Salvarea documentelor privind Transilvania din arhiva diplomatică a Ministerului Afacerilor Externe în timpul celui de-al Doilea Război Mondial
Saving of the Documents on Transylvania of the Diplomatic Archives of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the Second World War

Summary/Abstract: The Diplomatic Archive is one of the oldest departments of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During its history this department had been systematically considered as an auxiliary one, of low importance. However, in the moments of crisis such war and territorial disputes, the decision makers periodically ”realized” that the Diplomatic Archive is not only an ”old paper warehouse” but more a ”safe-deposit box” full of historical and judicial evidences of our own statehood and territorial unity. This article tells the heroic story of the evacuation of the diplomatic documents on Transylvania caught in the middle of the military operations in the town of Băile Herculane, during World War Two. During the evacuation, the convoy was attacked by German planes and part of the archive was lost in flames, despite the heroic attempt to save as much as possible documents. The price paid by the members of the convoy was bitter: one dead and several others wounded. However, the archivists did their best to comfort their brave wounded colleagues and guardsmen by raising money to help them and the family of the fallen soldier. Later, in a race against time, they managed to recover all the documents lost in flames, by using other copies stored in a different place.

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