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International Military Tribunal, Records

Title: International Military Tribunal, Records

Creator: Rosenberg, Alfred, et all

Creator: International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg)

Dates: 1923-1947

Quantity: 2 boxes (0.9 linear feet)

Collection Number: MS 0010

Language: German, English

Restrictions: Identification of author of Series 14, item 1 is restricted.

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Historical Records Statement: Please see our statement on historical records and materials.

Preferred Citation: International Military Tribunal Collection (MS 0010). Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries.

Historical Note:

Representatives of the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France organized the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in 1945 to try cases against twenty-four Nazi leaders: Martin Bormann, Karl Dönitz, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Hans Fritzsche, Walter Funk, Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess, Alfred Jodl, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Robert Ley, Konstantin von Neurath, Franz von Papen, Erich Räder, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Alfred Rosenberg, Fritz Sauckel, Horace Greely Hjalmar Schacht, Baldur von Schirach, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Albert Speer, and Julius Streicher. Between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946 the IMT was convened, and verdicts were handed down on 30 September and 1 October 1946. The verdicts resulted in twelve death-by-hanging sentences, seven life terms, and three acquittals.

ROSENBERG, Alfred: Born in Revel (now Tallinn) in Estonia, Rosenberg was of Baltic German descent. He fled to Germany in 1918. There he joined the pan-Germanic and occult Thule Society. He spread his antisemitic and anti - Bolshevik views through such works as Die Spur der Juden im Wandel der Zeiten (The Track of the Jews through the Ages [1919]) and Unmoral im Talmud (Immorality in the Talmud [1919]). In his popular work, Der Mythos des 20. Jahrhunderts (The Myth of the Twentieth Century [1935]), he argued that race was the main influence that shaped all aspects of culture and that Teutonic honor and religion should replace the traditional Judeo-Christian emphasis on compassion and "weakness." Impressing Hitler with his theories of a Judeo-Bolshevik Masonic world conspiracy, Rosenberg climbed the ranks of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. As the editor of the main Nazi paper Völkischer Beobachter and head of the Foreign Policy Department, Rosenberg worked to systematize Nazi philosophy and ideology as head of the Foreign Policy Department. In 1946, the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg sentenced him to death. He died by hanging on 16 October 1946.

Scope and Content:

The material contained in Series 1-11 in the collection consists of the original papers and documents of Nazi officials, mostly those of Alfred Rosenberg, but a smaller amount of material from Martin Bormann, Wilhelm Frick, Joseph Göbbels, Heinrich Himmler, Hans Heinrich Lammers, Robert Ley, Rudolf Hess, Rudolf Hoess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, and several others is also present. These documents are of interest as they often deal with high-level Nazi policy decisions. They have apparently not been microfilmed, but similar or identical materials in other American or European archives most likely have been microfilmed. A few photostatic copies of original Himmler and Hitler documents generated in National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP) offices or later at the IMT are also included. The materials in Series 1-11 were among the allied Captured War Records, some of which were entered as evidence at the IMT. In some instances, similar but not identical NSDAP materials are listed in Guides to German Records Microfilmed at Alexandria, Va. (Washington: National Archives and Records Service. General Services Administration), volumes 3, 20, 35, and 77 on the NSDAP files. Series 12 and 13, which are not related to Rosenberg, include materials apparently from the personal files of IMT allied interrogators Philipp Fehl and Werner Peiser concerning defendants or witnesses Edmund Vesenmeyer, Franz von Papen, Werner Best, Hans Frank, Fritz Wiedemann, Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hoess, Julius Streicher, Konstantin von Neurath, Konrad Morgen, Hans Heinrich Lammers, Heinz Fanslau, and others. The titles for Series 1-13 are placed within quotation marks to indicate that they appear to have been borrowed directly from the titles created for these materials at the IMT. Series 14 was later added to the collection in 1978 and is an anonymous handwritten assessment of Rosenberg written by a former employee of the Aussenpolitisches Amt (Foreign Relations Department) headed by Rosenberg in the Nazi era.

