Descriptive summary LEON GOLDENSOHN PAPERS, 1946 2012 (Bulk, 1946) 2012.430.1 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW Washington, DC 20024 2126 Tel. (202) 479 9717 e mail: reference@ushmm.org Title: Leon Goldensohn papers Dates: 1946 2012, bulk, 1946 Accession number: 2012.430.1. Creator: Goldensohn, Leon Extent: 4 boxes Repository: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, DC 20024 2126 Abstract: The Leon Goldensohn papers consist largely of original, typescript notes of 137 interviews conducted by Dr. Goldensohn with Nazi defendants and witnesses during the trials of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, from January to July, 1946. Goldensohn served in the United States Army as a prison psychiatrist during this period, and conducted these interviews with the aid of a translator. In addition to interview typescripts, this collection contains resumes drafted by some of the defendants, correspondence, notebooks, photographs, texts of speeches delivered by Goldensohn, as well as notes, published reviews, and other documentation related to the publication of a selection of these interviews in 2004. Languages: English, German Administrative Information Access: Collection is open for use, but is stored offsite. Please contact the Reference Desk more than seven days prior to visit in order to request access. Reproduction and use: Collection is available for use. Material may be protected by copyright. Please contact reference staff for further information. Preferred citation: (Identification of item), Leon Goldensohn papers, Box [x], United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Washington, DC
Acquisition information: Donated by Dr. Eli S. Goldensohn, on behalf of the Goldensohn family, May 2012. Custodial history: Following Leon Goldensohn s death in 1961, the papers were in the custody of his widow, Irene Goldensohn, who subsequently gave these papers to her children in 1983. In 1994, the two children who had the remaining papers transferred them to Eli Goldensohn, so that he could make plans for publishing selected interview transcripts. Processing history: Processed by Brad Bauer, 2012. Biographical note Leon Nathaniel Goldensohn, M.D., was born in New York, NY, on October 19, 1911. He received a bachelor s degree from Ohio State University, and an M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine. After serving his residency in neurology at Montefiore Hospital in New York and receiving training in psychiatry at the William Alanson White Institute, he was Board certified to practice both neurology and psychiatry. In 1943, Goldensohn joined the United States Army, serving as Division Psychiatrist of the 63 rd Infantry Division, initially in Mississippi but later in the European Theatre, where he received several decorations. At the end of the war, Major Goldensohn was assigned to the 121 st General Hospital in Nuremberg. In January 1946, Goldensohn received orders to report to the Internal Security Detachment at Nuremberg, where he was designated the prison psychiatrist at the International Military Tribunal jail during the trials of high ranking Nazi leaders. As part of his duties, he regularly interviewed the defendants as well as witnesses, inquiring about their medical condition but also questioning them and encouraging them to discuss at length their life stories, including their motivations and activities during their careers within the Nazi party. After completing this tour of duty in July 1946, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and shortly thereafter returned to civilian life in New York, where he resumed a practice in psychiatry. In addition, he served as a consultant to Teachers College, Columbia University; and was a lecturer at New York University and the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry. Goldensohn died of a heart attack at the age of 50, on October 24, 1961. (Biographical note adapted from text provided by Dr. Eli S. Goldensohn) Scope and content of collection The Leon Goldensohn papers consist largely of original, typescript notes of 137 interviews conducted by Dr. Goldensohn with Nazi defendants and witnesses during the trials of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, from January to July, 1946. Goldensohn served in the United States Army as a prison psychiatrist during this period, and conducted these interviews with the aid of a translator. In addition to interview typescripts, this collection contains resumés drafted by some of the defendants, correspondence, notebooks, photographs, texts of speeches delivered by Goldensohn, as well as notes, published reviews, and other documentation related to the publication of a selection of these interviews in 2004. While containing some biographical information about Goldensohn, the bulk of the collection consist of typed transcripts of interviews that he typically conducted with defendants and witnesses in their prison
