--- description: The archive of materials used by the U.N. War Crimes Commission, sealed from the public for over six decades, will be made public this week. title: U.N. Archives on Nazi War Crimes to Be Made Public image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Holocaust](/tag/holocaust/) ## Holocaust Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The U.N.'s Archives on Nazi War Crimes Are to Be Made Public by [Kevin Lui](/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 18, 2017 3:41 AM CUT by [Kevin Lui](/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 18, 2017 3:41 AM CUT The vast archive of materials used by the United Nations War Crimes Commission, sealed from the public for over six decades, will be made public with an online-searchable catalog this week. These files, some of which date back to 1943, [include](https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/apr/18/opening-un-holocaust-files-archive-war-crimes-commission "undefined") early evidence of Nazi war crimes committed during the Holocaust that were smuggled out of eastern Europe during the height of the Second World War, according to the _Guardian_. They will be unveiled by the London-based Wiener Library, a facility supporting the study of genocide and the Holocaust. Prior to the material’s release this week, only researchers authorized by both their national governments and the U.N.’s secretary-general were allowed to access them — without being able to either take notes or make copies. Historian Dan Plesch, who studied the documents for a decade, told the _Guardian_ that the open archive “is a huge resource for combating Holocaust denial.” \[[The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/apr/18/opening-un-holocaust-files-archive-war-crimes-commission "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4743829/holocaust-un-files-nazi-war-crimes-archives/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4743829/holocaust-un-files-nazi-war-crimes-archives/"},"headline":"The U.N.'s Archives on Nazi War Crimes Are to Be Made Public","datePublished":"2017-04-18T03:41:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:27:40.282Z","description":"These files include early evidence of Holocaust atrocities that were smuggled out of eastern Europe","url":"https://time.com/4743829/holocaust-un-files-nazi-war-crimes-archives/","keywords":["Holocaust","History","United Nations","war crimes","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin Lui","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/holocaust/","name":"Holocaust"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4743829/holocaust-un-files-nazi-war-crimes-archives/","name":"The U.N.'s Archives on Nazi War Crimes Are to Be Made Public"}}]}] ```