Historical background

The administrations before Ofpra left very few documents in the administrative records.

The archives from the 1950s to the 1980s take up a rather small amount of space, and are often very synthetic documents, providing little detail on procedures. Documents from the geographical divisions are rare, as everything is centralised under the Director.

The archives from the 1990s to the present day are much richer and reflect the extension of Ofpra's missions and the formalisation of procedures.

How to search in the administrative archives ?

The administrative records have been managed since 2007 by the Mission Histoire and began to be cataloged in 2011, with the support of the Ofpra History Committee and under the scientific and technical supervision of the Archives de France. This classification work is still in progress.

Currently, the cataloged collections represent 62,77 metres.

Researchers can explore them with the help of finding aids, available on request sent at the Mission Histoire.

What can be found in the administrative archives ?

The most important collection (in terms of space and content) is the "Directors' archives", which include : the Office's general administration, correspondence, asylum doctrine, relations with partners, and European affairs.

The "general administration" sub-fund contains activity reports, minutes and documents from administrative boards, memorandum, files on reforms, inspections and audits, statistics, etc. The sub-fund on doctrine is made of "country files" reflecting Ofpra's monitoring of the situation in the refugees' countries of origin, and the ensuing reflection on asylum applications, as well as various thematic records.

The other collection of interest for administrative management is the Administrative and Financial Services fonds : it includes budgetary documents, documents on recruitment and personnel management, etc.

Ofpra was able to acquire the "Paul Chastand fonds", containing administrative archives covering the period 1924-1953, given to the Mission by Agnès and Arielle Denis. Paul Chastand, who was consul general of France at the IRO and worked with the Central Office for Russian Refugees in January 1952, played an important role in the establishment of Ofpra.