Recognizing the importance of establishing for history an authentic text
of the Trial of major German war criminals, the International Military
Tribunal directed the publication of the Record of the Trial. The
proceedings are published in English, French, Russian, and German, the
four languages used throughout the hearings. The documents admitted in
evidence are printed only in their original language.
The first volume contains basic, official, pre-trial documents together
with the Tribunal’s judgment and sentence of the defendants. In
subsequent volumes the Trial proceedings are published in full from the
preliminary session of 14 November 1945 to the closing session of 1
October 1946. They are followed by an index volume. Documents admitted
in evidence conclude the publication.
The proceedings of the International Military Tribunal were recorded in
full by stenographic notes, and an electric sound recording of all oral
proceedings was maintained.
Reviewing sections have verified in the four languages citations,
statistics, and other data, and have eliminated obvious grammatical
errors and verbal irrelevancies. Finally, corrected texts have been
certified for publication by Colonel Ray for the United States, Mr.
Mercer for the United Kingdom, Mr. Fuster for France, and Major Poltorak
for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.