David Irving's provisional inventory of some of the boxes found in the home of Dr Robert M W Kempner. [Click for concluding general impressions.]

Uncorrected notes dictated by David Irving during a visit to the home of Mr Walt Martin in a Philadelphia suburb on September 18, 2001

Martin owns the residue of the papers of Dr Robert M W Kempner, whose last address (where the papers were salvaged) was 112 Lansdowne Court, Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, USA

1. He hands me a (sixteen page, approximately) French language hand-written deposition dated 12th May 1952 taken during the action against Steinworth -- an original.
2. A clip of approximately four-hundred pages (German original) documents relating to the Ukraine signed, or originated by Otto Bräutigam (and Dr Alfred Meyer) dated 1941/1942 including originals, carbon-copies, an Aufzeichnung headed "Geheime Weisung" - beginning "Im Osten wird von Deutschland ein Dreiviertel Krieg geführt - ein Krieg zur Vernichtung des Sozialismus, ein Krieg zur Zertrümmerung, des großes (?) Reiches, und endlich ein Krieg zum Erwerb von Kolonial Land zur ...."
3. There appears to be a speech draft or article draft, probably by Rosenberg. The document dated Berlin, March 5, 1943, "Kaum eine Maßnahme hat sich derart negativ auf die Stimmung der Bevölkerung in dem besetzten Ost-Gebieten ausgewirkt, wie die ans glauben jagten Erinnerung der Betreibung von Menschen für den Arbeits Einsatz in Deutschland". Initialled apparently 'Br.'(?) for Ministerial Direktor Dr. Leibbrandt.
4. The file also includes press clippings, for example from the Minsker Zeitung, a document signed by Von Kleist (Oberkommando der Heeresgruppe A) dated February 17, 1943, Betrifft: Die Behandlung der Zivilbevölkerung im Operationsgebiet, a copy of the Proklamation by Dr. Goebbels dated February 15, 1943, "Behandlung der Europäischen Volker."
5. Page from the Deutsche Ukrainezeitung, January 1943
6. A letter from Rosenburg to Alle Obersten Reichsbehörden, December 3, 1942. A ten page Memorandum, "Der Ostraum Tritt zu Europa" (in handwriting on the top, Dr Rudolf Kommosz.)
7. A Memorandum by Dr Alfred Rosenberg, Berlin, September 3, 1942 entitled "An die Volker des Ostens" (Geheim).
8. A carbon copy of a five-page Meldung an den Führer by Rosenberg, August 11, 1942.
9. Eine ausdrucksweise Abschrift an den Herrn Reichsminister für die eroberten Ostgebieten - we don't know where it is from or the date. It begins ....."In einem Schreiben an den Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer hat der Herr Reichsminister für das Ostland am 24.12.1941 bestimmt, daß die Zigeuner in die Behandlung der Juden gleich gestellt würden. Eine Abschrift dieses Schreibens liegt bei...." Towards the end it continues ...."Die Mitletten in Mischehe lebenden Zigeuner würden bisher, soweit dies ? zu bringen war, von den Maßnahmen im Sinne des Erlasses von 24.12.1941 nicht erfaßt."
10. Attached to this is a letter from Lohse an den Höheren SS- und Polizei Führer in Riga, 24.12.1941, Abschrift about "Im Lande und umherirrenden Zigeuner" and the danger that they were causing als Überträger von Ansteckenden Krankheiten.
11. It ends: "Ich bestimme daher, daß Sie in der Behandlung den Juden gleich gestellt würden. Gezeichnet.Lohse." The document is 'Geheim'.
12. A document signed by Heinrici, General der Infanterie, Armee Oberkommando 4, dated 12.3.1942, "Vorschläge zur Behandlung der Bevölkerung in den eroberten Ostgebieten. Der Russe hat ein ausgeprägtes Gefühl für Richt und Billigkeit."
