Nuremberg Trials
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/* The main trial */ practiced free speech etc is an issue explored at the trial; identification as publisher of Der sturmer restores NPOV
{{for|the 1947 Soviet film about the trials|Nuremberg Trials (film)}}
[[Image:PICT4336.JPG|thumb|300px|The ''[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]]'' announces "The Verdict in Nuremberg." Depicted are (left, from top): Goering, Hess, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick; (second column) Funk, Streicher, Schacht; (third column) Doenitz, Raeder, Schirach; (right, from top) Sauckel, Jodl, Papen, Seyss-Inquart, Speer, Neurath, Fritzsche, Bormann. Image from Topography of Terror Museum, Berlin.]]
The '''Nuremberg Trials''' were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of [[Nazi Germany]].
The trials were held in the city of [[Nuremberg]], [[Germany]], from 1945 to 1949, at the [[Palace of Justice (Nuremberg)|Palace of Justice]]. The first and best known of these trials was the '''Trial of the Major War Criminals''' before the International Military Tribunal ('''IMT'''), which tried 24 of the most important captured leaders of Nazi Germany. It was held from [[November 14]], 1945, to [[October 1]], 1946. The second set of trials of lesser war criminals was conducted under Control Council Law No. 10 at the [[United States|U.S.]] [[Subsequent Nuremberg Trials|Nuremberg Military Tribunals]] (NMT); among them included the [[Doctors' Trial]] and the [[Judges' Trial]]. This article primarily deals with the IMT; see the separate article on the NMT for details on those trials.
==Origin==
[[Image:Nuremberg-1-.jpg|thumb|200px|Nuremberg Trials. Defendants in their dock]]
The press releases on [[January 2]], [[2006]], from the British [[War Cabinet]] in London have shown that as early as December 1944, the Cabinet had discussed their policy for the punishment of the leading Nazis if captured. [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]] had then advocated a policy of [[summary execution]] in some circumstances with the use of an [[Act of Attainder]] to circumvent legal obstacles, and was only dissuaded from this by talks with U.S. leaders later in the war. In late 1943, during the Tripartite Dinner Meeting at the [[Tehran Conference]], the Soviet leader, [[Joseph Stalin]], proposed executing 50,000–100,000 German staff officers. Not realizing that Stalin was serious, U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] joked that perhaps 49,000 would do. Churchill denounced the idea of "the cold blooded execution of soldiers who fought for their country." However, he also stated that war criminals must pay for their crimes and that in accordance with the [[Moscow Declaration#Statement on Atrocities|Moscow Document]] which he himself had written, they should be tried at the places where the crimes were committed. Churchill was vigorously opposed to executions "for political purposes."<ref>John Crossland ''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1965607,00.html Churchill: execute Hitler without trial]'' in [[The Sunday Times (UK)|The Sunday Times]], [[January 1]], 2006</ref><ref> [http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=906 Tehran Conference: Tripartite Dinner Meeting] November 29, 1943 Soviet Embassy, 8:30 PM</ref>
[[United States Secretary of the Treasury|U.S. Treasury Secretary]], [[Henry Morgenthau Jr.|Henry Morgenthau, Jr.]], suggested a plan for the total [[denazification]] of Germany; this was known as the [[Morgenthau Plan]]. The plan advocated the forced de-industrialization of Germany, along with forced labour and other draconian measures similar to those that the Nazis themselves had [[Generalplan Ost|planned for Eastern Europe]]. Roosevelt initially supported this plan, and managed to convince Churchill to support it in a less drastic form. Later, details were 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 [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[Henry L. Stimson]] and the [[United States Department of War|War Department]]. Roosevelt died in April 1945. The new president, [[Harry S. Truman]], gave strong approval for a judicial process.
After a series of negotiations between the U.S., Britain, the Soviet Union, and [[France]], details of the trial were worked out. The trials were set to commence on [[November 20]], 1945, in the city of Nuremberg.
==Creation of the courts==
At the meetings in [[Tehran Conference|Tehran]] (1943), [[Yalta Conference|Yalta]] (1945) and [[Potsdam Conference|Potsdam]] (1945), the three major wartime powers, the [[United States]], [[Soviet Union]] and the [[United Kingdom]], agreed on the format of punishment for 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 of the International Military Tribunal|London Charter]], issued on [[August 8]] [[1945]], which restricted the trial to "punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries". 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 defined by the [[German Instrument of Surrender, 1945|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 [[September 3]] [[1939]].
