| Agency Name: | Diplomatic Archives |
| Picture Caption: | Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building, housing the Diplomatic Archives |
| Formed: | [1] |
| Preceding6: | --> |
| Jurisdiction: | Government of Serbia |
| Headquarters: | 24-26 Kneza Miloša, Belgrade, Serbia |
| Minister7 Name: | --> |
| Deputyminister7 Name: | --> |
| Chief9 Name: | --> |
| Parent Agency: | Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
| Child25 Agency: | --> |
| Keydocument6: | --> |
| Website: | Official website |
The Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, commonly known as the Diplomatic Archives, is the central archival institution of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia in charge of archiving Serbia's diplomatic documents. Headquartered in Belgrade, records at the Diplomatic Archive are nominally available to the public 30 years after their creation.[2] The large majority of documents in the Diplomatic Archive are primarily in Serbo-Croatian, necessitating certain proficiency in the language for effective research.[3] The archival material kept at the institution are particularly relevant for understanding of the Cold War era history due to Yugoslavia's prominent role in Non-Aligned Movement.[3]
The archives were established on May 5, 1919, by a decree of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.[1] The new archival unit inherited earlier documentation and libraries of the foreign affairs ministries of the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Montenegro.[1] The oldest document in the new archive was the formal alliance agreement between Principality of Serbia and Principality of Romania from 1868.[4] An expert commission was established at the archive in 1924 tasked with inspection of documents related to the creation of the new unified Yugoslav kingdom helping in further professionalization of the archival work.[1] From April 5, 1930, the new law on the diplomatic archive specified institutional holdings and procedures.[1] On August 10, 1939, the archive was transferred into History Department but further development was abruptly interrupted by the invasion of Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941, devastating World War II in Yugoslavia and by the transfer of diplomatic documents to Nazi Germany and later on Soviet Union.[1] Already in 1940, extensive plans were developed to evacuate the Ministry's archives and categorize them by importance to protect the most valuable materials.[5] Following Yugoslavia's capitulation on April 17, 1941, the History Department ceased operations for four years.[5] Portions of the archives were destroyed, while other materials were seized and transferred to Austria, including to the State Military Archives in Vienna, and the provincial archives in Klagenfurt and Graz.[5] Some Yugoslav archives were also sent to the Central Archives of the Reich in Potsdam.[5]
After the liberation of Belgrade and the establishment of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia the History Department reinitiated its work in March 1945.[1] From March 1945 to mid-1949, its primary focus was on recovering documents taken out of the country during World War II.[1] In 1949, following the Tito–Stalin split and during the Informbiro period the archive was closed, and its documents were moved to more isolated parts of the country.[1] It resumed operations at the end of 1957 in Dubrovnik, housed in the old Benedictine monastery of St. Jacob.[1] In 1960, it relocated to Belgrade, where it has been open for scientific research since 1961.[1]
Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav Wars and subsequent signing of the Agreement on Succession Issues of the Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia the first group of researchers from the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia in Ljubljana collectively revisited the archive in 2003.[6]
Serbia became a sovereign state following the dissolution of the state union Serbia had with Montenegro as a result of the 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum. Access to the diplomatic archive today requires permission directly from the foreign minister for foreign nationals, while Serbian nationals must obtain permission from the secretary-general.[1]