:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/63657d8c-f036-11eb-b34b-0218eaf05005.jpg "Help! Belgian archive in danger after floods, explosion of mold in unique books | Abroad")
Does the nation’s collective memory lie in the water? “Fortunately, the depots of the State Archives itself were spared from water damage,” communications manager Geertje Elaut told Het Nieuwsblad. “But many of the government archives that we oversee have suffered significant damage. Depots in Verviers, Limbourg, Wanze and Eupen were so badly affected that they were inaccessible for more than three days. Archives have also been flooded in certain courts.”
Dry Thaw
Legal consequences cannot be ruled out. “Most of our records are legal or fiscal in nature, and are kept for the burden of proof,” says Elaut. “Most copies are unique and not digitized.”
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Now the State Archives is looking for freezing chambers of -20 degrees. These should help combat the explosion of mold and ensure that the ink does not run out and the glue comes loose. To prevent water from being released during the eventual thawing of the archives, companies that use large-scale freeze-drying are also allowed to register.
Flashlight
The question is whether freezing still makes sense. “The first 48 hours are crucial,” says colleague Els Herrebout, head of the State Archives in Eupen. “It is actually too late now. But everything depends on the material and the degree of damage, so who knows.”
In Eupen, Herrebout and colleagues identified the most important 50 of 150 meters of archive in half an hour last Monday (with flashlights in dark flooded cellars without electricity) and brought them to freezer rooms in Cologne. “If we freeze-dry them within six weeks, we’ll see what we were able to effectively save.”
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