Benjamin Sagalowitz papers Nachlass Dr. iur. Benjamin Sagalowitz (1901-1970)

Benjamin Sagalowitz (1901-1970) was a journalist and historian, born in Vitebsk, Russia, graduated in law in Zurich, Switzerland. He wrote for Jewish and non-Jewish papers and from 1938 to 1964 was in charge of the Juedische Nachrichtenagentur (JUNA), the news agency of the representative body of the Jewish communities, the Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund (SIG). In July 1942, a German industrialist, Edward Schulte, approached Sagalowitz about the Nazi plan to exterminate European Jewry. Sagalowitz transmitted this information to Gerhard Riegner, the representative of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in Geneva, who informed the free world. However, the United States delayed the official publication for months. After 1945 he was a correspondent for the influential paper the Neue Zuercher Zeitung and reported from the Nuremberg Trials and later Nazi trials, and also from the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem.

Forms part of the Claims Conference International Holocaust Documentation Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This archive consists of documentation whose reproduction and/or acquisition was made possible with funding from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Source of acquisition is the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. Archiv für Zeitgeschichte (AfZ), Switzerland. Original signature at source archive is: Nachlass Dr. iur. Benjamin Sagalowitz. The AfZ acquired the collection in 1985 and 1999 and also took relevant parts from other collections. The main parts of the collection were donated by the Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund (SIG) and by Mrs. Nina Zafran-Sagal, the niece of Benjamin Sagalowitz. Archival materials relevant to the Eichmann Trial were de-accessioned from the Avner W. Less papers. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the digitized collection via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Programs in Nov. 2011.