Richard A. Ruppert collection

Copyright Holder: Richard A. Ruppert The Richard A. Ruppert collection consists of biographical, photographic, and printed materials and subject files documenting Ruppert’s role as a court reporter in postwar Germany and Austria for War Crimes Investigation Team (WCIT) 6826 of the Judge Advocate General’s Corp of the U.S. Army, which investigated war crimes primarily in the areas around Welzheim, Germany. Biographical materials consist of a resume and notification of promotion for Richard Ruppert, draft correspondence including descriptions of Ruppert’s postwar activities related to war crimes investigations and prosecutions, and Ruppert’s fictionalized treatment of his postwar experiences for a potential movie or television series. Photographic materials include wartime German propaganda images, copies of Dachau crematorium reenactment photographs, and photographs depicting Nazi officers, German civilians, and the Rudersberg women’s camp. This series also include glass slides related to WCIT 6826 Case #7 about the murder of six American airmen in Neckarsulm. Printed materials include issues of the German publication Deutsche Justiz: Rechtspflege und Rechtspolitik and a copy of the postwar concentration camp pamphlet Im K-Z: Ein Tatsachenbericht aus dem Konzentrationslager. Subject files primarily document WCIT 2862 and its efforts to investigate and prosecute war crimes in the area of Welzheim, near Stuttgart. The collection also documents alleged war crimes at the Neckargartach concentration camp and Rudersberg women’s camp, and in Neckarsulm (near Heilbronn), Wülzburg (near Weissenberg) and Ruppertsbuch (Bavaria), as well as Markt Pongau (Sankt Johann im Pongau, Austria). Records include reports, memoranda, interview transcripts, and notes. Richard A. Ruppert (1910-1996) was born in Ohio, obtained an undergraduate degree in law in 1939, entered the U.S. Army in 1943, and initially served with the Transportation Corps in London. In 1945, he joined War Crimes Investigation Team (WCIT) 6826 of the Judge Advocate General's Corp as a court reporter in Germany. In 1946, he was appointed a trial attorney in Dachau and tried more than three dozen murder and mistreatment charges. He also served as Legal Officer of a War Crimes Tribunal in Salzburg, Chief of Technical Operations, and Deputy Chief of War Crimes Units in Austria before returning to the United States.