Archival Appraisal in Germany: A Decade of Theory, Strategies, and Practices

In October 2004, the archival appraisal working group of the Association of German Archivists (Verband deutscher Archivarinnen und Archivare) presented a position paper outlining the present status of the debate on appraisal within the Federal Republic of Germany. What follows is an overview of this discussion as background and context for the group’s position paper; an examination of the common ground between appraisal as practised in Germany and macroappraisal as developed in Canada; and a glimpse at the future directions of this discussion in Germany. The position paper is appended to this article.