The Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were 13 trials held in Nuremberg, Germany. The trials were held between 1945 and 1949, to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. Talk of such trials actually began in 1942, when the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain, met and discussed some possible solutions. In the end, they decided that a criminal trial would be the best plan because it required evidence. This meant that later, accusations couldn’t be made that the defendants were killed or imprisoned, although there was no evidence.
Setting up these trials was not an easy process. Before anything could start, they needed to get a precedent for an international trial of war criminals. The Allies eventually set up the laws and procedures for the trials with the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal, which was issued on August 8, 1945. The Charter had three main categories of crimes. These included: crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Nuremberg, Germany, was made the location because it had a large prison area that was not affected by the war. Also, Nuremberg held many annual Nazi propaganda rallies, so it showed an end to the Nazi party and Hitler’s reign.
The Trial of Major War Criminals is the most well-known part of the trials. These trials were from November 20, 1945, to October 1, 1946. In these trials, unlike in American Law, the decisions were made by a panel of judges, rather than just one. Each France, Britain, the U.S., and the Soviet Union, gave two judges; one main judge and one alternate judge.
In the Trial of Major War Criminals, six Nazi organizations and twenty-four people were indicted. Men like Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels, each committed suicide in the spring of 1945 so they could not be captured. The defendants got to choose their own lawyers. An interesting part about the trials, was the aspect of the men and judges speaking four different languages. This brought to life instantaneous translation, with the technology provided by IBM. This allowed people from international telephone exchanges to provide instant translations in English, French, German, and Russian.
The judges found twenty-one of the twenty-four of the defendants guilty. Twelve of the defendants were given death sentences, and the others were given prison time from ten years to life. Ten were hanged on October 16, 1946. Another one of Hitler’s main men, Hermann Goering, committed suicide with a cyanide tablet the night before his execution.
From 1946 to 1949, there were twelve more trials held in Nuremberg, known as the Subsequent Trials. The major difference from the first trial was that they had a tribunal of U.S. military instead of the international tribunal. This was because of differences between the four allied powers that made more joint trials much too difficult. During these trials there were 185 individuals indicted. Twelve received death sentences, eight were given life in prison, and 77 people received prison time.
Works Cited
"Nuremberg Trials." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 01 Jan. 2010. Web. 08 May 2016.
<http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/nuremberg-trials>.
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<http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/nuremberg-trials>.
Page by SH