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Security Services Archive » About us » Archive organization » Section of Archival Collections of the StB, ČSR Ministry of the Interior and Armed Forces of the Ministry of the Interior

The Department of Archival Collections of the State Security Service (StB) administers the collections of individual components of the former State Security Service (mainly regional and district), part of the collections of the Ministry of the Interior, the collections of forced labor camps, internment camps and the Prison Guard Directorate. The department administers their records, organizes them and inventorizes them. Part of the archival material overlaps with materials stored in the Department of Archival Collections of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Department staff look up and – pursuant to archival law no. 499/2004  Coll. – make accessible relevant archival materials to private and official applicants, make extracts and copies of them, and carry out thematic research. Most important is the ability to track within the StB files data on persons of interest about whom dossiers were maintained. Of course, a part of the dossiers was shredded in December 1989 or earlier. Often the information in these now non-existent, or shredded, dossiers can be very well compensated for using data from work plans, evaluations, reports on various issues, summary reports, reports from inspections carried out in individual units, etc.

Pursuant to Act No. 412/2005 Coll., the department looks up records for security screenings carried out by the National Security Office (Národní bezpečnostní úřad – NBÚ). It further looks up records for the Security Section of the Ministry of the Interior, to be used as groundwork for the issuing of clearing certificates pursuant to Act No. 451/1991 Coll., which stipulates some further conditions for the execution of certain positions in state organs and organizations.

The Department of Archival Collections of the ČSR Ministry of the Interior administers the archival collections of the unitary Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Socialist Republic, Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, and collections of the former Public Security Service (Veřejná bezpečnost – VB), including its central and territorial units from the years 1945-1991, or as the case may be, 1992. Stored here as well are archival materials of some central police schools and their predecessors, the SNB schools.

Department staff ensure expert archival care of archival materials in their charge. They take them over from their originators, register them, and gradually process them into archival inventories. Pursuant to archival law no. 499/2004 Coll., staff look up and render accessible documents from the above mentioned sources for the scientific and study objectives of the wider research public and process requests of an administrative nature from individual institutions as well as physical persons. They further make excerpts and copies¨and carry out thematic research using the corresponding archival materials.

The Department of Archival Collections of the Ministry of the Interior Armed Forces cares for the deposited personnel files of employees of the Ministry of the Interior and its police forces who have already completed their service. The department currently administers over 190,000 personnel files on individuals from the year of birth 1910. Files are not only taken over for storage, but also loaned as a part of the Ministry of the Interior (police), for example on the occasion of repeat entry of persons to the Ministry of the Interior, for criminal procedures, etc., or on the basis of requests from relevant offices. Pursuant to archival legislation, files are also presented to researchers.

The department additionally administers the collections of the former Border Guard Service and the Armed Forces of the Ministry of the Interior and their legal predecessors and successors, in the form of the Border Police. These collections are gradually archivally processed, resulting in the generation of archival finding aids. The materials are likewise, pursuant to Act No. 499/2004 Coll., presented to researchers.

The department’s administrative work is also significant, including the looking up of materials showing, for example, the injury of persons as the result of an intervention by the Border Guard Service, or the looking up of records on the behavior of the service, or on accidents, etc. to servicemen of these forces.

The group renders documents accessible pursuant to legal regulations; ensures the proper operation of research rooms, including the activity of the supervisor with respect to the researcher; administers appropriate records on researchers and the archival materials presented to them; selects archival material from relevant departments for the researcher; is responsible for the timely and complete presenting of archival materials for researchers’ study, the complete return of archival materials back to the relevant department, and the maintenance of research room facilities; makes copies for researchers; and carries out further tasks arising from the group’s work.