instead of having the section "Archivist's Role" at the bottom of the page you could bring it up higher and then use the case studies to show how the archivist's role was played out in specific regions.

Hey Chelsea, Thanks for the feedback. Good suggestion about the "Archivist's Role" suggestion. I had initially thought of adding a South African section so maybe I'll do that. As for the "Human Rights Watch/Middle East", it's actually the name of the organization. But if there are grammatical errors, please let me know.

Oh, my bad - sorry about that Mariko!

Hey Mariko, I know we were discussing your different sections, and I'm wondering if there would be an opportunity to create a more generic section at the top before you dive into your case studies? I know that your first paragraph is essentially an introduction, but maybe it would be helpful to split that into two sections, even if they are short, in order to give some generic context to repressive regimes. Maybe discuss what exactly you mean when you say "repressive regime"- for example some political background into what exactly defines a 'regime', and what makes them repressive? It's addressed very specifically in your case studies, but maybe a generic overview a the beginning could be a good idea?

Hey Taryn, Great suggestion! Yes, I will work on that one.

Hey Pod Person, Nice work. Love the pics. Just FYI I've noticed that a lot of your sentences don't have citations. For example:

• Due to the conspiratorial nature of the Stasi, the contents of the archives became known after 1989, the year of the Peaceful Revolution.
• Stasi records clerks, wanting to destroy any incriminating evidence, shredded and burned as many records as they could.
• The Iraqi Ba’th government, which ruled from 1968 to 2003, was an ethnically and religiously repressive regime.
• The Iraqi government implemented the Anfal campaign, the genocide of northern Iraqi Kurds.
• After years of oppression, Kurdish rebels revolted in 1991.
• During this revolt, the rebels obtained a collection of files of the Iraqi secret police.
• During the rebellion, some of the Anfal records were destroyed.

I'm pretty sure that in a wiki you need to put a citation at the end of every factual sentence (as opposed to in papers when if citing the same source you can just put one citation at the end of a paragraph).

Thanks, Kathryn! Good point.