13. Memo From Dr. Schlotterer, Wirtschaftsstab-Ost, Berlin, 15. November, 1941, to Dr Bräutigam.
14. There is a ten page Memorandum dated Berlin, October 2, 1941 entitled "Vermerk über eine Besprechung beim Führer am September 29, 1941 im Fuhrer-Hauptquartier" attended by Hitler and Rosenberg with Dr Lammers and Martin Bormann.
15. "Einleitend betonte der Führer als außerordentliche Wichtigkeit daß die ganzen Arbeiten in der Ukraine gut vorwärts gingen..." Rosenberg protested about the interference from Himmler, "Die Unterredung kommt an auf der Verhältnis vom Reichsführer SS zur Verwaltung als Chef der Reichspolizei und Reichskommissär für die befetsigung des deutschen Volkstums. Hier sagte der Führer, "Es ist einmal so im Krieg, daß wir machten Polizei, wenn sie in ein besetztes Gebiet kämen, irgendwelche Fabriken (Kleidung-Schulfabriken) beschlagt nahmen, und Mann müsse die Frage von dem Gesichtspunkt betrachten, daß es wichtig sei, daß die Dinge hier im Betrieb kämen, das übrige würde ich später schon finden.
16. The last three pages concern this relationship with Himmler (of that Memorandum - 3 copies).
17. There is an important file of 500 pages or more or original documents, typescript, carbon-copies, handwriting, etc., originating apparently from the OKW Wirtschaftsstab Ost. Many of the documents are signed by Generalmajor Hans Thomas.
18. The whole file is from 1941, pre-and post-Barbarossa, concerning the technical planning for the colonisation of the Soviet Union after the occupation. There is a 'Schnellbrief" signed by Körner, May 27, 1941: "In Bestätigung der bereits mündlich durchgegebene Einladung daß ich beim nächsten 'B' Sitzung am Montag, den 28 Mai 1941, vormittags 12 Uhr in daß Preußische Stadts-Ministerium".
19. A letter signed by Staatssekr Kleinmann, 11.5.1941
20. One document dated May 1941 is marked 'Zurück (zrk) Barbarossa' in red crayon.
21. ? apparently went to the Berlin Document Centre (Gotha-Old II) because it also contains a number of photographic prints of documents. One contains a lot of Thomas's documents as drafts with many handwritten corrections. The document is headed „Vortragsnotiz über die Besprechung, betr. Vorbereitungen Barbarossa am 7.5.1941 nachmittags" attended by a dozen Army Officers and Thomas.
22. The file isn't a Rosenberg file but a Thomas file (Wehrmacht file - OKW).
23. The documents of the Arbeitsstab Oldenburg, March 21, 1941. An Aktenvermerk über Besprechungen am 21. März, 1941 attended by Thomas, Gusovius and others. The document signed by Gusovius headed "Aktennotiz über Besprechung Oldenburg" beim Amtschef am 10.3.1941 vormittags entitled „Studium für Vorbereitungen zum Abwehr eines Positions(?)angriffs gelegentlich des Marita Unternehmens."
24. There is some detail on the steps taken by Hitler to keep Barbarossa secret. The first document in the file is dated January 31st, 1941. The file is basically concerned with the economic exploitation of occupied Russia after Barbarossa begins.
25. The papers include a handwritten Allgemeine Einleitung in Das Alte Testament, which I am told belonged to Kempner's mother.
26. There is a Schulheft on law studies, 'Straf Prozess'.
27. There is a very large number of prints of photographs of documents. The prints range in size from Din A4 size to A5 size. A typical serial number reads 64409 rubber-stamped on the bottom right-hand corner. There are prints from microfilms - the perforations can be seen on the edges.
28. There are a number of sealed envelopes - one which was addressed to 29,000 Jeaen Lessmann on the outside - it contains Bank Statements, a file of correspondence by Kempner in the United States 1941, 1942, 1943, including a letter from Reynal & Hitchcock rejecting his suggestion of publishing Rosenberg's Myth of the 20th Century as "a turgid performance".
