Úřad československého delegáta v komisi pro stíhání válečných zločinců

The Nuremberg trials were the series of military trials held for the prosecution of prominent Nazi leaders in Germany after the WWII. The first and most known trial of 24 “major war criminals” such as Martin Bormann, Hermann Göring or Rudolf Hess etc. was held before the International Military Tribunal from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946. This major trial was followed by 12 trials (known as subsequent Nuremberg trials) held before the U.S. Military Tribunals which tried Nazi leaders responsible for other economic, political and military matters of the Third Reich.

The creator of the fonds, the Office of the Czechoslovak delegate in the United Nations Commission for Prosecution of War Criminals (from 1945 known as the Office of the Czechoslovak delegate at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg) was founded in 1943 and its goal was to represent Czechoslovakia in the commission, to cooperate internationally on investigations and to take actions against war criminals from Czechoslovak point of view. In the same time, the office also reported back to the Czechoslovak government and to the Ministry of Interior and Justice (records of interrogations, records of judgements etc.). The office was cancelled in 1949 and the only Czechoslovak delegate who served as the head officer was Bohumil Ečer.

The documents and files of this creator were stored at several Czechoslovak institutions. In 1956, they were transferred to the State Central Archives. During the archival processing in 1960-1961, documents were divided in two fonds: The Office of the Czechoslovak delegate in the Commission for Prosecution of War Criminals contains documents concerning the first Nuremberg trial as well as the administrative records of the office, and the fonds Nuremberg Trials which consists of records from 12 subsequent trials 1946 – 1949. (http://www.badatelna.eu/fond/601/ ).