Bernard D. Meltzer

Bernie was born in 1914, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

Russian Immigrants

His parents were Russian immigrants. His father was a Hebrew scholar who made ends meet with irregular sales work, while his mother reacted to the New World by seeking refuge in hypochondria.

 

His College Career

Meltzer spent four semesters at Temple University before transferring in 1934 to the University of Chicago—a move he described as “an exhilarating and transforming experience.”

On To Chicago's  University

He studied law at the University of Chicago, and then under
Felix Frankfurter at Harvard.

 

His Initial Career

He moved back to Chicago in 1940 to join the law firm of Mayer, Meyer, Austrian, and Platt.

 

Meltzer Goes To Washington Under Acheson

From 1941-43, Meltzer served in the State Department, serving as Special Assistant to Assistant Secretary of State Dean Acheson.

Meltzer Wants To Fight

In early 1944, Meltzer wants his piece of the Nazis. One account has him a clerk in England, another has him as an OSS operative, and another says he sat in Washington. He claims he was a Navy officer.

 

Prosecutor At Nuremberg

He handled the case against the Reich Bank, and Walther Funk.

Meltzer Faced Down Herman Goering

Meltzer interrogated Goering, who had been leader of the German economy under Hitler as well as founder and head of the Gestapo.

"Of the defendants I met face to face, I found Goering the most interesting and the most diabolical," Meltzer said. "Goering was completely unrepentant and gloried in his role as second to Hitler and the first of the named defendants.