The war crimes tribunal tried and punished personnel only from Axis countries. Accusations arose claiming [[victor's justice]], since Allied war crimes could not be tried{{Fact|date=May 2008}}. It is, however, usual that the armed forces of a civilised country<ref>[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judlawre.htm Judgement : The Law Relating to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity] contained in the [[Avalon Project]] archive at [[Yale Law School]]. "''but by 1939 these rules laid down in the [Hague] Convention [of 1907] were recognised by all '''civilized nations''', and were regarded as being declaratory of the laws and customs of war''"</ref> issue their forces with detailed guidance on what is and is not permitted under their military code. These are drafted to include any international treaty obligations and the customary laws of war. For example, at the trial of [[Otto Skorzeny]], his defence was in part based on the Field Manual published by the War Department of the United States Army, on [[1 October]], [[1940]], and the American Soldiers' Handbook<ref>[http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/skorzeny.htm Trial of Otto Skorzeny and Others], General Military Government Court of the U.S. Zone of Germany, [[18 August]] to [[9 September]], [[1947]].</ref>. If a member of the armed forces breaks their own military code then they can expect to face a court martial. When members of the Allied armed forces broke their military codes, they could be and were tried, as, for example, at the [[Biscari Massacre]] trials. The [[unconditional surrender]] of the Axis powers was unusual and led directly to the formation of the international tribunals. Usually, international wars end conditionally and the treatment of suspected war criminals makes up part of the peace treaty. In most cases those who are not prisoners of war are tried under their own judicial system if they are suspected of committing war crimes – as happened to some Finns at the end of the concurrent Finnish-Soviet [[Continuation War]]. In restricting the international tribunal to trying suspected Axis war crimes, the Allies were acting within normal international law.
===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:
* 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.
* Nuremberg was considered the ceremonial birthplace of the [[Nazi Party]], and hosted annual [[Nuremberg rallies|propaganda rallies]]. It was thus a fitting place to mark the party's symbolic demise.
It was also agreed that France would become the permanent seat of the IMT and that the first trial (several were planned) would take place in Nuremberg.
[[Image:Nuremberg judges.jpg|right|thumbnail|300px|The Nuremberg judges, left to right: [[John Parker (US judge)|John Parker]], [[Francis Biddle]], [[Alexander Volchkov]], [[Iona Nikitchenko]], [[Geoffrey Lawrence, 1st Baron Oaksey|Geoffrey Lawrence]], [[William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett|Norman Birkett]]]]
===Participants===
Each of the four countries provided one judge and an alternate, as well as the prosecutors. The judges were:
* [[Rt. Hon.]] [[Colonel|Col.]] [[Sir]] [[Geoffrey Lawrence, 1st Baron Oaksey|Geoffrey Lawrence]] (British main and president)
* [[Sir]] [[William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett|Norman Birkett]] (British alternate)
* [[Francis Biddle]] (US main)
* [[John Parker (US judge)|John Parker]] (US alternate)
* [[Professor]] [[Henri Donnedieu de Vabres]] (French main)
* [[Robert Falco]] (French alternate)
* [[Major-General]] [[Iona Nikitchenko]] (Soviet main)
* [[Lieutenant-Colonel]] [[Alexander Volchkov]] (Soviet alternate)
The chief prosecutors were [[Robert H. Jackson]] for the [[United States]], [[Sir]] [[Hartley Shawcross]] for the [[United Kingdom|UK]], [[Lieutenant-General]] [[Roman Rudenko|R. A. Rudenko]] for the [[Soviet Union]], and [[François de Menthon]] and [[Auguste Champetier de Ribes]] for [[France]]. Assisting Jackson was the lawyer [[Telford Taylor]] and a young US Army translator named [[Richard Sonnenfeldt]]. Assisting Shawcross were [[Major]] [[David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe]] and Sir [[John Wheeler-Bennett]]. [[Mervyn Griffith-Jones]], later to become famous as the chief prosecutor in the ''[[Lady Chatterley's Lover]]'' obscenity trial, was also on the Shawcross's team. Shawcross also recruited a young barrister, [[Anthony Marreco]], who was the son of a friend of his, to help the British team with the heavy workload. Robert Falco was an experienced judge who had tried many in court in France.
==The main trial==
[[Image:Goring&Hess.gif|right|thumb|160px|Göring and Hess during trials]]
<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[image:NurembergDefendants.JPG|right|thumbnail|300px|Defendants in the dock - Front row: Göring, Hess, von Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Funk and Schacht. Second row: Dönitz, Raeder, Schirach, Sauckel, Jodl, Papen, Seyss-Inquart, Speer, Neurath and Fritzsche.]] -->
The International Military Tribunal was opened on [[October 18]] [[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 organization]]s - the leadership of the [[Nazism|Nazi]] party, the [[Schutzstaffel]] (SS) and [[Sicherheitsdienst]] (SD), the [[Gestapo]], the [[Sturmabteilung]] (SA) and the High Command of the German armed forces ([[OKW]]).
