著者

加藤 聖文

出版者

国文学研究資料館

雑誌

国文学研究資料館紀要 アーカイブズ研究篇 (ISSN:18802249)

巻号頁・発行日

no.1, pp.1-27, 2005-03

---

敗戦時に大規模な公文書の廃棄が行われたために、現在の国や地方の行政機関では戦前期の公文書が少ないといった認識が一般的である。しかし、戦前の公文書は、戦後に引き継がれたものと戦後のある時期までに廃棄されたものの二つの系統があり、そして、廃棄されたものは、敗戦前に廃棄されたもの、敗戦時に廃棄されたもの、戦後に廃棄されたものの三つに分けられる。さらに、公文書には大きく分けて普通文書と機密文書の二種類があり、このうち敗戦時の廃棄の中心となったのは機密文書であり、一方、敗戦前と戦後に廃棄されたものは、文書管理規程に基づく通常の廃棄以外では、特殊な理由によって廃棄されたものがあった。本稿では、この通常の公文書のライフサイクルとは異なるかたちで戦時中から戦後までに公文書が大量に廃棄された実態を愛知県庁での事例を中心に検証する。通常のライフサイクルとは異なるかたちとは、敗戦前では、新庁舎の建設に伴う廃棄、戦時中の物資欠乏による廃棄、防空体制の強化による廃棄、文書の疎開に伴う廃棄といった要因が挙げられる。また、戦後では平時になったために戦時に作成された文書の必要性が無くなったことによる廃棄が挙げられる。このようなさまざまな要因によって行われた大規模な文書廃棄を通して見るなかで、すでに敗戦前に多くの文書が失われていたこと、そしてそのような行為を通して見るなかで、行政機関にとって文書の重要性に対する認識が研究者とは全く異なるものであることと、行政組織が生み出す公文書の実像を明らかにし、さらには、現代における公文書の廃棄問題、これからの公文書管理についてのあり方への問題提起を行う。Because a large quantity of official documents were destroyed at the time of defeat, a recognition that only a few prewar documents survive both in the central and local governments has been common. However, this kind of recognition should be reconsidered. Official documents of prewar days were usually treated in two ways. One part is what was taken over to the post war governments, and the other that abandoned before sometime in the postwar period. The latter can be classified into three types, i.e. those which had been abandoned before the end of war, those destroyed at the time of surrender, and those abandoned in the post war period.Furthermore, it should be noted that prewar official documents used to be roughly divided into 'normal documents' and 'secret papers'.The abandonment at the end of war was centered around 'secret papers', while 'normal documents' were abandoned during the war time and post war periods either by document management regulations regularly or in unusual ways for some reasons.The present paper verifies actual conditions of the abandonment of official documents from the wartime through the postwar period, in which documents were destroyed in unusual ways different from the normal disposal procedure based on the life-cycle concept of records, focusing on the case of Aichi Prefectural Government Office.Unusual disposals of official documents not based on the normal life-cycle procedure were: the abandonment of documents by the construction of a new government building; the abandonment for recycling paper caused by the lack of goods; the abandonment after the office reorganization for strengthening air defense; and the abandonment following the evacuation of documents. Moreover, in the postwar period, the prewar and wartime documents were considered to have lost their business value in peacetime, and were often abandoned.Through the above cases of large-scale abandonment of documents caused by various factors, the author reveals that many documents had already been lost before the end of war and discusses, by seeing such wartime activities of government agencies, that the recognition of government people about the importance of official documents is completely different from that of researchers. Lastly, the author insists of the importance to clarify the real image of official documents produced by administrative organizations, and raises problems to think about the abandonment of official document in the present age as well as about the management of official documents in the future.