Service historique de la défense, Bureau des archives des victimes des conflits contemporains

The "Service historique de la défense" (SHD) (Defence Historical Service) is the record centre for the french ministry of defence.

Established in 2005 as part of the state reform, the Service historique de la Défense is attached to the Director of memory, heritage and archives (SGA / DMPA). It was established after the merger of the four historic services of the military and the Gendarmerie, as well as the archival centre of weapons and personnel of Chatellerault. The SHD is spread over sites in Vincennes, Cherbourg, Brest, Lorient, Rochefort, Toulon and Caen, with storage space in White and Fontainebleau. At Caen, the records office of the victims of contemporary conflicts (BAVCC) under the Service Historique de la Défense maintains records that allowed and still allow to honor and enforce the rights of five million civilian and military casualties from the two World Wars, but also more recent wars such as those in Indochina, Algeria, the Korean War, foreign operations, etc.

The almost century-long history of the BAVCC offers a reflection of the diversity and complexity of the policies pursued by the various institutions in charge of issues related to war victims. The office has its origins in 1916, during the First World War. It has been a part of the Veterans Administration (Administration des anciens combattants) since 1940. In 1999, the BAVCC was attached to the Ministry of Defence and placed under the authority of the management of memory, heritage and archives (Direction de la mémoire, du patrimone et des archives) before being integrated into the Service Historique de la Défense in 2005.

The Caen department of the Service Historique de la Défense holds archives concerning victims of contemporary conflicts (morts pour la France, deportees, prisonners).

The BAVCC holds mainly individual files and folders, produced since 1916 in the framework of its mission:

• Legal confirmations of decease and/or disappearance;
• Assignation of honorific "Died for France" (“Mort pour la France”);
• Restitution of objects and money found on deceased or in concentration camps;
• Repatriation, exhumation and restitution of bodies;
• Maintenance of graves and national cemeteries;
• Searching archives after the Second World War;
• Assignation of the title of deported, interned resistant fighter or political prisoner.

The individual files concern both civilians and the military. The documents collected in the immediate post-war period cover both French citizens and foreigners residing or passing through France. To seek an individual file one needs the name, first name, date of birth of the person concerned.

With 5.657 linear meters of archival materials, the funds retained by the BAVCC enrich archives currently operated by the “Direction des status, des pensions et de la réinsertion sociale” of the Ministry of Defence, in particular individual files being processed to receive titles or statuses issued to victims of the Second World War.