cells in Nuremberg. Goldensohn usually jotted down detailed notes in small notebooks during the interview assisted during the interviews by an American translator, Howard Triest and then typed up more extensive transcripts based on these notes shortly after the interview. Although a few notebooks are extant and included in this collection, the core of this collection consists of the typed transcripts. In some cases, defendants or witnesses interviewed by Goldensohn also supplied brief, handwritten biographical statements or resumés prior to their interviews, and these are usually filed with the transcripts or in a file adjacent to them. In addition, a few defendants files contain correspondence with their family members (such as Wilhelm Keitel, Julius Streicher, Oswald Pohl, or Karl Wolff ), memoranda by Goldensohn about their medical and psychological conditions (such as Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Karl Wolff), or other documents written by prisoners describing actions or events they had participated in (such as Otto von Skorzeny s essay Italien Einsatz im Jahr 1943, describing his role in the liberation of Mussolini from captivity in Italy and his evacuation to Austria in 1943). After the transcripts and papers were gathered together in the 1990s from various family members by Dr. Eli Goldensohn, the brother of Leon Goldensohn, work was begun to eventually produce a publication based on these transcripts. The resulting work, edited by historian Robert Gellately, was published as The Nuremberg Interviews, conducted by Leon Goldensohn, edited and with an introduction by Robert Gellately (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004). This collection contains transcripts that were published in that book, as well as ones that were not. System of arrangement The collection is arranged in five series: Biographical; Writings, speeches and publications; and three series of interview transcripts: Defendants (published in Gellately, 2004), Witnesses (published in Gellately, 2004) and Witnesses (unpublished). Each series is arranged alphabetically, either by topic or by name of interviewee. Indexing terms Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945 1946 War criminals Germany Nuremberg Interviews Witnesses Germany Nuremberg Interviews Goldensohn, Leon Psychiatrists United States
CONTAINER LIST Box Folder Biographical series 1 1 Army, United States. Service records, 1946 1 2 Brief biography of Leon N. Goldensohn, by Eli S. Goldensohn, undated 1 3 A Strange Coincidence, by Francis J. Braceland, MD, Psychiatric Annals, undated (account of meeting he and Goldensohn had with Rudolf Hess) 1 4 International Military Tribunal, passes and identification cards, 1946 1 5 Photographs of Leon N. Goldensohn, 1929 1946, and undated Writings, speeches and publications 1 6 Lecture, Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, New York, October 25, 1946 1 7 Lecture, Temple Beth El Men s Club, New York, November 21, 1946 1 8 Lists of interviews with descriptions of provenance, compiled and annotated by Eli S. Goldensohn, 1999 2002 1 9 10 Notebooks, originals, used in prison interviews by Leon Goldensohn, 1946 1 12 The Nuremberg Interviews, correspondence, 2001 2005 1 12 The Nuremberg Interviews, publicity and reviews, 2005 2012 Interview transcripts: Defendants, 1946, January July (published in Gellately, 2004) 2 1 Doenitz, Karl: March 3, May 2, July 14 2 2 Doenitz, Karl: Biographical statement 2 3 Frank, Hans: February 12, February 28, March 5, March 16 2 4 Frank, Hans: Biographical statement 2 5 Frick, Wilhelm: March 10 2 6 Fritzsche, Hans: March 2, March 17, April 6, May 8, May 20, May 24 2 7 Fritzsche, Hans: Biographical statement, statement about Goebbels 2 8 Funk, Walter: March 31, April 7, April 14, May 11, May 12 2 9 Funk, Walter: Additional documents 2 10 Goering, Hermann: May 21, May 24, May 27, May 28 2 11 Goering, Hermann: Biographical statement 2 12 Hess, Rudolf: Interview notes (June 8), medical notes, biography 2 13 Jodl, Alfred: March 17, plus biographical statement 2 14 Kaltenbrunner, Ernst: March 22, June 6 2 15 Kaltenbrunner, Ernst: Biographical statement 2 16 Keitel, Wilhelm: March 27, May 17, April 6 2 17 Keitel, Wilhelm: Biographical statement; letter of Keitel from June 30, 1946; summary correspondence to his wife 2 18 Neurath, Konstantin von: July 21, compiled later from Goldensohn s diary notes, plus biographical statement 2 19 Papen, Franz von: February 7, March 30, July 7
