State Department - Germany, 1944/1945

Containers:
Box 13, Folder 3
Scope and content:

Correspondence about new assignment as a U.S. Political Advisor on German Affairs, December 1944. Includes authorization to travel to Germany; funeral program from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Memorial Service and official orders from the State Department.

Included is a 14 page personal account of the unconditional surrender in Berlin entitled "Account of trip to Berlin on 8/9 May, 1945" by Fritz Ernst Oppenheimer with the letterhead of the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, G-5 Division, Legal Branch.

Oppenheimer accompanied the German Officers from Stendal to Berlin. In detail, he describes the German Officers, Berlin from the air and land, the wording of the surrender, the signing ceremony and a transcription of his conversation with Keitel on the plane returning to Flensburg.

Access and use

Location of collection:
College of William and Mary
Special Collections Research Center
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
400 Landrum Drive
PO 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (757) 221-3090
Fax: (757) 221-5440
Parent restrictions:
Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.
Parent terms of access:
Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.