„Camera interzisă”. Documentele secrete din fondul de arhivă al Universității din Iași
“Forbidden room”. Secret documents from the archive of the University of Iași

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to provide a perspective on the existence of a secret archive: “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University. Secret Correspondence, 1920-1961. The author proposes a discussion of the conditions that led to the creation of this archival inventory. The essay also analyzes the history of legislation and regulations concerning classified records during this period, with particular attention to the role of the National Archives as an institution of memory. It questions the theory established by Archives Act no. 16/1996, according to which the National Archives is the sole Romanian authority responsible for public archives. The author argues that it is necessary to offer a new perspective on access to the historical records of institutions, especially classified records. There is a significant tension between state secrecy legislation and archival legislation. For more than thirty years, the National Archives repositories were unable to receive classified records that form part of the national archival fonds. Certain military institutions coordinate public organizations that produce classified records and insist on their destruction once they are no longer considered sensitive. The debate regarding the legal frame-work of public archives should take into account European models, Romania’s overlapping legislation on classified records, and the institutions that produce records belonging to the national archival fonds without clear rules or professional archival oversight. In the case of the University of Iași, classified documents have been created since the interwar period. They were originally part of the University’s archive. After being transferred to the Iași branch of the National Archives, these documents were extracted from their original files and reorganized into a separate archival collection. This collection includes both formally classified documents and materials deemed dangerous by the communist authorities. Until this year, these documents had not been made accessible to the public.

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