Records relating to the Second World War

Request

CAS-312908: I wish to know the following information regarding the retention and non-disclosure in the National Archives relating to ULTRA intercepts from Bletchley Park during World War II.

CAS-312909: Have all of the files retained in relation to the death of Heinrich Himmler whilst in British Military custody, and the subsequent disposal of his body on Lunenberg Heath in May 1945 during World War II been disclosed to the public in the National Archives?

CAS-312620: I wish to know the following information regarding the retention and non-disclosure in the National Archives relating to Rudolph Hess and his flight to the UK on 10th May 1941, and his subsequent detention in the UK and Germany.

Outcome

Information provided.

Response

I can confirm that The National Archives hold some information relating to your requests and we are pleased to be able to provide this to you.

Your requests and our responses

In response to all three of your requests, I can confirm that The National Archives holds no information in relation to the selection and appraisal process by transferring departments for records on the subject matter you have specified.

Please note that transferring government departments, and not The National Archives, are responsible for selecting which records are to be disposed of, and which are to be transferred to The National Archives under the Public Records Act.

Please also note that if records are retained under the Security and Intelligence Instrument in relation to Section 4 of the Public Records Act, then transferring departments are not obliged to inform The National Archives of which records are retained under this instrument.

CAS-312908: I wish to know the following information regarding the retention and non-disclosure in the National Archives relating to ULTRA intercepts from Bletchley Park during World War II.

The National Archives has not identified any retained or un-accessioned archival records relating to the subject matter you have specified.

The National Archives has not identified any closed archival records on our catalogue relating to the subject matter you have specified.

CAS-312909: Have all of the files retained in relation to the death of Heinrich Himmler whilst in British Military custody, and the subsequent disposal of his body on Lunenberg Heath in May 1945 during World War II been disclosed to the public in the National Archives?

The National Archives has not identified any retained or un-accessioned archival records relating to the subject matter you have specified.

The National Archives has not identified any closed archival records on our catalogue relating to the subject matter you have specified.

CAS-312620: I wish to know the following information regarding the retention and non-disclosure in the National Archives relating to Rudolph Hess and his flight to the UK on 10th May 1941, and his subsequent detention in the UK and Germany.

The National Archives has not identified any retained archival records relating to the subject matter you have specified.

The National Archives has identified one record that is located in the repositories at Kew, but is not on the catalogue. This is a roll of microfilm described as Spandau Allied Prison 15/36 Medical File – Prisoner Number 7 (Hess). This is part of a collection of microfilm copies of Spandau prison records made shortly after the closure of the prison in 1987. Two sets of microfilm copies were made for each of the four nations with jurisdiction over Spandau prison, and the original records were destroyed. It is not clear if this microfilm is a duplicate of one of these original copies, and it is not clear how The National Archives is in possession of this record, as it has not been formally transferred. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office approached The National Archives towards the end of 2025 in order to discuss the transfer of this record set, of which this particular microfilm is a part, and further discussions will be taking place in the near future.

Please note that a copy of this record is available online via the US National Archives’ website: Records Relating to Spandau Prison. This includes reel 15/36 Log books of medical examinations of prisoner no. 7 of Allied Prison Spandau which is the only reel that TNA holds.

We have further identified 14 closed extracts held at TNA relating to the subject matter you have specified. These are accessioned records with catalogue pages. A closed extract consists of information redacted from a record (referred to as a ‘parent’ record in relation to its respective closed extract) which is open and publicly accessible.

The reasons why these closed extracts exist is because information has been redacted from their respective parent records, as various exemptions (listed below from the catalogue data) from disclosure under the FOI Act have been engaged for this information.

Information in these records was closed upon transfer upon the request of the transferring department. Some of the information in these records have been the subject of FOI requests whilst at The National Archives, and closure of information has been maintained after consultation with the transferring department. All of these records were transferred by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Please see below for a list of the closed extracts we have identified, and the exemptions engaged for the information redacted from their respective parent pieces.

We have logged your requests for these records as 14 separate requests for access to information in closed archival records, and due to the volume of requests received these will be handled under our ‘bulk request’ handling procedures. You will already have received an email concerning this.

Please note, that if you wish to find the parent piece for these closed extracts on our catalogue, then you must remove the number after the last forward slash in the catalogue reference when searching. For example, to find the parent piece of FCO 161/50/1 you would search for FCO 161/50.

Annexe

Applicable exemptions

Section 31(1)(c) exempts information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the administration of justice.

37(1)(a) exempts information from disclosure if it relates to communications with the Sovereign. In the case of these records this would refer to Queen Elizabeth II. This exemption can apply for up to 5 years after the death of the relevant Sovereign.

Section 38(1)(b) exempts information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, endanger the safety of any individual.

Section 40(2) exempts personal information from disclosure if it would contravene the terms of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Section 41(1) exempts information from disclosure where that information was received from one individual or corporate body to another in conditions of confidence, and where disclosure would likely result in an actionable breach of confidence.

For more information on FOI exemptions, please see ICO website - List of exemptions | ICO