Subjects:

Bormann, Martin, 1900-1945

Furtwängler, Wilhelm, 1886-1954

Göbbels, Joseph, 1897-1945

Göring, Hermann, 1893-1946

Himmler, Heinrich, 1900-1945

Hindemeth, Paul, 1895-1963

Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945

Hoess, Rudolf, 1900-1947

Lammers, Hans Heinrich, 1879-1962

Ley, Robert, 1890-1945

Orff, Carl, 1895-1982

Ribbentropp, Joachim von, 1893-1946

Rosenberg, Alfred, 1893-1946

Seyss-Inquart, Arthur, 1892-1946

Strauss, Richard, 1864-1949

Germany -- Nazi

Germany -- Politics and government -- 1918-1933

Germany -- Religion - 1933-1945

Jews -- Germany

National Socialism

Nuremberg Trial

Socialists -- Germany

Church and state -- Germany -- 1933

Die National Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei/The National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)

Series Description: Series 1: "General Correspondence"

The first series contains six miscellaneous papers and documents, including a photostatic copy of an informal note from Hitler to Rosenberg (1923), three anti-Vatican items from 1930 to 1931, and two items from 1933 on Colonel Etherton and Ernst Hanfstängel.

Series 2: "NSDAP, Beauftragter des Führers für die Überwachung der gesamten geistigen und weltanschaulichen Schulung und Erziehung" (The Führer's Deputy for the Supervision of Comprehensive Intellectual and Ideological Training and Education)

This series is comprised of papers and documents, 1933-1944, by Rudolf Hess, Martin Bormann, Wilhelm Frick, Robert Ley and others concerning NSDAP propaganda, educational, and cultural activities relating to art, artists, plays, and authors; conflicts with Göbbels and Rosenberg's fears of a takeover of the Propaganda Ministry; and conflicts between Otto Dietrich and Rosenberg.

Series 3: "NSDAP, Beauftragter des Führers für die Überwachung der gesamten geistigen und weltanschaulichen Schulung und Erziehung. Amt Musik" (The Führer's Deputy for the Supervision of Comprehensive Intellectual and Ideological Training and Education. Music Office)

This series contains papers and documents, 1937-1944, about music and past and living composers, including Anton Bruckner and Richard Strauss, books about composers, etc. Series 3 contains correspondence from Herbert Gerigk, Walter Pudelko, Norbert Schultze, Julius Kopsch, Wolfgang Böttcher, Joseph Göbbels, and others.

Series 4: "Germany, Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete" (Reich Ministry for the Occupied Territories in the East)

This series includes papers from 1942-1944 about Wilhelm Kube and his death and about economic and religious matters in Russia during war time. Correspondence from Wilhelm Kube, A. E. Frauenfeld, Hans Heinrich Lammers, and others is to be found in the series.

Series 5: "NSDAP, Stellvertreter des Führers" (Representative of the Führer)

Series 5 contains four letters dated 1939 from Martin Bormann to Rosenberg regarding various publications, sculptor Ernst Paul Hinkeldey, and German-occupied territories.

Series 6: "NSDAP, Völkischer Beobachter" (National Observer)

Series 6 consists mostly of materials from 1928-1934 about the periodical Völkischer Beobachter and about matters concerning other German press publications.

Series 7: "Germany, Spruchkammer" (De-Nazification Court)

This series contains documents from Jan. to Feb. 1947 about legal action against Franz von Papen by the County Court of Nuremberg.

Series 9: "German Ministries"

This series includes papers and documents from 1940-1944 concerning minority groups (ethnic Poles and others) in Germany and eastern Germany; the Auschwitz death camp; Italian fascism; etc.

Series 10: "NSDAP, Austria"

Series 10 consists of correspondence dated between 1926-1938 from Arthur Seyss-Inquart concerning philosophical and German race questions and the 1939 Anschluss of Austria.

