Open Access Publication of the Historical Sound Recordings of the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv

This paper argues in favor of an open access publication of the holdings of the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv, which have so far received little attention from lawyers despite their status as World Documentary Heritage. Firstly, it is argued that the public international legal obligations of Germany under the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage which require efforts to preserve intangible cultural heritage and make it accessible, are indirectly relevant for the historical sound recordings. Secondly, making the historical sound recordings accessible through digitization is – in addition to the legal perspective – a cultural-ethical imperative in the restitution debate. Read together, it seems that the open access publication of the historical sound recordings would be a pragmatic way to address both the legal and ethical perspectives.