Zimnowojenne sieci powiązań Przejście od nieoficjalnej do oficjalnej pomocy prawnej między Polską a Republiką Federalną Niemiec w latach pięćdziesiątych i sześćdziesiątych XX wieku
Cold War Networks The Transition from Unofficial to Official Legal Assistance Between Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1950s and 1960s

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the limitations of the Hallstein Doctrine, which prohibited West German prosecutors from officially traveling to Eastern Bloc countries to conduct investigations. Despite these challenges, individuals involved, such as Hermann Langbein, Jan Sehn, Henry Ormond, and Kazimierz Smoleń, actively worked within informal networks to improve cooperation between nations separated by the Iron Curtain, which over time influenced West Germany’s policy of prosecuting war criminals. The article is divided into two parts. The first examines the role of one of the early informal networks in bringing Nazi physician Carl Clauberg to justice in 1956, focusing on what was necessary to bring him to justice and what paved the way for subsequent trials. In the second part of the article, we discussa decisive moment in the history of unofficial cooperation – the first visitof a West German court to the Auschwitz memorial site, which took placein 1964 as part of the Auschwitz Trials in Frankfurt am Main. We analyse how the informal network preparedthe intellectual and moral background for the visit, influencing the relationsbetween Poland and West Germany and changing the perception of Naziwar crimes.

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