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Schaechter (Kurt Werner) collection
2007C4
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Title: Kurt Werner Schaechter collection
Date (inclusive): 1933-2006
Collection Number: 2007C4
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In French and German
Physical Description:
54 manuscript boxes
(21.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Acquired in 2007, the Kurt Werner Schaechter Collection in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives consists primarily of
photocopies made by Schaechter of documents from French state archives. These copies relate to the role played by the Vichy
France government in the internment of refugees during the Second World War, and the deportation of many such refugees, especially
Jews, toward Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps.
source:
Schaechter, Kurt Werner
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Box 20 may not be used without permission of the Archivist. The remainder of the collection is open for research; materials
must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection,
they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2007
[Identification of item], Kurt Werner Schaechter Collection, [Box no]., Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
| 1921 | Born, Vienna, Austria |
| 1938 | Due to Nazi persecution of Austrian Jews following the incorporation of Austria into the German Reich, the Schaechter family leaves Vienna and settles in France |
| 1939-1940 | Mobilized into French army, trained in North Africa, and sent to Narvik, Norway |
| 1943 | Father is deported and killed in Sobibór |
| 1944 | Mother is deported and killed in Auschwitz |
| 1950s-1970s | Ran import-export company specializing in musical instruments |
| 1991-1992 | Conducted archival research in Toulouse, France on Vichy-era internments and deportations |
| 1992 | Went public with his copies of archival documents, becoming the center of a controversy regarding access to these and other documents |
| 2003 | Lawsuit initiated by Schaecter against the Socié té Nationale des Chemins de fer Français is ruled invalid by a French court under the terms of a statute of limitations applying to such cases |
| 2006 | Inaugurated plaque at a local railway station commemorating those deported by Vichy government |
| 2007 | Died |
Scope and Content of Collection
Acquired in 2007, the Kurt Werner Schaechter Collection in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives consists primarily of
photocopies made by Schaechter of documents from French state archives. These copies relate to the role played by the Vichy
government in the internment of refugees during the Second World War, and the deportation of many such refugees, especially
Jews, toward Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps.
The son of Austrian Jews who were victims of the Nazis, Schaechter undertook a personal mission to document the complicity
of the Vichy government in the Holocaust. He became particularly interested in the part played by the French national railroads
in transporting interned Jewish and other refugees into German hands, and in the general subject of Vichy collaboration with
the Nazis in this period. Schaechter's decision to file suit against the SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français)
received wide media attention in France and elsewhere in the early 1990s, as did his decision to make public the documents
he had photocopied. His lawsuit was ultimately unsuccessful-a French court ruled that his case had been brought too long after
the events themselves-and the charges he made regarding access to French archival sources were challenged by many French historians
of the Vichy period, who maintained that Schaechter's assertions regarding French collaboration in deportations had already
been largely revealed by French and other historians in the 1970s and 1980s.
The materials in the collection will be of value to researchers interested in the controversies surrounding Schaechter's lawsuit
and his decision to make archival documents available by copying and publishing them. The materials require some explanation
as to their nature and Schaechter's description and arrangement of them. A large number of copies are stamped "secret," but
are not considered to be classified. Furthermore, many of the photocopies cannot be assumed to be exact copies of French archival
documents. Schaechter compiled and published large numbers of these copies under the auspices of his own foundation, E.T.H.I.C.
(Enquête sur la Tragique Histoire des Internements dans les Camps en France). In doing so, he often combined documents or
added his own descriptions. As a result, such copies must be considered facsimiles or composites, and need to be compared
to the originals. Another factor that may cause confusion is Schaechter's use of the term "originaux", which he employed to
describe the master copies that he later duplicated, and not the archival documents themselves. A large number of true copies
are part of the collection, and these contain significant information about internments and deportations in the Vichy period.
It should be noted that there are many duplicates in the collection, as Schaechter made numerous sets of the same photocopied
documents for use in his lawsuit and for other purposes. Different descriptions were added by Schaechter to these copies,
depending on the circumstance, and they have been preserved inasmuch as they shed light on his polemics with others and his
research activities in general.
The collection also contains correspondence, including some open letters addressed to French politicians, and a number of
writings by Schaechter, including several historical plays. Details on Schaechter's lawsuit and other activities, as well
as information on the fate of his parents, can be found in the Biographical File series.
Klaus Barbie pre-trial records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1939-1945 -- France
World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews
France -- History -- German occupation, 1940-1945
World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Schaechter, Kurt Werner