Date of tip : March 2006

Source: Heather Dichter, heather.dichter@utoronto.ca

Location: Cité administrative - Bat. J, 3 rue Fleischhauer, 68026 COLMAR cedex

How to get there:  To arrive in Colmar via train, you will either go through or switch trains in Strasbourg (from the north) or Mulhouse (from the south).  Beware: if you arrive by train, and it is not on Platform 1, there is no elevator – you will have to walk down and up stairs to exit the train station.  (They are currently constructing elevators, but it think it will be a year until they are done.)  The closest airport to which some of the cheap European airlines fly is Mulhouse-Basel.

3 rue Fleischhauer is actually the address for the entire city administration of Colmar, as well as some of the provincial government offices (including the Haut Rhin archives).  There are clear signs on all the buildings, as well as directory signs to help you find your way (Building J is the archives of the occupation).  You can walk to the archives from most hotels in the city, anywhere from 5-30 minutes. 

Language: French, though you can work with the archivists in German, and if you are lucky, English.  Prior to visiting, I always emailed the archives in English and always received a reply in French.  But at least we understood each other.

Getting started: You need to bring a form of photo identification (bring two, just in case), and you also need to bring two passport photos for the archives to keep.  You will have to fill out a form when you arrive at the archives, too, but it does not need to be done beforehand.  It is best to consult the indices online, though some of them are rather large and no longer online.  Request that the archives email them to you before arriving.  If you send a list of all the materials you want to see before arriving, it seems to circumvent some rule about two cartons a day [though I did not encounter this rule at all, but read it somewhere – perhaps in an email they sent me?].

Opening Hours:  9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday-Thursday, though they will often let you work a bit past 4 p.m., so keep asking for files until they tell you it is your last one for the day.

General working conditions: Even though the archives are on the top floor of the building, apparently heat does not rise in Colmar, so bring a sweater.  There is a small space heater, but it does not produce all that much heat.  There are two large windows that provide a decent amount of lighting (it is not a very large reading room – four desks, sized small, medium, and large).

Consultation: You are only allowed to take one file folder to the reading room at a time – the rest remain in the archivists’ office, so you have to ask them for a new file every time.  As long as someone is willing to hand you a new folder, you can keep looking at materials. You can request more folders at any time (one folder or box per sheet), but it takes well over an hour for the new materials to arrive.  They are in another building, and the archivists look through the folder to ensure that they pertain to your topic, and if they do not, they will not bring them (at least it saves you from looking at them).  If you realize that you will finish going through the materials you have within the next three hours, put in more requests!

Policy on technology: Lap tops and digital cameras are allowed, and there are 6 plugs on the large desk.

Photocopy policy: I have not attempted to make copies, though I did see someone make copies himself.

Particularities:  There are lockers to store your belongings – the archivists will give you a key each morning.  There is a bakery at the western end of Rue Fleischhauer where you can pick up something to eat for breakfast or lunch.  If you bring your food with you, there is not much of a place to eat, except on the chairs next to the lockers.  Perhaps in the summer it would be nice to go outside.  

How to apply for classified files: A letter needs to be sent to the Quai d’Orsay (in Paris) requesting permission to see the closed documents within open files (they are actually in a taped envelope in the folder you are allowed to see), as well for completely sealed files.  It takes two months to receive a reply, though often times it can take less time.  When you get to the archives in Colmar, they will give you a paper with all the details for requesting these materials, as well as the list of your files that are still closed.  In other words, plan to make two trips to Colmar, or see if they will send you the list of closed documents before you actually arrive.  But plan on a return trip.

Contact name in case of questions regarding classified files: 

Etc:   Supposedly all the materials have to be viewed by the archivists before you see them.  Perhaps this pertains to materials that have yet to be requested – I have heard this from a professor who gave up on a project on the French Zone of Germany because of difficulties encountered at the archives.  If, however, other people have already requested your files, then it appears to run fairly smoothly.

Places to Stay: Colmar is not cheap, even in the winter.  I stayed at Hotel Kempf (1 Ave de Republique, +33 (0)3 89 41 21 72, hotel.kempf@wanadoo.fr), which is between the train station and the archives, walkable to both places (7 min and 20 min, respectively).  If you bring your own travel mug and teabags, you can ask for hot water in the morning and then drink (free) tea as you walk to the archives.  There are nicer places, but not much for under 40 euros/night (most hotels are more, even through the discount websites).  The Monoprix grocery store is just a few minutes from Hotel Kempf, so that helps to save money on food, too.  Since the archives close at 4 each day, you still have time to see the town in daylight, even in the winter.  There is a Döner place on Rue Rempart, about 5 minutes from Hotel Kempf, and on the way to the archives, that is also an internet café that is open most hours of the day and night.  You can buy 5 hours (for 10€) and create your own login name and password so that you can use it at your own convenience.  You can also use a USB wand at their computers so that you can type messages on your computer and send them from the internet café to save time.