Carter E. Ruby papers
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Overview
- Description
- The collection consists of documents, publications, photographs, and correspondence that document the service of Lieutenant Carter E. Ruby, U.S. Army, at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, April-May 1946.
Included are letters that Ruby sent to his parents from Nuremberg, during the period when he served as a guard at the International Military Tribunal, describing his experiences there and what he had witnessed. Personal identification documents include a card issued by the Department of War in 1945, the identification card issued to him during his service at Nuremberg, and his discharge documents from 1946.
While at Nuremberg, Ruby took a printed booklet titled “International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946,” and as a number of other guards did, asked the main Nazi defendants to sign the booklet, which most did, and in some cases, handwritten notes from the defendants are tipped into the booklet (in folder 5). Such items include a note from Rudolf Hess asking for a piece of bread with marmalade in place of ice cream, a note from Karl Dönitz asking for a red sleeping pill, and one from Julius Streicher, asking to speak with the officer on duty due to an incident that had taken place in the courtyard. In addition, Ruby pasted onto the inside cover of this booklet the cloth shoulder patch worn by soldiers assigned as guards to the 6850th Internal Security Detachment, consisting of the scales of justice, balanced above a smashed German eagle in a field of flames, and beneath broken staff with a smashed swastika on one of it. This item has been removed from the Carter E. Ruby papers and is cataloged separately as an artifact, under the accession number 2015.163.3. Ruby also kept a decal of the same insignia, along with shoulder patches for other units that he served with in the U.S.Army, the 69th Infantry Division and the 98th Infantry Division, and these are also housed separately as artifacts, under the accession numbers 2015.163.4, 2015.163.5, and 2015.163.6. Other items collected or created by Ruby while at Nuremberg include a sketched diagram of the prison cells where the main Nazi defendants were housed, and photographs of the courtroom proceedings, including ones that may show Ruby guarding the defendants.
Ruby maintained an interest in the Nuremberg trials throughout his life, and the collection also contains newspaper clippings and magazine articles that he saved in later years. Two interviews conducted with Ruby, one in 2005, and another that was conducted by a grandson in 2010, are also included in the larger collection, under the accession number 2015.163.2. - Date
-
inclusive:
1943-2010
bulk: 1943-1946
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Dale Ruby
- Collection Creator
- Carter Ruby
- Biography
-
Carter E. Ruby was born on 30 December 1920 in Canada. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was a boy, and he grew up near Culver City, attending Hamilton High School and the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was a captain in the ROTC. Upon graduation from college in 1943, he was inducted into the U.S. Army and sent to officer training school at Fort Benning, Georgia, from which he graduated with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, entering active service in September 1943.
He was subsequently sent Scotland and England, and he followed the first wave of the Allied invasion at Normandy in June 1944, being assigned to the 69th Infantry Division and the 98th Infantry Division, serving as a headquarters and supply officer in France (Paris, Biarritz) and Belgium (Liege) in 1944-1945. In early 1946 he was reassigned to Nuremberg, where he worked as a guard with the 6850th Internal Security Detachment at the International Military Tribunal, from April through May, 1946. Shortly after that, he was sent back to the United States, and was discharged from the Army in September 1946, returning to Los Angeles. He later worked in the petroleum industry, in the sales department of General Petroleum, Mobil Oil, and ExxonMobil.
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Genre/Form
- Letters. Photographs. Newspaper clippings. Correspondence.
- Extent
-
8 folders
- System of Arrangement
- Files are arranged in alphabetic order by folder title.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Copyright in letters of Carter E. Ruby or interviews with him are held by the donor and his family. Other material in this collection may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material. The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946. Soldiers--United States--Correspondence.
- Geographic Name
- Nuremberg (Germany) Germany.
- Corporate Name
- International Military Tribunal
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Gift of Dale Ruby, February 2015, on behalf of his sister, Chris Ruby Stubbs, and in honor of their father, Carter E. Ruby (Lieutenant, U.S. Army) and their uncles, William Stentz Ruby (Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps) and Robert Barton Ruby (Lieutenant, U.S. Navy).
- Record last modified:
- 2023-08-25 09:51:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn96770
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-
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Also in Carter E. Ruby collection
The collection consists of two US army badges, a shoulder patch, decals, correspondence, documents, publications, photographs, and a DVD relating to the experiences of Lieutenant Carter E. Ruby, U.S. Army, at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, April-May 1946.
Date: 1943-2010
Booklet
Object
IMT pamphlet describing the defendants and the trial acquired by Lieutenant Carter E. Ruby, U.S. Army, at the Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, April-May 1946. The booklet has signatures collected by Ruby while attending the War Crimes Trials.
Nuremberg trial decals acquired by a US soldier attending the War Crimes Trials
Object
Two decals acquired by Lieutenant Carter E. Ruby, U.S. Army, at the Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, April-May 1946, War Crimes Trials.
US Army patch acquired by a US soldier attending the War Crimes Trials
Object
US Army patch acquired by Lieutenant Carter E. Ruby, U.S. Army, at the Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, April-May 1946, War Crimes Trials.
US Army patch acquired by a US soldier attending the War Crimes Trials
Object
US Army patch acquired by Lieutenant Carter E. Ruby, U.S. Army, at the Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, April-May 1946, War Crimes Trials.
Oral history interview with Carter Ruby
Oral History
