Seeking information on SS LTC Joachim Peiper

Dear Mr. Wynn,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

We searched the National Archives Catalog and located Records Relating to Membership in the Schutzstaffel der NSDAP (SS) (Microfilm Publication A3343) in the National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized (Record Group 242) that may be of interest to you. It contains personnel dossiers for more than 61,000 SS officers. For access to A3343, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov.

We also located 3 series, 5 file units, and 4 items in various record groups that relate Joachim Peiper. Within these records, we located the series titled European Name Index to the Series “Case Files, 1944-1949 in the Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army) (Record Group 153) that includes an index card for Joachim Peiper (Image 510). The records in this series have been digitized and may be viewed using the Catalog. We also included a copy of it in this response.

The index card provides several references to case file numbers that are related to Joachim Peiper including “102-15-49,” 102-15-100,” and “6-24-Vol 1.” The 102-15-49 and 102-15-100 case file numbers refer to files located in the series titled Set-Up Files, 1944-1949 in Record Group 153. The third file number on the index card is “6-24-Vol 1” which refers to the Malmedy Massacre Trial. The records of the Malmedy Trial are located in the series titled War Crimes Trials Case Files, 1947-1958 in the Records of the United States Army, Europe (Record Group 549). Please note that some of the records have been digitized and may be viewed using the Catalog. For access to non-digitized records, please contact RDT2.

Further, we located 17 series, 297 file units, and 73 items in various record groups relating to Malmedy and 8 series, 35 file units, and 2 items in various record groups relating to the Malmedy Massacre. Please note some of the records have been digitized and may be viewed using the Catalog. For access to non-digitized records, please contact the reference unit listed in the Catalog description.

In addition, there is a Microfilm Publication A3390 “Records of U.S. Army War Crimes Trials in Europe: United States of America v. Valentin Bersin, et al., War Crimes Case 6-24, May 16-18, 1946.” For access to these microfilmed records, please contact RDT2.

For more information, please visit the World War II War Crimes Records at the National Archives section of our website.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2 & other reference units. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.

Lastly, we would suggest reviewing some resources that we located online, including:

• Malmedy Massacre Record of Trial: United States vs. Valentin Bersin, et al. and Malmedy Massacre Investigation available on the website of the Library of Congress
• Massacre at Malmedy: War Crimes Trial available on the website of the Jewish Virtual Library
• The Malmedy Massacre available on the website of the National World War II Museum, New Oreleans

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!