Selected records of the United Nations War Crimes Commission. Polish Delegate to the Commission of United Nations for War Crimes United Nations War Crimes Commission. Delegat Polski do Komisji Narodów Zjednoczonych do Spraw Zbrodni Wojennych (Sygn. GK 161)

Identifier
irn98207
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2015.52
  • RG-15.360
Dates
1 Jan 1945 - 31 Dec 1948
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
  • German
  • Polish
Source
EHRI Partner

Web Source

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn98207

Extent and Medium

1,977 digital images, PDF

1 CD,

Creator(s)

  • United Nations War Crimes Commission

Biographical History

The United Nations War Crimes Commission was established at a meeting held at the Foreign Office in London on October 20, 1943. The Commission, operating from a secretariat in London, consisted of government representatives appointed by the 17 member countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, India, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Yugoslavia. The first official meeting took place on January 11, 1944, and the Commission continued its activities until the end of March 1948, and was dissolved in May of that year. In addition to the main commission, a separate Far Eastern sub-commission was established at the suggestion of the Chinese ambassador.This sub-commission was initially based in Chongqing, and later, Nanjing, operating from November 1944 until March 1947. The primary activities of the Commission were to identify and prepare lists of alleged war criminals, and to help establish the legal machinery used by the member countries to apprehend, bring to trial and prosecute war criminals.

Archival History

Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu

Acquisition

Source of acquisition is the Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu (IPN), Sygn. GK 161. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the filmed collection via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Project in 2015, and accretion in Feb. 2020.

Scope and Content

This collection contains Polish, British and American regulations concerning the research, investigation and judgement of war criminals. Voluntary testimonies of SS-Gruppenführer, Jakub Sporrenberg and SS-Hauptsturmführer, Fridel Rau concerning their activities in Lublin and other occupied territories, the case of soap making in the Institute of Anatomy in Gdańsk, protection of objects of art and archival objects stolen in Poland by Germans, Germanization of Polish children, the camp of Płaszów, texts of Polish “claims” in the case of Nazi war criminals, a copy of verdict by the court in Krakow versus Michał Weichert.

System of Arrangement

Selected records arranged in six series: 1. Records on experiments carried out at the Institute of Anatomy in Gdańsk, Poland on production of soap from human fat, 1945-1946; 2. Voluntary testimonies of SS-Gruppenführer Jacob Sporrenberg and SS-Hauptsturmführer Friedel Rau regarding their activities in Lublin and other occupied territories, 1946; 3. 4. Looted arts, jewelry, archives, and germanization of Polish children, 1945; 5. Polish complains against Hermann Göring, Amon Göth, and others, 1945; 6. Copies of the Polish complaints against Arthur Greiser, Albert Forster and Hans Frank, and against the crew members of the concentration camps: Auschwitz, Majdanek, Stutthof, Chełmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, accused of carrying out mass and individual killings and mistreatment of prisoners, 1944-1947. Records are arranged in the original order of their acquisition from the source archive. The museum has acquired only selected records from Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, or IPN). More information about this collection and other materials in the possession of the Institute of National Remembrance, including archival finding aids from the Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance, is available at the website: https://ipn.gov.pl

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Copyright Holder: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu

People

  • Forster, Albert, 1902-1952.
  • Weichert, Michał.
  • Göring, Hermann, 1893-1946.
  • Rau, Friedel.
  • Greiser, Arthur, 1897-1946.
  • Göth, Amon, 1908-1946.
  • Sporrenberg, Jakob, 1902-
  • Frank, Hans, 1900-1946.

Corporate Bodies

  • Instytut Anatomiczny w Gdańsku
  • Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei. Schutzstaffel

Subjects

  • Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945.
  • World War, 1939-1945--Confiscations and contributions--Poland.
  • Human experimentation in medicine--Poland--Gdańsk--History--20th century.
  • World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities--Poland--Investigations.
  • War criminals--Europe--Trials, litigation, etc.
  • United Nations War Crimes Commission--History.
  • Germanization--Poland--History--20th century.
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)

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.

Copies

  • Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej

    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum holds copies of Holocaust-relevant archives from Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu

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