Judges of the Nuremberg Trials |
The Nuremberg Trials is the general name for two sets of trials of Nazis involved in
World War II and the Holocaust. The trials were held in the
German city of Nuremberg
from 1945 to 1949 at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice. The first and most famous of these trials was the
Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal or IMT, which tried twenty-four of the
most important captured (or still believed to be alive) leaders of Nazi Germany. It was held from 20. November 1945
to 1. October 1946. The second set of trials of lesser war criminals was conducted under Control Council Law No. 10
at the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT), including the famous Doctors' Trial.
Origin of the Trials
By 1944, victory for the allies had become inevitable. Jewish advocate groups (who had received detailed information
regarding Nazi plans of mass extermination, or the "Final Solution") and governments in exile became concerned that
the Nazis would unleash a final wave of atrocities. To help prevent the escalation of violence, the United Nations
War Crimes Commission (UNWCC) was established, an organization which began to compile a list of probable war criminals.
However, the Allies failed to consolidate these threats (of the possible prosecution of war crimes) against the Nazis
due to a fear of reprisals on prisoners of war.
US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. suggested a plan of the total denazification of Germany -
the Morgenthau Plan. The plan detailed methods of deportation, forced labour, and economic repression similar to that
of the Treaty of Versailles. Both Churchill and Roosevelt supported this plan, and went as far as attempting its
authorization at the Quebec Conference in September of 1944. However, the Soviet Union announced its preference for
a judicial process (possibly seeing this as an opportunity for a "show trial"). Later, details leaked to the public,
generating widespread protest.
Roosevelt, seeing strong public disapproval, abandoned the plan, but did not proceed to
adopt support for another position on the matter. The demise of the Morgenthau Plan created the need for an alternative
method of dealing with the Nazi leadership. The plan for the “Trial of European War Criminals” was drafted by Stimson
and the War Department. When Roosevelt died in 1945, Truman gained the presidency and gave strong approval for a judicial
process. After series of negotiations with the Soviet Union, Britain, and France, details of the trial were worked out.
The trials were set to commence on November 20th, 1945, in the city of Nuremberg.
Creation of the court
At the meetings in Tehran (1943), Yalta (1945) and Potsdam (1945), the three major wartime powers USA, USSR and
Britain agreed on the format to punish those responsible for war-crimes during World War II. France was also awarded
a place on the tribunal.
The legal basis for the trial was established by the 'London Charter', issued on 8. August 1945, which restricted the
trial to "trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries". Thus, accusations of Allied
war crimes could not be tried. Some 200 German war crimes defendants were tried at Nuremberg, and 1,600 others were
tried under the traditional channels of military justice. The legal basis for the jurisdiction of the court was that
by the Instrument of Surrender of Germany, political authority for Germany had been transferred to the Allied Control
Council which having sovereign power over Germany could choose to punish violations of international law and the laws
of war. Because the court was limited to violations of the laws of war, it did not have jurisdiction over crimes that
took place before the outbreak of war on 1. September 1939.
Location
The Soviet Union had wanted the trials to take place in Berlin, but Nuremberg was chosen as the site for the trials
for specific reasons:
- It was located in the American sector (at this time, Germany was divided into four sectors)
- The Palace of Justice was spacious and largely undamaged (one of the few that had remained largely intact through
extensive Allied bombing of Germany). A large prison was also part of the complex.
- Because Nuremberg had been appointed "City of the party rallies", there was symbolic value in making it the place
of the party's demise.
It was also agreed that Berlin would become the permanent seat of the IMT and that the first trial (several were planned)
would take place in Nuremberg. Because of the Cold War, there were no subsequent trials.
Participants
Each of the four countries provided one judge and an alternate; and the prosecutors. The judges were:
- Geoffrey Lawrence (British main and president)
- Norman Birkett (British alternate)
- Francis Biddle (US main)
- John Parker (US alternate)
- Henri Donnedieu de Vabres (French main)
- Robert Falco (French alternate)
- Iona Nikitchenko (Russian main)
- Alexander Volchkov (Russian alternate)
The Chief prosecutors were Robert H. Jackson for the United States, Hartley Shawcross for the UK, General R. A.
Rudenko for the Soviet Union, and François de Menthon and Auguste Champetier de Ribes for France.
The main trial
The International Military Tribunal was opened on 18. October 1945, in the Supreme Court Building in Berlin.
The first session was presided over by the Soviet judge, Nikitchenko. The prosecution entered indictments against
24 major war criminals and six criminal organizations - the leadership of the Nazi party, the SS and SD, the
Gestapo, the SA and the High Command of the German army (OKW). The indictments were for:
- Conspiracy to commit crimes against peace
- Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression
- War crimes
- Crimes against humanity
The 24 accused were:
Nuremberg Trials: Defendants in the dock - Front row: Göring,
Hess, von Ribbentrop, and Keitel. Second row: Dönitz, Raeder,
Schirach, Sauckel |
Martin Bormann, Karl Dönitz, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Hans Fritzsche, Walter Funk, Hermann Göring,
Rudolf Hess, Alfred Jodl, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach,
Robert Ley, Konstantin von Neurath, Franz von Papen,
Erich Raeder, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Alfred Rosenberg, Fritz Sauckel,
Hjalmar Schacht, Baldur von Schirach,
Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Albert Speer, Julius Streicher
The definition of what constitutes a war crime is described by the Nuremberg Principles, a document which was
created as a result of the trial. The medical experiments conducted by German doctors led to the creation of the
Nuremberg Code to control future trials involving human subjects, including the so-called Doctors' Trial.
Influence on the development of international criminal law
The Nuremberg trials had a great influence on the development of international criminal law. The International
Law Commission, acting on the request of the United Nations General Assembly, produced in 1950 the report Principles
of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nürnberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal. The
influence of the tribunal can also be seen in the proposals for a permanent international criminal court, and the
drafting of international criminal codes, later prepared by the International Law Commission.
The Nuremberg trials initiated a movement for the prompt establishment of a permanent international criminal
court, eventually leading over fifty years later to the adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Please have a look at some banknotes from the World War II.
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