19 November 1945
I, Major William H. Coogan, 0-455814, Q. M. C., a commissioned officer of the Army of the United States of America, do hereby certify as follows:
1. The United States Chief of Counsel in July 1945 charged the Field Branch of the Documentation Division with the responsibility of collecting, evaluating and assembling documentary
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evidence in the European Theater for use in the prosecution of the major Axis war criminals before the International Military Tribunal. 1 was appointed Chief of the Field Branch on 20 July 1945. I am now the Chief of the Documentation Division, Office of United States Chief of Counsel.
2. I have served in the United States Army for more than four years and am a practicing attorney by profession. Based upon my experience as an attorney and as a United States Army officer, I am familiar with the operation of the United States Army in connection with seizing and processing captured enemy documents. In my capacity as Chief of the Documentation Division, Office of the United States Chief of Counsel, I am familiar with and have supervised the processing, filing, translation and photostating of all documentary evidence for the United States Chief of Counsel.
3. As the Army overran German occupied territory and then Germany itself, certain specialized personnel seized enemy documents, books, and records for information of strategic and tactical value. During the early stages such documents were handled in bulk and assembled at temporary centers. However, after the surrender of Germany, they were transported to the various document centers established by Army Headquarters in the United States Zone of Occupation. In addition to the documents actually assembled at such document centers, Army personnel maintained and secured considerable documents "in situ" at or near the place of discovery. When such documents were located and assembled they were catalogued by Army personnel into collections and records were maintained which disclosed the source aftd such other information available concerning the place and general circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the documents.
4. The Field Branch of the Documentation Division was staffed by personnel thoroughly conversant with the German language. Their task was to search for and select captured enemy documents in the European Theater which disclosed information relating to the prosecution of the major Axis war criminals. Officers under my command were placed on duty at various document centers and also dispatched on individual missions to obtain original documents. When documents were located, my representatives made a record of the circumstances under which they were found and all information available concerning their authenticity was recorded. Such documents were further identified by Field Branch pre-trial serial numbers, assigned by my representatives who would then periodically dispatch the original
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documents by courier to the Office of the United States Chief of Counsel.
5. Upon receipt of these documents they were duly recorded and indexed. After this operation, they were delivered to the Screening and Analysis Branch of the Documentation Division of the Office of United States Chief of Counsel, which Branch re-examined such documents in order to finally determine whether or not they should be retained as evidence for the prosecutors. This final screening was done by German-speaking analysts on the staff of the United States Chief of Counsel. When the document passed the screeners, it was then transmitted to the Document Room of the Office of United States Chief of Counsel, with a covering sheet prepared by the screeners showing the title or nature of the document, the personalities involved, and its importance. In the Document Room, a trial identification number was given to each document or to each group of documents, in cases where it was desirable for the sake of clarity to file several documents together.
6. United States documents were given trial identification numbers in one of five series designated by the letters: "PS", "L", "R", "C", and "EC", indicating the means of acquisition of the documents. Within each series documents were listed numerically.
7. After a document was so numbered, it was then sent to a German-speaking analyst who prepared a summary of the document with appropriate references to personalities involved, index headings, information as to the source of the document as indicated by the Field Branch, and the importance of the document to a particular phase of the case. Next, the original document was returned to the Document Room and then checked out to the photostating department, where photostatic copies were made. Upon return from photostating, it was placed in an envelope in one of several fireproof safes in the rear of the Document Room. One of the photostatic copies of the document was sent to the translators, thereafter leaving the original itself in the safe. A commissioned officer has been, and is, responsible for the security of the documents in the safe. At all times when he is not present the safe is locked and a military guard is on duty outside the only door. If the officers preparing the certified translation, or one of the officers working on the briefs, found it necessary to examine the original document, this was done within the Document Room in the section set aside for that purpose. The only exception to this strict rule has been where it has been occasionally necessary to present the original document to the
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defendants for examination. In this case, the document was entrusted to a responsible officer of the prosecution staff.
8. All original documents are now located in safes in the Document Room, where they will be secured until they are presented by the prosecution to the court during the progress of the trial.
9. Some of the documents which will be offered in evidence by the United States Chief of Counsel were seized and processed by the British Army. Also, personnel from the Office of the United States Chief of Counsel and the British War Crimes Executive have acted jointly in locating, seizing and processing such documents.
10. Substantially the same system of acquiring documentary evidence was utilized by the British Army and the British War Crimes Executive as that hereinabove set forth with respect to the United States Army and the Office of the United States Chief of Counsel.
11. Therefore, I certify in my official capacity as hereinabove stated, to the best of my knowledge and belief, that the documents captured in the British Zone of Operations and Occupation, which will be offered in evidence by the United States Chief of Counsel, have been authenticated, translated, and processed in substantially the same manner as hereinabove set forth with respect to the operations of the United States Chief of Counsel.
12. Finally, I certify, that all Documentary evidence offered by the United States Chief of Counsel, including those documents from British Army sources, are in the same condition as captured by the United States and British Armies; that they have been translated by competent and qualified translators ; that all photostatic copies are true and correct copies of the originals and that they have been correctly filed, numbered and processed as above outlined.
[Signed] WILLIAM H. COOGAN
Major, QMC, 0-455814
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