Catalogue description Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Office of the Governor (Spandau Prison), British Military Government, Berlin: Files

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Details of FCO 161
Reference: FCO 161
Title: Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Office of the Governor (Spandau Prison), British Military Government, Berlin: Files
Description:

This series contains records which document the running of Spandau prison and the lives of the prisoners. The records were sent to the UK by the last British Governor after the death of the last inmate and the dismantling of the prison in 1987. The collection includes documents held as evidence in the Hess theft case and returned by the Prosecutor's Office.
Date: 1945-2000
Related material:

See also FCO 90
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English, French, German and Russian
Creator:

Allied Kommandatura, 1945-1990

Foreign and Commonwealth Office, British Military Government, Berlin, 1968-1990

Foreign Office, Control Commission for Germany (British Element), Military Government, British Sector, Berlin, 1947-1953
Physical description: 71 file(s)
Access conditions: Open unless otherwise stated
Immediate source of acquisition:

from 2017 Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Accumulation dates: 1947 to 1988
Selection and destruction information: Selected under Record Collection Policy criteria 1.1, documenting the work of diplomatic staff in Berlin operating as part of the British Military Government. Policy files preserved where information on the files has not been copied to FCO in London or other lead department.
Accruals: Occasional further accruals can be expected.
Administrative / biographical background:

The British Military Government, Berlin, was established after the Second World War to run the British sector of Berlin and work with the forces of the other allied states to manage the various joint bodies established in the city.

After the war Spandau Prison was operated by the Four-Power Authorities to house the Nazi war criminals sentenced to imprisonment at the Nuremburg Trials. Each of the four countries (France, UK, USA and USSR) were represented by a governor, and each took turns being responsible for overall administration and the changing of the guard for the prison.

Spandau Prison closed in 1987 following the death of the last inmate, Rudolf Hess, and was demolished.

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