Series 11: "NSDAP, History"

Series 11 contains four miscellaneous items from 1923-1943(?): including a copy of a letter by Hitler written from prison (1923), a denunciation of sculptor von Gosen, a circular letter about a Hitler visit to the 1936 NSDAP convention, and a circa 1943 German legal book.

Series 12: "International Military Tribunal, Miscellany"

This series is comprised of miscellaneous materials generated during the IMT for presiding judges and for prosecution and defense teams and other documents relating to Werner Best and Fritz Wiedemann. Original materials from the files of IMT interrogators Peiser and Fehl are also in Series 12.

Series 13: "International Military Tribunal, Prosecution"

Additional documents generated during the IMT including interrogation transcripts and/or affadavits from the following defendants: Edmund Vesenmeyer, Franz von Papen, Werner Best, Hans Frank, Fritz Wiedemann, Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hoess, Julius Streicher, Konstantin von Neurath, Konrad Morgen, Hans Heinrich Lammers, and Heinz Fanslau. Additional materials from interrogators Fehl and Peiser are also included in Series 13.

Series 14: Rosenberg Assessment

A four-page handwritten copy made in 1969 for British Prof. Robert Cecil of an original April 13, 1947 assessment of Rosenberg that had been written by a former employee of the German Aussenpolitisches Amt who wished to remain anonymous. The 1969 copy was made by the author from the 1947 original.

Container List: Box 1. Folder 1. General correspondence, 1923-1933 Box 1. Folder 2. NSDAP correspondence, 1933-1938 Box 1. Folder 3. NSDAP correspondence, 1938-1944 Box 1. Folder 4. NSDAP correspondence, 1942(?) Box 1. Folder 5. NSDAP Amt Musik, correspondence, artist surveillance reports, 1937-1943 Box 1. Folder 6. NSDAP Amt Musik, correspondence, undated Box 1. Folder 7. Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete, correspondence, 1942-1944 Box 1. Folder 8. NSDAP, Stellvertreter des Führers, corresponence, 1939 Box 1. Folder 9. Völkischer Beobachter, correspondence, 1928-1934 Box 1. Folder 10. Spruchkammer, legal records, Franz von Papen, 1947 Box 2. Folder 1. NSDAP, Aussenpolitisches Amt, intelligence reports, NSDAP correspondence, 1933-1944 Box 2. Folder 2. German Ministries, correspondence, 1940-1944 Box 2. Folder 3. NSDAP Austria, correspondence, 1926-1938 Box 2. Folder 4. NSDAP History, correspondence, 1923-1943(?) Box 2. Folder 5. International Military Tribunal, prosecution documents, 1945-1946 Box 2. Folder 6. International Military Tribunal, prosecution documents, 1946 Box 2. Folder 7. International Military Tribunal, interrogation transcripts, 1946 Box 2. Folder 8. Rosenberg assessment, 1947 1969 Box 2. Folder 9. Fehl manuscript, 1928 1945
Related Material and Resources: Note: Additional materials from the files of Philipp Fehl relating to the International Military Tribunal have been assigned the following call numbers: Frank, Hans, and International Military Tribunal. Tagebuch des Herrn Generalgouverneurs für die Besetzten Polnischen Ostgebiete, 15. Oktober 1939 bis 3. April 1945. Krakau: s.n., Bound photostat copies of International Military Tribunal documents. 1939-1945 (Spec D 804 G4F7 (4 vols.)Der Stürmer. Nürnberg, 1923-1944. (Spec Oversize DS 145.A1 s8 v.20 ) Peiser, Werner. German Government and Administration. An Historical-Political Introduction. January 31, 1947. (Spec Folio 342.43 fP358q) Typed manuscript with photostats of International Military Tribunal documents.. Groener, Wilhelm. Denkschrift des ersten General quartiermeisters, Generalleutnant Groener über die Lage am 17. Juni 1919. [S.l., ????]. (Spec Folio 940.3 fG892d). Photocopy of typed manuscripts.



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