29. Photographic prints from microfilm copies of the Stenogramme of the Führer Lagebesprechungen. These are interesting because some of them portray also the actual burned fragments of shorthand attached, on which the transcript is based. But they do not appear to have contained anything new.
30. Photographic prints from various documents of the German Foreign Ministry. Typical serial number, 64736.
31. Handwritten, approximately 40 pages including blanks, Kriegstagebuch Nummer 1, OKW Wirtschaft Richtungsamt/Arbeitstab Oldenburg begonnen 24. Februar, 1941 und endet 23. Juni 1941. This is of high historical importance. A few associated documents are also with that file. [I have a photocopy of this document]
32. Several documents from the Reichfuhrer SS. Both are duplicated documents entitled 'Meldungen aus dem Reich', for example 11 March, 1940.
33. Correspondence between J. Edgar Hoover and Kempner in 1943. A long telex from the Generalgouverneur ? (Krakau) to the Ostministerium in Berlin, betr. Unterabteilung Kirchenwesen, which is about ten pages long - an original.
34. A folder of correspondence between Kempner and the German Government on his publication of the Warren Report of 1964.
35. There is a photocopy of a letter from Robert Wolfe [US National Archives] to Dr Robert M. W. Kempner dated 8 November 1972 showing that Kempner received the reproductions of 1749-PS, Alfred Rosenberg's papers. "The entire 1749-PS series of ten folders consist of 692 pages".
36. There is an original map printed 'Politisch-Administrative Karte der UdSSR, systematische Darstellung der Energiewirtschaft" dated 1 März 1943.
37. There are 20 pages of Xerox copies, negative, handwriting, 'The Rosenberg Diaries' but they are identified at the top as 1749-PS.
38. The file contains one or two working level papers dated November 1945 which suggested the interrogation of General Koestring, etc signed by James A. Gorrell.
39. At the front is a black address book entitled 'Adressen der Schule des Landschulheims Florenz ab 25 Oktober 1936'. Most of the names appear to be Jewish, Israel, Kahane, Katzenstein, Liebenthal and Frau Helene Kempner.
40. There is a thick black binder containing approximately 2,000 pages of correspondence between Kempner and others from 1943 onwards. He was Assistant to the FBI in October 1943, apparently advising them on Nazi Germany on enemy sabotage and practices, on espionage, on the Abwehr and similar matters. The cover sheet is entitled: "Preparation for Testimony as Expert Witness". The file ends in May 1945. The cover sheet may not be related to the content. He is giving his expertise and insights on the workings of the German Government both before and after the Nazis came to power.
41. A file of papers of Kempner in the Staatsrechtliche Seminar in 1921.
42. A black notebook is Kempner's desk diary for 1942 -- 1943 with a few hand-written entries. There are one or two tattered letters from Robert Kempner, including one dated 20 February [1946?] beginning&emdash;
43. Meine Lieben:-
44. "Montag abend, 10.30hrs Abfahrt, Ankunft in Bermuda um 2 Uhr Morgens dort, zu starke Wind zu Abfahrt nach Azoren...".
45. Then arrives in Nuremberg. About half a dozen letters to his family dated between 1945-1946.
46. There is collection of about 100 letters written in German to his wife, Ruth Kempner, from Nuremberg, sometimes on headed notepaper of the Office of Chief of Counsel.
47. There are a lot of Kempner's own personal college papers when he was studying law.
48. This is quite an interesting binder with approximately 200 pages of documents, etc., originals, the Deckblatt says, "Preparation for Testimony before Courts, Enemy Alien Hearing Boards, etc., and the names include Konrad Heiden, , Stadt-Sekretär Planck, Arnold Bergstrasser. The documents include a Memorandum on Konrad Heiden's newest book, written for the FBI, 15 February 1944.
49. Correction: The above file includes about 400 pages and shows the extent to which the Americans went to crack down on German citizens and their collaborators in the United States, with the assistance of Dr Kempner.
50. One folder contains a cheque for US$20.70 covering Kempner's testifying as an Expert Witness in the case in the United States v. Malzahn et-al, 20 April 20, 1943.
