Civilian Agency Records RG 59

State Department and Foreign Affairs Records

General Records of the Department of State (RG 59)

Records of The Legal Adviser

The Legal Adviser, Green H. Hackworth, handled all matters of a legal nature for the Department throughout the war.

Records Relating to Postwar Settlement Issues, 1939-1963

Includes records relating to the postwar Paris Conference on Reparations, the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency (IARA), restitution of monetary gold, and defrosting of previously frozen assets.

Boxes 1-26 (Lot File 70D516)

Records Relating to German Assets, 1942-1959 (Lot File 60D139)

Boxes 1-43

Records of the Legal Adviser Relating to War Crimes

Records Relating to German War Crimes 1942-1946 (Entry 1368)

Boxes 1-5

Records Relating to U.S. Participation in the U.N. War Crimes Commission 1943-1949 (Entry 1369)

Boxes 6-16 - United Nations War Crimes Commission

Lists of War Criminals 1944-1948 (Entry 1370) - Boxes 16-21

Records of the Assistant Legal Advisers

Subject Files of the Assistant Legal Adviser for European Affairs relating to Germany and Austria, 1945-1960 (Entry 1311) (lot File 59D609)

Boxes 2-26

Germany

Austria

General Records of the Assistant Legal Adviser for German Affairs relating to Germany and Austria 1946-1956 (Entry 1314) (Lot File 57D54)

Boxes 27-40

Austria - Box 30 - Whole box on Austrian Looted Securities

Records of the Personal Representative of the President to Pope Pius XII 1942-1950

President Roosevelt appointed Myron C. Taylor as his personal representative to Pope Pius XII on December 23, 1939. Taylor arrived in Rome in February 1940 and spent several months investigating civilian refuge problems and the possibilities for peace. Thereafter he visited Rome periodically and became President Truman's personal representative to Pius XII in 1946. During Taylor's absences from Vatican City, relations with the Vatican were maintained by a small staff of Foreign Service officers. His assistant from 1941-1946, Harold H. Tittman, Jr., was Charge d'Affaires on various occasions; thus much of the correspondence described below is with Tittman. (Note 22)

Index to Decimal File 1944 and 1945 (Entry 1065)

An index on 3x5-inch cards, to records in the 1944 and 1945 portion of the decimal file in Entry 1068. Each entry gives the classification under which the document was filed. Some entries include a brief description of the document. Arranged alphabetically by subject or name. Box 1.

Index To The Decimal File 1947 (Entry 1066)

An index on 3x5-inch cards, to the 1947 portion of the decimal file in Entry 1068. Each entry gives a short summary of the document and the classification under which it was filed. Arranged alphabetically by subject or name. Box 1.

Index to Instructions Received April 20, 1944-February 25, 1947 (Entry 1067)

An index on 3x5-inch cards, to instructions from the Department of State to the personal representative of the President. Each entry gives the date of the instruction, its subject, the classification under which it was filed, and its security classification. Arranged numerically. Box 1.

Decimal File 1944-1950 (Entry 1068)

Telegrams, despatches, reports, and letters between Taylor and his staff and the Department of State, other U.S. Government agencies, the Vatican, and the Italian Government. Also included is some semipersonal correspondence. Included in the records is information on political affairs, Jews, refugees and relief activities, German-owned property in Rome, property rights, the Vatican Bank. Arranged chronologically by year and thereunder according the Foreign Service Classification Manual. Records for 1944 and 1945 are filed together. A box and folder list is available in the consultation area in Room 2600. Boxes 1-27.

Confidential Correspondence File 1944-1947 (Entry 1069)

Letters, reports, memorandums that were kept separate from the main body of the 1944-1950 decimal file in Entry 1068. Most, but not all, of the documents were originally security classified. Arranged chronologically. Box 28

Register of Telegrams Sent and Received 1944-1949 (Entry 1070)

Lists of telegrams sent--August 20, 1944-July 22, 1948, July 11-December 31, 1948, and January 2, 1949-January 9, 1950; and telegrams received--January 3-October 31, 1949. Each entry gives the number of the telegram, its classification, the date, and the subject. Arranged numerically by telegram number.
Box 29

Telegrams and Airgrams Sent January-December 1942 and June 1944-December 1949 (Entry 1071)

Copies of official telegrams and airgrams sent to the Department of State and various Foreign Service posts. Arranged as telegrams or airgrams and thereunder chronologically, except for one set of 1948 telegrams that is arranged by Foreign Service post and thereunder chronologically.
Boxes 29-30

Telegrams and Airgrams Received 1942-1949 (Entry 1072)

Copies of official telegrams and airgrams received from the Department of State and various Foreign Service posts. Arranged chronologically, except for the 1948 telegrams from various Foreign Service posts that are arranged by post and thereunder chronologically. Those for 1946 and 1947 are arranged as telegrams or airgrams and thereunder chronologically. Boxes 31-32

Miscellaneous Subject Files 1944-1949 (Entry 1073)

Copies of letters, memorandums, reports, telegrams, and invitations to social functions. Included are such subject as Axis diplomats, war criminals, protocol, and statements and peace efforts of the Pope. Arranged alphabetically subject.
x Boxes 33-34

Records of the Special Interrogation Mission to Germany, 1945-1946

In 1945, the Department of State sent a mission to Germany to interrogate former German government officials regarding German foreign relations, propaganda, the Nazi Party, and other subjects for the period 1939-1945. The mission, headed by DeWitt C. Poole, functioned from August 1945 to January 1946. Its purpose was to acquire political information from participants in the Nazi regime; to fill in gaps in the Department's knowledge of Nazi foreign policy and of Nazi activities abroad; reveal certain aspects of the operation of the Nazi administrative machine; and fix personal responsibility for major decisions and policies in the Third Reich.

Interrogations of Former High-LevelNazi Diplomatic and Military Officers 1945-1946 (Entry 1082)

The records are arranged alphabetically by surname. Reports on the Interrogations of Former German Government Officials. Each report includes biographical information of the person interrogated, the date, place and language(s)of the interrogation; the interrogator(s); the method of recording the interrogation and related pertinent materials concerning the subject of the interrogation and the person being interrogated. Most of the first three boxes of this material have been microfilmed as NARA Microfilm Publication M679, 3 rolls. The fourth box consists of material transferred to the National Archives in 1980. Although some of the folders have the same surname title as in boxes 1-3, the material is complementary and does not contain duplications. Boxes 1-4