The indictments were for:
# Participation in a common plan or [[conspiracy (crime)|conspiracy]] for the accomplishment of [[crime against peace]]
# Planning, initiating and waging [[war of aggression|wars of aggression]] and other crimes against peace
# [[War crime]]s
# [[Crimes against humanity]]
The 24 accused were:
"'''I'''" [[Indictment|indicted]] "'''G'''" indicted and found guilty "'''O'''" Not Charged
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!'''Name''' ||colspan=4|'''Count'''||'''Sentence''' !!'''Notes'''
|-
! !!'''1''' !!'''2''' !!'''3''' !!'''4''' !! !!
|-
|[[Image:Borman.jpg|left|100px]] <br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Martin Bormann]]</div>||I|||O||G||G||Death||Successor to Hess as Nazi Party Secretary. Sentenced to death in absentia, remains found in 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judborma.htm|title=Bormann judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Karl Dönitz.jpg|left|100px]] <br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Karl Dönitz]]</div>||I||G||G|||O||10 years||Leader of the ''Kriegsmarine'' from 1943, succeeded Raeder. Initiator of the [[U-boat]] campaign. Became [[President of Germany]] following Hitler's death.<ref name=donitz>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/juddoeni.htm|title=Dönitz judgement}}</ref> In evidence presented at the trial of [[Karl Dönitz]] on his orders to the [[U-boat]] fleet to breach the [[London Naval Treaty|London Rules]], Admiral [[Chester Nimitz]] stated that [[unrestricted submarine warfare]] was carried on in the [[Pacific Ocean]] by the [[United States]] from the first day that nation entered the war. Dönitz was found guilty of breaching the 1936 [[Second London Naval Treaty]], but his sentence was not assessed on the ground of his breaches of the international law of submarine warfare.<ref name="NT"> President of the Reich for 23 days after [[Adolf Hitler]]'s suicide.[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/juddoeni.htm Judgement : Doenitz] the [[Avalon Project]] at the [[Yale Law School]]</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Ac.frank.jpg|left|100px]]<br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Hans Frank]]</div>||I|||O||G||G||Death||Reich Law Leader 1933-1945 and Governor-General of the [[General Government]] in occupied [[Poland]] 1939-1945. Expressed repentance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judfrank.htm|title=Frank judgement}}</ref>
|-
|<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Frick.jpg|left|100px]] -->[[Image:Wilhelm Frick 72-919.jpg|left|100px]]<br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Wilhelm Frick]]</div>||I||G||G||G||Death||Hitler's Minister of the Interior 1933-1943 and Reich Protector of Bohemia-Moravia 1943-1945. Authored the [[Nuremberg Race Laws]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judfrick.htm|title=Frink judgement}}</ref>
|-
|<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:HFritzsche.JPG]] -->[[Image:Hans Fritzsche12.jpg|left|100px]]<br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Hans Fritzsche]]</div>||I||I||I|||O|| Acquitted ||Popular radio commentator, and head of the news division of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry. Tried in place of [[Joseph Goebbels]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judfritz.htm|title=Fritzsche judgement}}</ref>
|-
|<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Funk.jpg|left|100px]] --> [[Image:Waltherfunk45.jpg|left|100px]] <br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Walther Funk]]</div>||I||G||G||G||Life Imprisonment||Hitler's Minister of Economics. Succeeded Schacht as head of the [[Reichsbank]]. Released due to ill health on [[May 16]] [[1957]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judfunk.htm|title=Funk judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Goering1932.jpg|left|100px]] <br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Hermann Göring]]</div>||G||G||G||G||Death||[[Reichsmarschall]], Commander of the [[Luftwaffe]] 1935-1945, Chief of the 4-Year Plan 1936-1945, and several departments of the [[SS]]. Committed suicide the night before his execution.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judgoeri.htm|title=Goering judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Rudolf hess portrait.jpg|left|100px]]<div style="clear: left">[[Rudolf Hess]]</div>||G||G||I||I||Life Imprisonment||Hitler's deputy, flew to Scotland in 1941 in attempt to broker peace with Great Britain. After trial, committed to Spandau Prison; died in 1987.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judhess.htm|title=Hess judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Alfred-jodl-72-926.jpg|left|100px]]<br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Alfred Jodl]]</div>||G||G||G||G||Death||[[Wehrmacht]] [[Generaloberst]], Keitel's subordinate and Chief of the O.K.W.'s Operations Division 1938-1945. Subsequently exonerated by German court in 1953, though the exoneration was later overturned, largely as a result of pressure by American officials. