The Rule of Law, Nazi Law and War Crimes Prosecutions: Resources

Potentially useful sources in BLS Library's "A-Z Databases" List: 

• Academic Search Premier

  • Scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text journals database with indexing and abstracts for additional journals. Nearly every area of academic study is included: business, science, arts & literature, and medical sciences.

• Congress.gov

  • Official website for U.S. federal legislative information. Contemporary congressional record available for 1930's and 40's as well as discussion of the Holocaust and its implications in post-WWII record.

• Country by Country Guide to Foreign Legal Research (Yale Law School)

  • Connects users to research guides and databases for many countries, including Germany.

• Foreign and International Law Resources

  • Includes the publications of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) along with prominent Yearbooks from around the world. Extensive results for scholarly work on Nazi legal frameworks.

• Foreign Relations of the United States

  • Presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity from 1861-1976.
  • FDR Diplomatic Papers (1933-1945) include:
    • 1933 Correspondance on "Political Developments in Germany under the National Socialist Regime"
    • 1934 "Political Developments in Germany under the National Socialist Regime"
    • 1935 "Political Developments in Germany under the National Socialist Regime" 
    • 1936 "Political Developments in Germany under the National Socialist Regime; The Four-Year Economic Plan"
    • 1937 Reports on "Persecution of Jews in Germany"
    • 1938 "Analyses and Reports of General Political Developments in Europe Affecting the Maintenance of International Order and Preservation of Peace"
    • 1938 Further Reports on "Persecution of Jews," "Rights of American Citizens" in Germany

• Google Scholar

  • Indexes scholarly materials such as journal articles.

• GovInfo

  • Official U.S. federal government database containing 50 different collections including: United States Code, Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, Congressional bills, hearings, and reports, Presidential documents, and Federal Court opinions.
• HeinOnline
  • Searchable database providing full text image-based access to complete runs of many law journals. Also includes current and historical federal and state primary law resources, U.S. Supreme Court materials, United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS), and more.
  • HeinOnline databases (provider: W.S. Hein) available through BLS Library often include LibGuides written by Hein's staff which describe database content and provide "Search Tips."

• History Vault

  • Database of primary source, cross-searchable, full-text, full-image documents on widely studied topics in 19th and 20th-century American history.
  • Extensive contemporary and post-WWII archival material including materials from the Nuremberg Trials 
    • Trial of Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal Nuremberg ('Blue Series') November 14, 1945-October 1, 1946
    • U.S. Military Intelligence Reports: Germany, 1919-1944 
    • Art Looting and Nazi Germany: Records of the Fine Arts and Monuments Adviser, Ardelia Hall, 1945-1961, Part 2: Subject Files

• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals

  • Multilingual index to journal articles and book reviews appearing in over 500 legal journals published worldwide. In-depth coverage of public and private international law, comparative, and foreign law.

• Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective: 1908-1981

  • Archive index covering legal periodicals published in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand between 1908 and 1981. Topics include criminal law, federal law, international law, medical law and more.

• JSTOR

  • Provides image and full-text online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics, law, and other fields of the humanities and social sciences. Coverage varies for each title.

• Law Journal Library (provider: HeinOnline). 

  • Searchable database providing full text image-based access to complete runs of many law journals.

• Law Library of Congress, The Guide to Law Online: Nations of the World

  • The Guide to Law Online is an annotated guide to sources of information on government and law. Nations of the World includes compilations of legal resources discussing the laws of nations, territories, and affiliated jurisdictions across all continents. 
• Legal Source
  • Indexing for thousands for thousands of legal journals, law reviews, and bar association publications, including full text access for selected titles. Includes the Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective: 1908-1981.
• LegalTrac
  • Indexing for law reviews, bar journals, and legal newspapers, including full text coverage for selected titles.
• Lexis+
  • Comprehensive electronic legal research database including federal and state cases, statutes, regulations, administrative rulings, legislative histories, legal newspapers and journals, and general news. Login requires user name and password.
• LLMC Digital
  • LLMC (Law Library Microform Consortium) is a searchable full text digital collection of historical legal materials preserved on microfilm. Includes government publications from the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. Also includes treaties and materials from foreign countries.
  • Includes a selection of Materials in English relating to Germany (1676-Current)
• Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law
  • Comprehensive resource containing peer-reviewed articles on every aspect of public international law.
• Oxford University Press
  • Provides access to a large selection of legal journals and yearbooks published by Oxford University Press. 
• Project Muse
  • Provides full-text access to over 500 peer-reviewed scholarly journals and book-length scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.
• ProQuest
  • Comprehensive cross-disciplinary database providing full text access to thousands of scholarly journals, working papers, newspaper articles, and conference papers and proceedings. Also includes access to historical New York Times articles.
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Wall Street Journal
  • Provides access to first-hand accounts and coverage of politics, society and events by The Wall Street Journal from 1889-2012.
• ProQuest Legislative Insight
  • Contains legislative histories and links to the related full-text Congressional documents for enacted federal laws. Includes full text of public law, all versions of related bills, law-specific Congressional Record excerpts, and committee hearings, reports, and prints.
• ProQuest U.K Parliamentary Papers
  • Includes the sessional papers of the British House of Commons and the 19th Century House of Lords, plus primary sources for the history of Britain, its former colonies, and the wider world.
• Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
  • A searchable database including the full text of thousands of articles contributed by scholars worldwide. Also provides abstracts of thousands of additional scholarly articles.
• United Nations Law Collection
  • Contains exact reproductions of major United Nations legal publications, including the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS), League of Nations Treaty Series, Monthly Statement of Treaties & International Agreements, UNCITRAL Publications, UNIDIR Publications, and United Nations Legislative Series.
• Westlaw
  • Comprehensive electronic legal research database including federal and state cases, statutes, regulations, administrative rulings, legislative histories, legal newspapers and journals, and general news. Login requires user name and password.
• World Constitutions
  • Includes the current constitution for every country in its original language format and an English translation, as well as substantial constitutional histories for many countries. Includes:
    •  Laws of the German Reich under National Socialism, 1933-1945
    •  Constitution of the German Reich, 11 August 1919 [Weimar Constitution]
• World Treaty Library
  • Extensive collection of world treaties, covering the time period from 1648 to the present. More than 160,000 treaty records have been identified and included. Also includes treaty related publications, a bibliography of select titles of importance to world treaty research, and the most-cited law review articles on treaty research.

