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Michael Stuart Bernstein Family Papers

An inventory of the papers at the Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: Emily Rindahl
Date: 2016

Biography

Photograph of Michael Stuart Bernstein

Michael Stuart Bernstein (1952-1988) was among the 270 victims of the 21 December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. He was a United States Justice Department attorney working within the Office of Special Investigations. A native of New York, Michael attended college at the University of Michigan, from which he graduated with distinction in 1973. He then went on to receive his Master’s degree in American History from Johns Hopkins University in 1975 and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1979.

At the beginning of his career, Michael was an associate with Covington and Burling, a law firm in Washington, DC. After six years at the firm, he decided to pursue a career with the Department of Justice, investigating Nazi war criminals and bringing them to justice. In 1988, he was appointed Assistant Deputy Director of the Office of Special Investigations and was responsible for supervising major war crime investigations. On December 21, 1988, he was returning from a trip to Vienna, Austria where he was in negotiations with the Austrian government about the deportation of a Nazi war criminal from the United States to Austria. Over the course of his career, he was personally responsible for the department’s deportation of seven former Nazis.

Scope and Content Note

The Michael Stuart Bernstein Family Papers consists of the following series: Clippings, Correspondence, Memorials and awards, Michael S. Bernstein career files, Personal effects, Photographs, and Subject files.

Clippings are arranged chronologically. They consist of articles written about Pan Am Flight 103 or Michael Bernstein.

Correspondence includes cards and letters of condolence, messages sent to Michael's supervisors at the Office of Special Investigations, letters directed to his wife, Stephanie Bernstein, as well as communications related to the Libya and Pan Am 103 civil cases.

Memorials and awards contains papers related to the various personal memorials and awards created for or received by Michael Bernstein and the Pan Am 103 victims. There are also copies of speeches that mention Michael, as well as a Bible given to the Bernstein family by the Lockerbie Air Disaster Trust in his memory.

The Michael S. Bernstein career files series consists of documents related to Michael Bernstein's professional career at Covington and Burling as well as the Office of Special Investigations. There are also copies of Michael's resumé, information about past investigations he worked on, his name plate from his office door, and his trial attorney badge.

Personal effects contains Michael's luggage returned from the crash site at Lockerbie, Scotland.

Photographs is comprised of images of Michael and the Lockerbie Memorial.

Subject files includes documents pertaining to various court cases, the House of Representatives, and the United Nations Security Council. It also contains information about Michael Bernstein's estate and death, his personal effects recovered from the flight, and notes and writings by the Bernstein family.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

Please note that the collection is housed off-site, and advance notice is required to allow time to have the materials brought to the Reading Room on campus.

Due to their fragility, textile items in the Personal effects series are restricted. Surrogate images of these items can be made available upon request. The list of victims and family members in the Subject files series is restricted until 2038.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from the Pan Am Flight 103 Archives and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

TruthQuest newsletters and other materials related to the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. have been separated, and placed in the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. Collection. Materials related to Families of Pan Am 103/Lockerbie have been separated, and placed in the Families of Pan Am 103/Lockerbie Collection. General publications have been separated, and placed in the Pan Am Flight 103 Publications Collection.

The Pan Am Flight 103 Archives contains additional materials and information related to Michael S. Bernstein Family Papers. Related collections include:

Pan Am 103 College of Law Collection

Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, Inc. Collection

Families of Pan Am 103/Lockerbie Collection

Selected Search Terms

Names

Bernstein family.
Bernstein, Michael Stuart.

Subjects

Pan Am Flight 103 Bombing Incident, 1988.
Terrorism -- Government Policy -- United States -- Case Studies.
Terrorism -- Government Policy -- United States -- History.
Terrorism -- Government Policy -- United States.
Terrorism -- History -- 20th Century.
Lockerbie (Scotland)
Nazi hunters.

Types of Material

Clothing.
Correspondence.
Photographs.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Michael Stuart Bernstein Family Papers,
Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster Archives
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Stephanie Bernstein in 2016.

Processing Information

Materials were placed in acid-free folders and boxes.

Arrangement

Individual series are arranged in either chronological or alphabetical order as appropriate. Subseries have been created as necessary.

Table of Contents

Clippings

Correspondence

Memorials and awards

Michael S. Bernstein career files

Personal effects

Photographs

Subject files

Inventory