Peter Clapham collection

Identifier
irn500120
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1994.A.0022
  • RG-10.232
Dates
1 Jan 1933 - 31 Dec 1984, 1 Jan 1945 - 31 Dec 1950
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
  • English
  • French
  • Polish
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

folders

9

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Major Peter Clapham, British Army, served as a postwar governor of penal institutions that housed Nazi war criminals. From June 1 to December 12, 1945, he served as governor of Lüneburg, which held accused Belsen S.S. war criminals for pre-trial and trial. On December 13, 1945, he was appointed governor of Hameln Zuchthaus, where convicted Belsen S.S. war criminals were executed. From January through September 1949, Clapham served as Penal Inspector for Land Niedersachsen, and from October 1949 through August 1952, he served as Deputy Governor of Werl Zuchthaus and Allied National Prison, which held the major war criminals in the British zone, including the highest-ranking officers and S.S. war criminals of all nationalities. Clapham immigrated to Canada in the late 1950s.

Archival History

Canadian War Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Canadian War Museum

Major R.K. Malott, Executive Director of the Organization of Military Museums of Canada, donated photocopies of the Peter Clapham collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of photocopies of hand written personal letters, prison documents, and memorabilia relating to accused Nazi war criminals for crimes committed at Bergen Belsen, Auschwitz, and other concentration camps as well as to other major war criminals in the British zone who were imprisoned, tried, and/or hanged at Lüneburg, Hameln Zuchthaus, and Werl Zuchthaus and Allied National Prison.

System of Arrangement

The Peter Clapham collection is arranged as a single series.

People

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.