CWIHP Director Christian Ostermann Visits National Archives of Serbia and Montenegro

Following the workshop on "The International History of the Bandung Conference and the Origins of the Non-Aligned Movement, " held on 13-16 May, 2005, Sveti Stefan, Serbia and Montenegro, CWIHP director Christian Ostermann visited the National Archives of Serbia and Montenegro. The archives hold the papers of longtime Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito and the largest available research collection on the history of the Non-Aligned Movement. Ostermann discussed the declassification and availability of archival materials with Assistant National Archivist Miladin Milosevic, Ljubodrag Dimic, director of Belgrade University s Department of Serbian History. He was accompanied by Svetozar Rajak, director of the London Cold War Studies Center.

For the past three years, CWIHP has supported the opening of the former Yugoslav archives as part of the its "Yugoslavia Initiative," launched in 2002 in partnership with the LSE. The YI which aims at reintegrating the research institutions of the former Yugoslavia into international scholarly exchanges. Years of political unrest, intellectual isolation and blockade, which, among other things, contributed to the decrepitude of the country's archives, present a compelling necessity for exchanges between Serbian and Montenegrin Cold War scholars and archivists and those of other countries. The YI seeks to: provide assistance and expertise in improving the accessibility of archives in Serbia and Montenegro; facilitate research scholarships for doctoral students and historians from Serbia and Montenegro; organise conferences and workshops in Serbia and Montenegro and abroad on the role of Yugoslavia in the Cold War; and, in general, develop other projects aimed at encouraging Cold War scholarship in Serbia and Montenegro, and in the wider Balkan area.

CWIHP is also preparing the publication of new sources on the history of the Cold War in the Balkans as well as the non-alignment movement in its next CWIHP Bulletin and on its website.