Fred Reitler papers
Extent and Medium
folder
1
Creator(s)
- Fred Reitler
Biographical History
Fred Reitler was born in Vienna, Austria, on 7 Aug. 1906. Because of the dangerous situation for Jews in Austria, Reitler fled to Antwerp, Belgium, in 1938. He later emigrated to the United States and became a citizen in 1944. He volunteered for service when he learned of the war crimes trials to be held after the war. Because of his knowledge of German and German shorthand, he was hired as a court reported by the U.S. Civil Service. He attended all of the trial sessions and was chosen to record the last words of the defendant who received death sentences. Reitler continued to work for the U.S. Civil Service during subsequent war crime trials and remained in Germany until his death on 15 Aug. 1978 at Nuremberg.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
Original accession form completed and accession number assigned by archives intern, Scott Krumholz, on 15 June 1988. After the death of Fred Reitler in 1978, the notebook and other materials became the property of his wife, Cilla Reitler. They were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in May 1988 via Dr. John Caruso of Western Connecticut State University.
Scope and Content
Consists of the press pass card used by Fred Reitler during the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, the "Last words of the ten Nazi main war criminals, executed on 16 October 1946" recorded by Fred Reitler, and the personal notebook (some segments in shorthand) kept by Fred Reitler during the IMT and subsequent US-administered war crimes trials. The notebook contains the "Last word..." of the ten main war criminals written in German shorthand.
System of Arrangement
Arrangement is thematic
People
- Reitler, Fred.
Corporate Bodies
- International Military Tribunal
Subjects
- Nuremberg (Germany)
- War crimes--Germany.
- War criminals.
- War crime trials.
Genre
- Document