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Wiener Library

'Richterbriefe': confidential circulars of the Reichsministerium der Justiz (microfilm)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 1556 WL 527

Held at: Wiener Library

Title: 'Richterbriefe': confidential circulars of the Reichsministerium der Justiz (microfilm)

Date(s): 1942-1944

Level of description: collection

Extent: 207 frames

Name of creator(s): Reichsministerium der Justiz (Justice Ministry)

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Reichsministerium der Justiz (Justice ministry) was one of the ministries of the Third Reich. The Richterbriefe are a series of confidential letters addressed to the Nazi judiciary from the Reichsministerium outlining in detail the stance that should be taken and verdicts, which should be given in numerous case scenarios. They were a method of further controlling and subordinating the judiciary to Nazi ideology. They came about shortly after the appointment of Otto Georg Thierack to the position of Reichsminister der Justiz in August 1942.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Series of 21 letters on a variety of legal matters affecting the judiciary in Nazi Germany, 1942-1944.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: German

System of arrangement:

Numerical

Conditions governing access:

Open

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Physical characteristics:

Microfilm

Finding aids:

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

There were originally 11,000 sets of Richterbriefe, 10,384 of which were sent to the courts and the remainder to various ministries, senior government departments and party offices. The provenance of this particuar set is unknown.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Jewish Central Information Office

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Wiener Collection, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Existence and location of copies:

Bundesarchiv, Germany

Related material:

Publication note:

Boberach, Heinz, Kempner, Robert M. W., Rasehorn, Theo, Richterbriefe : Dokumente zur Beeinflussung der deutschen Rechtsprechung 1942-1944, (Boldt, Boppard am Rhein, 1975).

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Oct 2007


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
German history | European history | National history
Third Reich | Nazism | Totalitarianism | Political doctrines
Administration of justice
Legal theory

Personal names
Thierack | Otto Georg | 1889-1946 | Reichsminister der Justiz

Corporate names
Reichsministerium der Justiz (Justice Ministry)

Places