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judjodl.htm|title=Jodl judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Ernst-Kaltenbrunner-72-916.jpg|left|100px]]<br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Ernst Kaltenbrunner]]</div>||I|||O||G||G||Death||Highest surviving [[SS]]-leader. Chief of [[RSHA]] 1943-45, the central Nazi intelligence organ. Also commanded many of the [[Einsatzgruppen]] and several [[concentration camp]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judkalt.htm|title=Kaltenbrunner judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Keitel Court.jpg|left|100px]]<br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Wilhelm Keitel]]</div>||G||G||G||G||Death||Head of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) 1938-1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judkeite.htm|title=Keitel judgement}}</ref>
|-
|<div style="clear: left">[[Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach]]</div>|||I||I||I||||----||Major Nazi industrialist. C.E.O of Krupp A.G 1912-45. Medically unfit for trial. The prosecutors attempted to substitute his son [[Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach|Alfried]] (who ran Krupp for his father during most of the war) in the indictment, but the judges rejected this as being too close to trial. Alfried was tried in a separate Nuremberg trial for his use of slave labor, thus escaping the worst notoriety and possibly death.
|-
|[[Image:Robert ley.jpg|left|100px]] <br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Robert Ley]]||I||I||I||I||----||Head of [[Deutsche Arbeitsfront|DAF]], The German Labour Front. Suicide on [[October 25]], [[1945]], before the trial began
|-
| [[Image:Konstantin von Neurath crop.jpg|left|100px]] <br /> <div style="clear: left">Baron [[Konstantin von Neurath]]</div>||G||G||G||G||15 years||Minister of Foreign Affairs 1932-1938, succeeded by [[Ribbentrop]]. Later, Protector of [[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]] 1939-43. Resigned in 1943 due to dispute with Hitler. Released (ill health) [[November 6]], [[1954]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judneur.htm|title=Von Neurath judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Vonpapen1.jpg|left|100px]]<br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Franz von Papen]]</div>||I||I|||O|||O||Acquitted || [[Chancellor|Chancellor of Germany]] in 1932 and Vice-Chancellor under Hitler in 1933-1934. Ambassador to [[Austria]] 1934-38 and ambassador to [[Turkey]] 1939-1944. Although acquitted at Nuremberg, von Papen was reclassified as a war criminal in 1947 by a German de-Nazification court, and sentenced to eight years' hard labour. He was acquitted following appeal after serving two years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judpapen.htm|title=Von Papen judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Erich Raeder.jpg|left|100px]] <br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Erich Raeder]]</div>||G||G||G|||O||Life Imprisonment||Commander In Chief of the ''Kriegsmarine'' from 1928 until his retirement in 1943, succeeded by Dönitz. Released (ill health) [[September 26]], [[1955]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judraede.htm|title=Raeder judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:GERibbentrop.jpg|left|100px]]<br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Joachim von Ribbentrop]]</div>||G||G||G||G||Death||Ambassador-Plenipotentiary 1935-1936. Ambassador to the United Kingdom 1936-1938. Nazi Minister of Foreign Affairs 1938-1945,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judribb.htm|title=Von Ribbentrop judgement}}</ref>
|-
|<br /> [[Image:Rosenberg.jpg|100px]]<br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Alfred Rosenberg]]||G||G||G||G||Death||[[Master race|Racial theory]] ideologist. Later, Minister of the Eastern Occupied Territories 1941-1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judrosen.htm|title=Rosenberg judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Fritz Sauckel.jpg|left|100px]]<br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Fritz Sauckel]]</div>||I||I||G||G||Death||''Gauleiter'' of Thuringia 1927-1945. Plenipotentiary of the Nazi slave labor program 1942-1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judsauck.htm|title=Sauckel judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Hjalmar Schacht.jpg|left|100px]]<br /> <div style="clear: left">Dr. [[Hjalmar Schacht]]</div>||I||I|||O|||O|| Acquitted ||Prominent banker and economist. Pre-war president of the ''Reichsbank'' 1923-1930 & 1933-1938 and Economics Minister 1934-1937. Admitted to violating the [[Treaty of Versailles]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judschac.htm|title=Schacht judgement}}</ref>
|-