Prosecuting War Crimes after the Second World War: The Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials (May 22, 2018) [blog post of the Library of the International Committee of the Red Cross]: highlights key primary sources, including:

• Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression / Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality (= link to BLS Library's catalog record for a searchable version of this source (8 vols. + Supplements) in HeinOnline's subscription Legal Classics Library > in BLS Library's catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - (HEIN)).
  • Page 1 provides: Agreement by the Government of the United States of America; the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for the Prosecution and Punishment of the Major War Criminals of the European Axis.
• Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 14 November 1945 - 1 October 1946 (= link to BLS Library's catalog record for a searchable version of this source (42 vols.) in HeinOnline's subscription World Trials Library > in BLS Library's catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - (HEIN)).
  • ICRC Library's blog post describes this source as "the official record of the first Nuremberg trial."
• Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10, Nuremberg, October 1946 - April 1949 (= link to BLS Library's catalog record for a searchable version of this resource (15 vols.) in HeinOnline's subscription World Trials Library > in BLS Library's catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - (HEIN)).
  • ICRC Library's blog post describes this source published by the U.S. Government Printing Office as "the official abridged record of the individual indictments and judgments, as well as the administrative materials that were common to all the trials." 
• Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals, selected and prepared by the United Nations War Crimes Commission (= link to BLS Library's catalog record for a searchable version of this resource (15 vols.) in HeinOnline's subscription World Trials Library > in BLS Library's catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION - (HEIN)).

• Cornell University Library, [General William J.] Donovan Nuremberg Trials Collection

• German Historical Institute, Washington, DC, German History in Documents and Images
  • Includes Weimar Germany (1918/19-1933)
  • Includes Nazi Germany (1933-1945)
  • Includes Occupation and the Emergence of Two States (1945-1961)

• Harvard Law School Library, Nuremberg Trials Project

• Library of Congress, Digital Collections > Hannah Arendt Papers includes Adolf Eichmann File, 1938-1968

• Stanford University Libraries, Taube Archive of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg, 1945‑46

• UMKC School of Law, Famous Trials > Nuremberg Trials (1945-49) by Professor Douglas O. Linder 

• Yale Law School, Avalon Project: Nuremberg War Crimes Trial 

• National Archives, Holocaust-Related Records at the National Archives

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Law, Justice and the Holocaust + Primary Source Databases  

• New York Public Library

  • Researchers age 13+ who "live, work, attend school, or pay property taxes in New York State" can apply for a New York Public Library card to obtain free access to NYPL's print and digital resources. 
  • Dorot Jewish Division has a large collection of Jewish Studies resources (including Jewish history).  Researchers can: review this Division's Research Guides; identify material by searching NYPL's Research Catalog; and email: dorotjewish@nypl.org.

• Center for Jewish History (includes The American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research)

  • Center for Jewish History's Lillian Goldman Reading Room is accessible to both walk-in visitors and to those who make advance appointments through an online form.
  • Researchers can: search descriptions of 5,600+ archival collections; review this Center's Research Guides; and scan this Center's A-Z Databases list. 

BLS Library's team thanks: Library of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Georgetown Law Library authors who contribute to its German Legal Research Guide; and Lauren Mattiuzzo, creator of W.S. Hein's LibGuide on the World Trials Library in HeinOnline.  You highlighted many sources that our team chose to include above.