ABSTRACT
During the Great War, Germany established two archival programmes in its occupied territories; these affected France and Belgium in particular. The programmes sought to establish the historical justification for the rightness of the German cause. In Eastern Europe the objective was to prove the superiority of the Germanic way of life, and that German rule was necessary to assure peace and economic prosperity. Specialist soldier-archivists were charged with ensuring the security of archives and arranging for their removal to places of safety. There were massive archival losses, especially in Germany, Poland, Belgium and France and the losses were not confined to Europe. The cumulative effect of catastrophic events over the years, but notably in the twentieth century, has resulted in only the partial survival of the world's archival heritage. But the scale of archival losses has led to a shift in opinion on the part of politicians in support of the safeguarding of archives.