51. Letters from Herman Bohle, the son of Gauleiter Bohle in 1960 and 1961 to Dr Kempner. There are several charts called 'Kräftige Überstellung of German and Soviet Forces 1943".
52. There is a little brown leather-bound address book kept by Dr Kempner from 27 August 1941 onwards until 31 October 1946.
53. An original document, the first two pages only, Berlin, 23 March 1944:-
54. "Vermerk für den Leiter der Führungskorp P4 - Betrifft: Orthodoxische Konferenzen".
55. "Besprechung mit SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Neuhaus."
56. In a Memorandum dated 11 October, 1945 Kempner writes a summary of documents of 2 May, 1941 of the Arbeitsstab Oldenburg as clear planning of the German attack against Russia.
57. There is the Divorce Action of Helene Kempner against Robert Kempner dated 9 March, 1932, a letter from Kempner to Ministerialdirektor Dr Klausener dated 1 June, 1929 with an attached Entwurf "eines Polizei Gesetzes".
58. There is a letter from Edmund Stinnes in a folder dated 14 March 1950, an Affidavit of Helmut Wohlthat about Stinnes.
59. The attachment is an Aktion against Otto Seeger and others wegen Diebstahl und Hehlerei in April 1923.
60. A folder of photographs of Schnurre, Hilger, Schulenberg and of the German Embassy in Moscow.
61. A letter from the family of Robert Kempner, namely his son Lucienne and his son André to the Holocaust Museum dated 11 June, 1997 relating to Robert Kempner who died August 15, 1993 dealing with the disposal of his papers.
62. The letter states that the written Estate is under the temporary control of Mrs Margot Lipton (who I am informed was his live-in girlfriend).
63. A letter from Kempner to the Attorney General of the United States Attorney dated January 5, 1942 which shows that his radio had to be fixed so that he could no longer listen to the short wave programmes of European stations. "Thus I have complied with the regulations for enemy aliens". He applies, however, for an exception to be made in his case.
64. In a cardboard box are photocopies of things like Vernehmungsniederschhrift of Dr Wilhelm Harster, Munich, April 27, 1966 - 11 pages long about the deportation of the Dutch Jews to Mauthausen.
65. A little heap of about 10 letters written to André Kempner in French, 1952 in the original envelopes, a membership book for the Bund der Beamten und Anwärter der Staatsverwaltungen 1930
66. Correspondence about his book, "Blueprint for the Nazi Underground as Revealed in Confidential Police Reports".
67. Various letters from publishers in 1930s, etc., to Kempner about his planned publication of a book on "Ein Kommentar über das Polizei Gesetz".
68. A typewritten copy of an article in "Die Zeit", January 29, 1952 called "Gesiebte Dokumente" commenting on the fact that the documents on Nuremburg have not been returned by the Americans in their entirety.
69. A three page article about Kempner entitled "Kommst Du nur immer Anzuklagen?, Ein Vault zum Ewigen Frau Kempner", correspondence with German Authorities about how his wife had kidnapped a child, Lucien, in 1938.
70. Robert Kempner writes in one document at the end, "Lucian's Mutter ist eine durch Geschlechtskrankheit ausgesucht und Alkoholismus seelisch und körperlich ruinerte Person." Correspondence on these matters appears to go on until 1940 or later.
71. A full photograph of a young man who appears to be Lucian who was serving in the British Army in the Rhein in 1946. Lucian writes, "Ich bin hier in eine verteufelten Lage. Ich habe seit April [1945] amerikanische und englische Uniform getragen, und wann mich jemand fragt was ich bin und zu wem ich überhaupt gehöre kann ich nicht antworten oder müss lügen".
72. This file appears to be primarily papers of Lucian or relating to him.
73. A number are found to be papers printed by Dr. Lydia Rabinowitsch and Dr Walter Kempner, round about 1903 on plagues and epidemics (she was an associate of Dr Ludwig Koch and also Kempner's Mother who was one of their first Bacteriology Professors in 1897).
