Harvard Law School Manuscript Resources

Manuscript Collections

In addition to the Nuremberg trials collection, the Harvard Law School Library holds several manuscript collections of individuals who were involved in the trials, many of whom were HLS graduates. Though smaller in scale these collections help create a more complete context in which the trials took place. These collections include:

 

Ralph Gerhardt Albrecht, Notebook, March 8 – May 10, 1946,  (HLS MS 4354)

Albrecht graduated from HLS in 1923.  He served as an associate United States counsel at Nuremberg from 1945 to 1957.  Albrecht’s notes were taken during the trials of Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Field Marshall Wilhem Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Rosenberg, Dr. Hans Frank, Dr. Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Hjalmar Schacht, Walter Emanuel Funk, and Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz.

Leo Alexander Papers, 1883-2001

Alexander acted as US Medical Consultant to the Secretary of War and US Chief Counsel for War Crimes during the Nuremberg Doctors' Trial.

Francis Biddle, Notes taken at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, 1 February – 30 March, 1946, (HLS MS 1458)

Biddle graduated from HLS in 1911.  He served as a judge during the IMT trial.  These notes were taken during the period covering the 48th through the 95th day of the trials. This period saw the testimony of Reich Marshal Hermann Göring (March 13-22, 1946) and a portion of the testimony of Foreign Minister Joseph von Ribbentrop (March 28-April 2, 1946), among others.

Sheldon Glueck Papers, 1916-1972

Glueck was a professor at Harvard Law School for over 30 years.  He researched war crimes and war criminals while teaching at HLS. 

Ingeborg Kalnoky collection of Nuremberg Guest House papers, 1945-1996

Kalnoky oversaw a guest house established to provide accommodations for witnesses involved in the Nuremberg Trials. She wrote a book on her experience titled, The Guest House: A Nuremberg memoir of Countess Kalnoky.

Benjamin Kaplan Papers, 1939-2010

Kaplan was a professor at Harvard Law School for 25 years. He was part Robert Jackson’s staff which was crucial in crafting the indictment against the Nazi leaders.

Drexel A. Sprecher Research Materials for Inside the Nuremburg Trial: A Prosecutor's Comprehensive Account, 1945-2000

Sprecher graduated from HLS in 1938.  Fluent in German he was one of a relatively small number of prosecutors who served in both the IMT and NMT trials.

Joseph M. Stone photographs and memoranda, 1946-1998

Stone was an Assistant Trial Counsel who helped prosecute the German industrialist Friedrich Flick at Nuremberg in 1947.

Leonard Wheeler, Jr., Papers relating to the Nuremberg Trials, 1947-1949 

Wheeler graduated from HLS in 1925.  He was appointed by Jackson to succeed Murray Bernays as coordinator of evidence gathering.

Belle Mayer Zeck Papers, 1933-2002

Zeck served as an associate counsel at the Nuremberg trials where she helped prepare the case against the leaders of the pharmaceutical and chemical giant I.B. Farben.