2 20 Papen, Franz von: Biographical statement 3 1 Ribbentrop, Joachim von: January 27, February 16, June 23, July 15 3 2 Ribbentrop, Joachim von: Biographical statements, handwritten statement by Ribbentrop, memorandum on Ribbentrop s health 3 3 Rosenberg, Alfred: February 3, June 8, June 15 3 4 Rosenberg, Alfred: Biographical statement 3 5 Sauckel, Fritz: February 9 3 6 Sauckel, Fritz: Biographical statement 3 7 Schacht, Hjalmar: January 26, January 27, February 20, March 10, March 31, April 20, May 8, May 18, June 9 3 8 Schacht, Hjalmar: Biographical statement 3 9 Schirach, Baldur von: March 2, March 10, March 23, May 5, June 16 3 10 Schirach, Baldur von: Biographical statement, plus document How I Lead Youth 3 11 Speer, Albert: Biographical statement 3 12 Streicher, Julius: January 24, April 6, June 15 3 13 Streicher, Julius: Biographical statement, description of his wife (Adele), letter to his wife, March 15, 1946 Interview transcripts: Witnesses, 1946, January July (published in Gellately, 2004) 3 14 Bach Zelewski, Erich von dem 3 15 Daluege, Kurt: January 26, 1946. Also contains handwritten statements from Daluege, Titled Meine Jugenderziehung (January 1946) and Die deutsche Polizei! Meine Stellung zu Himmler (February 1, 1946). 3 16 Dietrich, Sepp: February 28, 1946 3 17 Halder, Franz: March 26, March 29, April 3, April 5, April 12 3 18 Hoess, Rudolf: April 8, April 9, April 11 3 19 Kesselring, Albert: February 4, March 14. Plus handwritten biographical statement From Kesselring (titled Lebenslauf ), dated December 27, 1945, along with handwritten translation into English. Additional notes from March 12 interview. 3 20 Kleist, Ewald von: June 12, June 25 3 21 Manstein, Erich von: June 14 3 22 Milch, Erhard: January 22, February 28, March 13 3 23 Mildner, Rudolf: January 24, February 12, February 14, February 15 3 24 Ohlendorf, Otto: March 1 3 25 Pohl, Oswald: June 4, June 5, June 6. Plus, an undated note from Pohl s wife, written in rhyming verse, asking prison authorities to not read her personal letters to her husband. 3 26 Schellenberg, Walter: March 12, March 13 3 27 Schmidt, Paul O.: March 13, May 29, July 18 Interview transcripts: Witnesses (unpublished) 4 1 Best, Werner (Commissioner for Occupied Denmark): June 17 4 2 Bingle, Erwin (First Lieutenant, Wehrmacht): February 28, March 26 4 3 Blank, Margaret (Secretary to Joachim von Ribbentrop): March 12 4 4 Bodenschatz, Karl von (General): March 1, March 9 4 5 Bohle, Ernst (Foreign Office): January 29
4 6 Brandt, Karl (Personal surgeon to Hitler): January 26. Includes separate document, A Report on Adolf Hitler, by Brandt, translated into English. 4 7 Brauchitsch, Bernd von (son of General Walter von Brauchitsch): March 17 4 8 Brauchitsch, Walter von (General): June 3 4 9 Darré, Walter (Ministry of Agriculture?): Typed statements by Darré, translated into English, undated. 4 10 Eckhardt, Kurt A. (Admiral): April 2, April 3. Includes handwritten statement by Eckhardt, April 8. 4 11 Fabricius, Paulus (Economist): March 3 4 12 Falkenhorst, Nicholas (General): March 8 4 13 Gaus, Friedrich (Foreign Office): March 1 4 14 Hiemer, Ernst (Editor in chief, Der Stürmer): March 16, April 5 4 15 Hemmen, Hans (Foreign Office): February 21 4 16 Hoellriegl, Alois (SS Unteroffizier, witness to atrocities at Mauthausen): February 12 4 17 Hoettl, Wilhelm (SS, assistant to Adolf Eichmann): February 12, February 14, February 21 4 18 Kraffczyk, Helene (secretary to Hans Frank): March 19 4 19 Kroll, Hans (Foreign Office): April 14 4 20 Leeb, Wilhelm von (Field Marshal): June 17 4 21 Moll, Otto (SS Unterführer, Auschwitz, Landsberg, Gleiwitz): April 14 4 22 Neubacher, Hermann (Foreign Office): March 29, March 30 4 23 Roettiger, Hans (General): February 14 4 24 Rundstedt, Gerd von (Field Marshal): May 16 4 25 Schmidt, Guido (Austrian Foreign Minister): May 31 4 26 Skorzeny, Otto (Oberstleutnant): February 5, plus statement titled Italien Einsatz im Jahr 1943 4 27 Speer, Ingeborg (secretary to Rudolf Hess): February 3 4 28 Streicher, Adele (wife of Julius Streicher): March 13 4 29 Voelckers, Hans Hermann (German Minister to Cuba): June 7 4 30 Warlimont, Walter (General of Artillery): April 11 4 31 Westphal, Siegfried (General of Cavalry): March 23 4 32 Westoff, Adolf (General Major): March 22, March 28 4 33 Wilhelmy, Barbara (office worker, SD, RAD): May 23 4 34 Wisliceny, Dieter (Hauptsturmführer, SS): March 7, consisting of typed transcript by Eli S. Goldensohn of handwritten notes from Leon Goldensohn s original note book. Also included is original handwritten statement ( Lebenslauf ) from Wisliceny, dated December 28, 1945 4 35 Woelzl, Robert (Jurist, Landesgericht Munich): June 1 4 36 Wolff, Karl (SS, General): February 18, February 23, May 7, May 11 4 37 Wolff, Karl (SS, General): Related documents, 1945 1946. Includes autobiographical Statement from Wolff, correspondence from Wolff to Charlotte Fuehrig von Bredow, and memoranda from Goldensohn assessing Wolff s psychiatric state. 4 38 Woyrsch, Udo von (SS, Obergrüppenführer): May 9 4 39 Zupke, Johannes (Colonel, Ordnungspolizei): April 7