74. There is a letter from Sir Hartley Shawcross dated September 25, 1950 to Kempner responding to his complaint about an article in the German newspaper, "Der Mittag".
75. It includes a lot of correspondence with ?, including those who returned to Germany.
76. A Writ dated September 4, 1930 in der Privatklagesache wirken ? von Preussendiegen Mendel. Dr Kempner was one of the Lawyers involved, presumably for the Defendant.
77. A file called 'War Criminals' dated 1950 containing materials in relation to the later trials.
78. There are four pages of Summaries entitled 'Inhalt der Arthur Rosenberg Unterlagen' dated November 20, 1972 listing the contents of 1749-PS, item by item with the page numbers, and answering certain questions about them. There is no reference to any pages of the diaries that are not in the 1749-PS set.
79. There is a copy of an original carbon-copy of Dokument EC-483, dated November 3, 1943: "Die Bedeutung über Ost Europas für die Deutsche Richtungs Industrie", 15-16 pages.
80. There is an undated 4 page Memorandum by Rosenberg entitled "Betrifft Odessa", on the importance of Odessa for the Reichkommisariat Ukraine.
81. Notiz über eine Besprechung 31 Mai 1943 attended by Ministerialdirektor Dr. Fränk and Leibbrandt who signs the document, and the need for „eine baldige Entscheidung in Fragen der Ost Politik".
82. „Sollte in nächster Zeit eine solche Bekannt nicht erfolgen, so werde Reichminister Speer gezwungen sein, dem Führer zu berichten, dass er die grosse Balfür haben im Osten nicht übernehmen könnte."
83. There is a 7 page Memorandum by Otto Bräutigam dated Berlin, August 15, 1943, eine Auszeichnung mit die Politische Unterstritzung des Feldzugs in Osten.
84. Testimony of R. M. W. Kempner on Dr Hans Dieckhoff: Verbatim transcript of about 30 pages.
85. There are a lot of school essays of Kempner going back to the 1915-1916 period. In a number of letters to Kempner in the early 1950s from Germans denounced leading editors, for example, Werner Friedmann, the Herausgeber of the 'Süddeutsche Zeitung' was said to have worked for the Goebbels Propaganda Ministry during the War. Also from German diplomats who were similarly denounced in such letters.
86. An interesting letter from Paul Weiss of Wharton & Garrison to Kempner, December 23, 1949 on negotiations that they had conducted with the widow of Generaloberst Adam, who was willing on principle to allow her husband's diaries to be made available to historians, but feared the repercussions.
87. A report (?) from Telford-Taylor with attached a Memorandum by him dated October 17, 1949, information with respect to General Adam's Memoires. He had discussed the matter with Dr. Gordon Craig of Princeton who had expressed interest on behalf of the University.

My general impression of the collection is that it is about 90% junk:-

1. Photo prints from post-war microfilms, faded crumbling yellow duplicated pages from the Nuremburg prosecution files, surprisingly voluminous correspondence with J. Edgar Hoover, and ancient press-clippings turned almost red with age.
2. The valuable materials include especially many thousands, by my estimate, of pages of correspondence in hand-writing with members of Kempner's family. There are about a dozen photographs showing him and a female (Margot Lipton?) visiting the Pope. The papers are in an impressive disarray, and any archival treatment of them would involve first of all sorting them out between junk and valuable material, and then sorting them out into a strictly chronological sequence.
3. As repositories, the most obvious candidate would appear to be the U.S. Holocaust Museum, to which the bulk of the Kempner papers were already willed; or the University of Syracuse, because of their interest in Judge Biddle; or Boston University Library, because of their similar collections; and possibly the Hoover Library. I do not believe the material is of sufficient value for the Bundesarchiv or the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, as the new German content appears to be limited to the Kriegstagesbuch of the Arbeitstab Oldenburg and a few files of Rosenberg and Thomas.
4. There was no trace in the collection shown to me of any unknown pages of the Rosenberg Diaries.
5. The search lasted from 11 am until 5.20 pm.