CRO STATE ARCHIVE MANAGER ON COOPERATION WITH HOLOCAUST MUSEUM

ZAGREB, Sept 23 (Hina) - Croatian State Archives (HDA) manager Josip Kolanovic said on Thursday he was surprised by the request for the opening of Croatian archives relative to the Second World War in view of the long-standing cooperation with Jewish institutions in the United States and Israel in the research and copying of HDA material. Jewish organisation B'nai B'rith's representatives during Wednesday's talks with Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic in New York expressed interest in the possibility of opening Croatian archives referring to the WW2 period. Kolanovic believes B'nai B'rith obviously has not been informed about all the activities American and Israeli institutions have been undertaking in the research and copying of HDA material. The HDA on 22 September, 1995 signed an agreement with the Washington-based Holocaust Memorial Museum, Kolanovic reminded, which enables not only full access to the archives, but also permits the copying of the entire material which refers to the Holocaust. As part of the project, the HDA forwarded to the Washington Museum 319,000 copies of archive material which refers to the Jews and their suffering in WW2. In the past, the HDA demonstrated its willingness to cooperate in the scientific research of material referring to the Jews by making a considerable amount of copies for the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem. Research or copying of archive material was done by Menachem Shelah from the University of Haifa, Mirjam Aviezer from the Yad Vashem Museum, and Kristian Lapesic. The HDA manager reminded that the HDA also issued a detailed list of documents on the Holocaust in Croatia, which was published in HDA's news bulletin. The use of archive material is done in keeping with the Law on Archive Material and the Archive Material Use Rulebook, both adjusted with Council of Europe recommendations on archive material availability. (hina) ha jn