Metadata: Evidence from trials of war criminals
Collection
- Country:
- Poland
- Holding institution:
- The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute
- Holding institution (official language):
- Żydowski Instytut Historyczny im. Emanuela Ringelbluma
- Postal address:
- Archiwum, Żydowski Instytut Historyczny im. E. Ringelbluma, ul. Tłomackie 3/5, 00-090 Warszawa
- Phone number:
- (+48 22) 827 92 21
- Email:
- secretary@jhi.pl
- Reference number:
- 312/344
- Title:
- Evidence from trials of war criminals
- Title (official language):
- Materiały z procesów zbrodniarzy wojennych
- Creator/accumulator:
- Chief Commission for the Investigation of German War Crimes in Poland [Główna Komisja Badania Zbrodni Niemieckich w Polsce]
- Date(s):
- 1945/1962
- Language:
- Polish
- German
- Yiddish
- Hebrew
- Extent:
- 599 units (5 linear metres)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Photographic images
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection is arranged in two alphabetical sequences: units 1-155 and 156-599. It contains copies of transcripts and trial materials as well as extracts from court reports of war criminals who persecuted and murdered the Jewish population. Among the collected documents are, among others, materials from the criminal trials of the following:
ref. nos. 1-4: Hans Biebow (head of the German civil administration in the Łódź ghetto);
ref. nos. 5-6a, 188: Josef Bühler (head of the office of the Governor General in Kraków);
ref. nos. 25-36, 236a: Fritz Gustaw Friedl (head of three departments of the Gestapo department in the office of the chief of security police in the Białystok district);
ref. nos. 41-53: Amon Goeth (commandant of the Płaszów camp);
ref. nos. 59-62: Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (commandant of the Auschwitz camp);
ref. nos. 94-94a: Auschwitz camp staff;
ref. nos. 96-105, 363: Rudolf Pavlu (Stadthauptmann of Kraków);
ref. nos. 117-143a: Jürgen Stroop (responsible for the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto; one of the items of evidence is his report);
ref. no. 223: Eng. I. Einhorn (manager of the Lodgings at ul. Stawki 15 in Warsaw);
ref. no. 258: Josef Grzimek (commandant of labour camps);
ref. no. 171: Mietek and Wacek Borowski (murder in Jedwabne);
ref. no. 67: blackmailers (e.g., Sylwester Kozłowski).
The collection was supplemented with materials from the trial of Adolf Eichmann (SS-Obersturmbannführer), which took place in Jerusalem in 1961-1962 (ref. no. 560-574). There are archival units from the court proceedings.
The collection also includes materials from the trial of Michał Weichert (president of the Jewish Social Self-Help) (ref. nos. 145-152). Other materials about Weichert are also in the Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute in the "Social Court at the Central Committee of Jews in Poland" fonds.
The collection also includes the expert opinions prepared by Hersh Wasser (one of the three surviving members of the Oyneg Shabes group): "On the activities of the Jewish Social Self-Help during the occupation", "On the Order Service in the Warsaw Ghetto," "How the resistance movement in the Warsaw ghetto was formed in the context of socio-political, cultural and educational life and social organisations”(ref. nos. 69, 70, 124, 147).
- Archival history:
- The materials were obtained from the Chief Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, in its subsequent organisational forms (see Administrative History) by the Central Jewish Historical Commission and the Jewish Historical Institute in 1945-1962. The collection was supplemented with materials (e.g. expert opinions, reports, extracts from diaries) and records from the trial of Adolf Eichmann.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland was established in 1945 at the Ministry of Justice. Its tasks included researching and collecting materials concerning German crimes committed in Poland during World War II or abroad on Polish citizens and on foreigners staying on Polish soil at that time. The Commission was obliged to publish the materials and research results and disseminate them, as well as making them available to related foreign institutions.
Its chairman was the Minister of Justice, who appointed its members and chairmen of district commissions. The commission had the power to investigate and question witnesses, using the powers of the judicial authorities. Actions taken by members of the Chief Commission and regional commissions with prosecutor's or judge's powers had the power of judicial actions. Public security organs, the police and state administration were obliged to support the work of the Commission. All institutions and private persons were obliged to hand over any evidence of German crimes they had to the committees.
In 1945-1949 it functioned as the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland; in 1949-1984 as the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland; in 1984-1991 as the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland - Institute of National Remembrance; in 1991-1999 as the Main Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against the Polish Nation - Institute of National Remembrance; since 1999 it has been operating as the Main Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Wasser, Hersh
- Weichert, Michał
- System of arrangement:
- The collection is arranged alphabetically.
- Finding aids:
- A digital inventory in Polish is available, including online.
- Yerusha Network member:
- The Taube Department of Jewish Studies of the University of Wrocław
- Author of the description:
- Monika Taras; The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute; April 2020
