Charles Deibel collection

Identifier
irn79041
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2013.469.1
Dates
1 Jan 1920 - 31 Dec 1951, 1 Jan 1946 - 31 Dec 1951
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

boxes

oversize box

folders

2

1

4

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Charles Bond Deibel, Jr. (1914-1973) was born on March 5, 1914 in St. Louis, MO. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, he married Jane Stern on June 25, 1938 in Clayton, MO. He graduated with a law degree from the City College of St. Louis in 1939. Deibel remained in the United States during most of World War II, but was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Third Army in early 1945. Soon after the war ended, Deibel was sent to Germany, where he served as a defense attorney during the Dachau war crimes trials. He returned to the United States in late 1946. Deibel passed away on November 11, 1973.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of William Harris

William Harris donated this collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013. He purchased the collection at an estate sale of Deibel's daughter Mary's possessions.

Scope and Content

This collection relates to an attorney with the United States military who served as a defense attorney at the Dachau War Crimes trials, which were run by the Judge Advocate General’s Department of the United States Third Army. Charles B. Deibel, Jr. served in this role between 1945-1946, spanning the trials of personnel from the Dachau, Mauthausen, and Flossenbürg concentration camps. The collection includes original photographs and photographic negatives of images taken during the trials and candid photographs of Deibel and the rest of the defense team. The collection also includes interesting series of correspondence, including letters from Florence Minners, a member of Deibel’s extended family who, though born in the United States, spent the war in Germany and requested Deibel to use his resources to help the family during the American occupation of Germany. Extensive correspondence with John Szeptycki, a Holocaust survivor who aided the United States military during the trials—including information about Szeptycki’s desire to reunite with his family and emigrate, and Deibel’s desire to assist Szeptycki—are also included.

System of Arrangement

The Charles Deibel collection is arranged in four series. Series 1: Photographs, 1930-1950 Series 2: Correspondence, 1944-1951 Series 3: Scrapbook pages, 1930-1939 Series 4: Photographic negatives

People

Subjects

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.