US Intelligence, the Holocaust and the Nuremberg Trials (2 vols)

Seeking Accountability for Genocide and Cultural Plunder
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-90-04-17277-7
Verlag: Brill Academic Publishers

Buch, Englisch, Band 7, 770 Seiten, Format (B × H): 1600 mm x 2400 mm

Reihe: History of International Relations, Diplomacy, and Intelligence

The relationship between evidence of the Holocaust presented at the Nuremberg trials and the wartime and immediate postwar role of Western intelligence agencies has become controversial. In particular, such agencies stand accused of virtually turning a blind eye to this genocide, preferring to concentrate their efforts on securing military objectives related to the defeat of the Nazis and thwarting Soviet expansion. On the basis of recently declassified OSS, CIA and other intelligence records, which are extensively quoted, this book demonstrates that such one-sided accusations now require substantial revision. Whilst it is shown that there remain grounds for criticising the acts and omissions of the Allies' wartime intelligence agencies, their efforts in monitoring the Holocaust as it was being carried out, and making a series of wartime humanitarian interventions were far greater than has previously been realised. Other positive contributions included supplying incriminating witness testimony, documentation and other trial evidence, and tracking down and interrogating many key individuals responsible for the Nazis' anti-Semitic art looting and other forms of economic plunder. Many US intelligence officials played a positive role in gathering, analysing and - in some cases - actually presenting Nuremberg trial evidence in various formats, and in a manner that helped secure some measure of legal accountability for the Nazis' crimes against humanity. Hence, contemporary war crimes prosecutors could perhaps learn important lessons from both the successes and failures of this remarkable form of interagency collaboration.

Zielgruppe

All those interested in the Holocaust, Nazi war crimes, war crimes trials and intelligence studies.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Salter, Michael

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Internationales Recht und Europarecht Internationales Recht Internationales Strafrecht, Internationales Verfahrensrecht
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Deutsche Geschichte Deutsche Geschichte: Holocaust
• Rechtswissenschaften Internationales Recht und Europarecht Internationales Recht Internationales Kriegsrecht, Territorialrecht, Humanitäres Recht
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Sources and Abbreviations

VOLUME ONE

Introduction
1. Introducing the present book’s rationale, aims and methodology
The Nuremberg process: a brief summary
The involvement of the OSS within the Nuremberg process.
Criticisms of the OSS’ failure to respond adequately to the Holocaust
Conclusion

2. The OSS’ monitoring of the Holocaust and practical humanitarian interventions
Introduction
Wartime monitoring
Practical humanitarian interventions by OSS staff: Oss-War Refugee Board cooperation
Bartering Jewish lives
Baltic relief operations
OSS’ Planned interventions in Greece
Monitoring relief missions
Critical Comments
Conclusion

3. Postwar Investigations And Preparations for War Crimes Trials
Planning for war crimes trials
Ascertaining the scale and impact of the Holocaust
Investigating concentration/death camp atrocities
Obtaining evidence of the mass killings of Jews in Eastern Europe
Providing evidence on methods of killing
Reporting on Holocaust survivors
Gathering evidence on the complicities of individual defendants
Preparing evidence on organisational defendants and corporations complicit in the Holocaust
Identifying potential trial witnesses
Investigating the knowledge of perpetrators and others less directly involved in the Holocaust
Conclusion

4. The Safehaven Programme and OSS’ Investigation Of Looted Jewish Assets
Introduction
The scale and nature of the Nazis’ looting of gold
OSS and the Safehaven Programme
OSS Safehaven reports on Nazi gold and elements of the Holocaust
The contribution of Dulles’ Bern Office
OSS contributions to Safehaven from its London and Paris field stations
Investigations in Spain, Portugal and Sweden
OSS-Econic’s contribution to Safehaven
Safehaven as a life raft for OSS’ postwar survival
Safehaven and looted artworks
Operational successes
Critical comments: Problems limiting the effectiveness of OSS’ contribution to Safehaven
Conclusion and assessment

VOLUME TWO

5. OSS’ Investigation of Looted Jewish Art
Introduction
The creation of the ALIU
Staffing the new OSS Unit and creating an administrative structure
The ALIU’s mission objectives
ALIU’s early wartime operations
The creation of master and target lists
Missions to Italy and France
ALIU’s postwar investigations and interrogations in Germany and Austria
The final operational phase of ALIU’s work: Spring 1946-September 1946
Art looting and the Holocaust in France
Investigating the Göring Collection
The looting of Jewish artworks as a source for Hitler’s Linz Museum
Problems concerning Switzerland and other national contexts
Counter-espionage dimensions of ALIU’s work
Addressing Holocaust-restitution issues
The ALIU’s achievements and frustrations

6. Preparing evidence of the Holocaust: OSS’ support for the Nuremberg process
Introduction
The ALIU’s contributions to the Nuremberg process
The nature and influence of Neumann’s spearhead theory of Nazi anti-Semitism
The spearhead theory at Nuremberg
A defense of the impact of the spearhead theory
Wartime R&A reports on Nazi war crimes
The process of composing postwar R&A Reports for the OCC
The contents of postwar R&A reports relevant to the Holocaust
The significance and deployment of R&A Reports: the work of the Neumann research group
The Dwork Papers and the R&A Jewish Desk’s contribution to the Nuremberg prosecutors
Gathering trial evidence of Nazi genocide from OSS staff
Jack Taylor’s evidence on Mauthausen death camp.
The Holocaust and the OSS’ R-Series of Nuremberg evidence
Other OSS-sourced evidence of the Holocaust used at Nuremberg

Overall Conclusion

Appendix One: The Nuremberg Laws On Cultural Plunder
Appendix Two: Jack Taylor’s Trial Evidence at the Mauthausen Trial
Appendix Three: Restitution Through Publicity? Contemporary Interest in OSS’ Role Relating to ‘Nazi Gold’

Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Michael Salter, PhD in Law (Sheffield 1988, University of Sheffield, UK), is currently professor of law at Lancashire Law School, UCLan. He has published extensively on different aspects of war crimes trials, and the selective contribution of intelligence agencies to such trials, including questionable plea-bargaining and immunity deals.