ABSTRACT
Transitional justice is not a special form of justice but justice adapted to societies transforming themselves after a period of pervasive human rights abuse. In countries where military dictatorships, racist and segregationist governments or communist regimes have been overthrown and replaced by democratic governments, archives have rapidly emerged as an essential feature of what is called “Transitional Justice” as they progress towards democracy. A large number of truth commissions have been set up in more than 35 countries where repressive regimes have finally been ousted, on the basis of this approach of seeking to reach consensus on a shared version of the traumatic events of the past. The Nuremberg trials amply demonstrated the importance of archival documents and their significance in criminal trials. But the evidence used to judge war crimes or crimes against humanity in the aftermath of World War II points clearly to the determination of the Allies to convict senior Nazi officials.
