Richard Dillard Dixon, Jr., Papers
1870-1970
Manuscript Collection #601- Creator(s)
- Dixon, Richard Dillard, 1926-1993
- Physical description
- 1.32 Cubic Feet, 3 archival boxes, consisting of transcripts, manuscripts, press releases, wall charts, correspondence, ephemera, and photographs
- Preferred Citation
- Richard Dillard Dixon, Jr., Papers (#601), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
- Repository
- ECU Manuscript Collection
- Access
- Access to audiovisual and digital media is restricted. Please contact Special Collections for more information.
Papers (1946-1948) obtained by Richard Dillard Dixon, Jr., while visiting his father Richard Dillard Dixon, Sr., who participated in the of International Military Tribunal (for Nazi war crimes) held in Nuremberg, Germany, as a member of the judges Secretariat and as a judge. Included are mimeographed transcripts of some of the trials and related manuscripts, press releases, and wall charts delineating the hierarchy of Nazi German government and military system. Other papers (1870-1970) concern the life of Edenton, N.C., attorney, insurance agent, wholesale oil salesman and civic activist Richard Dillard Dixon, Jr.
Biographical/historical information
Richard Dillard Dixon, Sr. (1888-1952), of Edenton, NC, had just completed a four-year appointment by N.C. Governor J. Melville Broughton as a special superior court judge when he was sent to Nuremberg, Germany, in 1946, as a deputy secretary general to the U.S. chief of counsel office to assist in the Nazi war crimes trials. In May 1947 he was appointed an alternate judge and he participated in four trials--Cases 1 and 2 probaby as a part of the judges Secretariat's senior staff, Case 5 as an alternate judge, and Case 9 as a regular judge. His son Richard Dillard Dixon, Jr., came to Nuremberg in June 1947 and stayed on until 1948 with his father.
Scope and arrangement
This collection contains papers belonging to Richard Dillard Dixon, Jr., related to the Nuremberg trials. These papers contain two opening statements, several final judgments, and the formal sentences passed by the International Military Tribunals against top leadership figures of the Nazi party.
Original War Crimes Trial The judgment (August 31, 1946) against and sentences of the remaining Nazi leadership including Hermann Goring, Rudolf Hess, and Joachim von Ribbentrop among others for crimes against peace, humanity, war crimes, membership in an illegal organization, removal of cultural icons from conquered countries, forced labor of immigrants and POWs, persecution of Jewish men, women, and children, and the conquest of Europe are given. A history of the Nazi regime in Germany and its World War II policies are detailed in the judgment.
Case #1 Tribunal #1 This case resulted in judgments (August 1947) against top Nazi doctors including Karl Brandt, et al, for criminal experiments on POWs and foreign workers including: high altitude, freezing, malaria, mustard gas, sulfanilamide, bone,muscle, and nerve regeneration, sea water experiments, epidemic jaundice, sterilization, spotted fever, and experiments with poison bullets.
Case #2 Tribunal #2 These papers (April 1947) contain the judgment of crimes of Erhard Milch concerning medical experiments conducted at Dachau concentration camp; foreign labor, and use of POWs in German war production and defense; and whether Milch paticipated, controlled, or had the ability to put an end to it. Also a concurring opinion with a very detailed examination of the crimes committed is included.
Case #4 Tribunal #2 This judgment (November 1947) concerns Oswald Pohl, et al. Pohl was the head of the Main Economic and Administrative Department (WVHA) of the SS under Himmler. He and his department heads were responsible for all levels of SS activity including: transportation, concentration camps, finances, etc.
Case #7 The opening statement (July 1947) of this case details crimes committed by Wilhelm List, et al, in the military occupation of Southeast Europe including, but not limited to, Greece and Yugoslavia, their policy of retribution on hostages for acts of sabotage, and the Nazi hierarchy in that area.
Case #12 Tribunal #5 The formal sentences (October 1948) of Wilhelm von Leeb, et al are given without accompanying details of their crimes.
The war crimes trials lasted from December 1946 until April 1949 and included twelve trials. The collection also contains several manuscripts about post war Germany. An article by Gen. Mark Clark, "The Unhappy Truth," outlines Soviet policy intentions for Europe and America's need to stand for European democracy. Manuscripts on the German military system, German government and administration (by Werner Peiser), and concentration camps (by Eugen Kogon and other survivors of Buchenwald Concentration Camp); various press releases of the International Military Tribunal; and a list and short biographies of the American judges are also included.
The oversize folder contains copies of the charts which detail the hierarchy of Nazi Germany government and military.
Administrative information
Custodial History
Source of acquisition
Loaned by Richard Dillard Dixon, Jr.
Loaned by Richard Dillard Dixon III
Loaned by Samuel Bobbitt Dixon
Loaned by Betty Bobbitt Dixon Pruden
Processing information
Processed by K. Romer, January 1995, and Martha Elmore, September 2016
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Descriptions updated by Ashlyn Racine, May 2023
Copyright notice
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.
Metadata Rights Declaration
Related material
For related material concerning Richard Dillard Dixon, Sr., and the Nuremberg Trials, refer to:
Key terms
Personal Names
Brandt, Karl, 1904-1948Dixon, Richard Dillard, 1888-1952
Dixon, Richard Dillard, 1926-1993
Göring, Hermann, 1893-1946
Hess, Rudolf, 1894-1987
Leeb, Wilhelm, Ritter von, 1876-1956
List, Wilhelm, 1880-1971
Milch, Erhard, 1892-1972
Pohl, Oswald, 1892-1951
Ribbentrop, Joachim von, 1893-1946
Corporate Names
International Military TribunalTopical
Human experimentation in medicine--Germany--History--20th centuryJudges--North Carolina--Edenton
Lawyers--North Carolina--Edenton
Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946
Physicians--Germany--History--20th century
War crimes--Trials, litigation, etc.--Germany--Nuremberg--1945-1946
World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities
World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps