France Shares Important Postwar Judiciary Records with Museum

PARIS -  The French Ministry of Defense today signed a cooperative agreement with the French Shoah Memorial and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to reproduce important World War II war-crime related documents.

Until late last year, most of these sensitive documents concerning crimes perpetrated by Nazi occupiers and French collaborationists were classified and inaccessible to the public. They were stored away in various locations, including the Château de Vincennes, just outside Paris, and in the Le Blanc military fortress near Limoges. These records were declassified following an executive order by the Prime Minister of France Manuel Valls.

The archival records include  the trials of  Gestapo perpetrators, the trial of of Otto Abetz, the German ambassador to the Vichy government and the trial Carl Oberg, the SS chief in France. Both were found guilty for deporting tens of thousands of Jews to death camps.  

The newly-released  material also include the trials of German officers and soldiers who engaged in mass killings of French citizens in various places such as Tulle and Oradour-sur-Glaine.  

French Secretary of State for Veterans Affairs and Remembrance, Jean-Marc Todeschini, announced the new cooperation agreement at the Ministry of Defense. The French Shoah Memorial and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will reproduce these extraordinary collections and will make these reproductions available in their documentation centers to researchers and historians from all over the world. Preservation copies will be made available to the Ministry of Defense for safekeeping and research purposes. 

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a living memorial to the Holocaust, inspires citizens and leaders to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. Its far-reaching educational programs and global impact are made possible by donors nationwide. Learn more at ushmm.org.