ATHENS, Ohio - Summer is almost over, but one Ohio University history professor won't be around to see the start of fall quarter.

Instead he will delve deep into the shadowy world of government secrets, documents, intelligence files and war dossiers.

Associate Professor Norman Goda has been appointed as an historian to a presidential commission that is reviewing and declassifying millions of World War II documents related to German and Japanese war crimes.

"This is a terrific opportunity for me," said Goda. "It's very exciting to be one of the first historians to see these documents. I feel very lucky to be a part of the team that will make this information available to scholars around the world."

The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group is a presidential commission that oversees the declassification and public release of U.S. government records related to war criminals and crimes committed by the Nazi government and its allies during World War II.

Goda, a noted expert on Nazi Germany, has taught classes on World War II and the Holocaust. He's the author of "Tomorrow the World: Hitler, Northwest Africa and the path toward America" and he is currently writing "Tales from Spandau: Diplomacy, Symbolism and the Nuremberg War Criminals."

The IWG made headlines last spring when it helped declassify 20 CIA files on Adolph Hitler and other Nazi leaders. The files contain information from diverse sources on individuals the CIA considered significant; and they include published materials, declassified documents, interrogations, confidential reports from agents or informants and CIA analytical reports.

The documents hold new information related to World War II, including that one of Hitler's doctors diagnosed him as mentally ill. The files also show that, contrary to some historical speculation, former United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim was not an intelligence resource for the United States during the war.