This series contains records created by the DOJ to fulfil its responsibilities in relation to war crimes. It also includes the files created by the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals (1985), also known as the Deschênes Commission.
Volumes 3724 to 3845 contain historical documents (identified by the prefixes A, C, E and S). Early in its operations, the DOJ War Crimes Section assigned letters to geographical areas, but this practice was not consistently applied and was discontinued. The individual letters assigned to files in these volumes therefore have no operational significance. The Sesame database is necessary to make sense of these files. Historical documents have been collected from archives and used in case development and litigation. These historical documents are often accompanied by affidavits attesting to their authenticity.
Volumes 3846 and 3847 contain documents of the Polish Corps (also referred as "P" documents) which have been processed through the Public Records Office, in the United Kingdom.
Volumes 3848 to 3917 contain witness statements (also referred as "W" documents). Witness statements were found in foreign archives or collected directly from individuals, such as victims or witnesses of a crime. These testimonies were often transcribed and sometimes translated. Many of them were recorded in various audiovisual media, including audio cassettes, audio reels, and videocassettes (VHS). Some of these recordings have not been transcribed. Nevertheless, they remain a unique documentary source to enhance our understanding of certain aspects of the conflict.
Volumes 3918 to 3940 contain witness statements (also referred as "W" documents). See above.
Volumes 3941 to 3973 contain investigative material (also referred as "D" documents) from other countries that were also conducting parallel war crimes trials. They are arranged thematically.
Volumes 3974 to 3977 contain witness statements and historical documents (also referred as "K" documents) relating to a particular suspect. When the DOJ attempted to migrate the data relating to this particular series of files into its Sesame database, an error occurred, so a parallel paper-based finding aid was created just for this suspect.
Volumes 3978 to 4110 contain original documents and original affidavits and true certified copies of documents with accompanying pockets containing affidavits.
Volume 4101 contains various witness statements.
Volumes 4111 to 4203, 4255 to 4258, 4270, and 4980 contain the records of the Deschênes Commission. They include transcripts of public and in-camera hearings, exhibits, operational files, case files of suspected war criminals and published and unpublished reports.
Volumes 4255 to 4258 and 4270 contain indexes intended as finding aids for records in volumes 4111 to 4203.
Volumes 5983 to 6353 contain records relating to the trials of persons suspected of war crimes by the Deschênes Commission.