| [[Image:Baldur von Schirach beim Diner.jpg|left|100px]] <br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Baldur von Schirach]]</div>||I|||O|||O||G||20 years||Head of the [[Hitler Youth|''Hitlerjugend'']] from 1933 to 1940, ''Gauleiter'' of [[Vienna]] 1940-1943. Expressed repentance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judschir.htm|title=Von Schirach judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Inquart crop.jpg|left|100px]] <br ><div style="clear: left">[[Arthur Seyss-Inquart]]</div>||I||G||G||G||Death||Instrumental in the ''[[Anschluss]]'' and briefly Austrian Chancellor 1938. Deputy to Frank in Poland 1939-1940. Later, Reich Commissioner of the occupied Netherlands 1940-1945. Expressed repentance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judseyss.htm|title=Seyss-Inquart judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Albert-Speer-72-929.jpg|left|100px]] <br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Albert Speer]]</div>|||I|||I||G||G||20 Years||Hitler's favorite architect and close friend, and Minister of Armaments from 1942. In this capacity, he was ultimately responsible for the use of slave labourers from the occupied territories in armaments production. Expressed repentance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judspeer.htm|title=Speer judgement}}</ref>
|-
|[[Image:Julius Streicher 72-920 crop.jpg|left|100px]] <br /> <div style="clear: left">[[Julius Streicher]]</div>||I|||O|||O||G||Death||''Gauleiter'' of Franconia 1922-1945. Publisher of the weekly newspaper, ''[[Der Stürmer]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judstrei.htm|title=Streicher judgement}}</ref>
|-
|}
----
"'''I'''" [[Indictment|indicted]] "'''G'''" indicted and found guilty "'''O'''" Not Charged
Throughout the trials, specifically between January and July 1946, the defendants and a number of witnesses were interviewed by American psychiatrist [[Leon Goldensohn]]. His notes detailing the demeanour and personality of the defendants survive.
The death sentences were carried out Oct 16th 1946 by [[hanging]] using the standard drop method instead of long drop.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://w3.salemstate.edu/~cmauriello/pdf_his102/nuremberg.pdf|title=Judgment at Nuremberg|format=PDF}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.uga.edu/academics/profiles/dwilkes_more/his34_trial2.html|title=The trial of the century}}</ref> The executioner was [[John C. Woods]]. The French judges suggested the use of a firing squad for the military condemned, as is standard for military courts-martial, but this was opposed by Biddle and the Soviet judges. These argued that the military officers had violated their military ethos and were not worthy of the firing squad, which was considered to be more dignified. The prisoners sentenced to incarceration were transferred to [[Spandau Prison]] in 1947.
Of the twelve defendants sentenced to death by hanging, two were not hanged: Hermann Göring committed suicide the night before the execution and Martin Bormann was not present when convicted. The remaining ten defendants sentenced to death were hanged.
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 and prosecuted in the so-called [[Doctors' Trial]] led to the creation of the [[Nuremberg Code]] to control future trials involving human subjects.
Of the organizations the following were found not to be criminal:
* [[Reichsregierung]]
* [[Oberkommando]]
* [[Generalstab der Wehrmacht]]
* [[Sturmabteilung]]
==Subsidiary and related trials==
* [[Eichmann Trial]]
* [[Anton Dostler]]
* [[Subsequent Nuremberg Trials]] for the trials conducted by the NMT.
* [[Dachau Trials]]
* [[Romanian People's Tribunals]]
* [[Soviet Military Tribunal]]
* [[War-responsibility trials in Finland]]
* [[Frankfurt Auschwitz trials]]
{{Sectstub|date=May 2008}}
==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 Judgement of the Tribunal'' (Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1950, vol. II<ref>[http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/publications/yearbooks/1950.htm Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1950]</ref>). 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.
Part of the defence was that some treaties were not binding on the Axis powers because they were not signatories. This was addressed in the judgment relating to war crimes and crimes against humanity<ref>[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judlawre.htm Judgement : The Law Relating to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity] in the [[Avalon Project]] archive at [[Yale Law School]]</ref> contains an expansion of customary law "''the Convention [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)#Hague Convention of 1907|Hague 1907]] expressly stated that it was an attempt 'to revise the general laws and customs of war,' which it thus recognised to be then existing, but by 1939 these rules laid down in the Convention were recognised by all civilised nations, and were regarded as being declaratory of the laws and customs of war which are referred to in Article 6 (b) of the [London] Charter.''" The implication under international law is that if enough countries have signed up to a treaty, and that treaty has been in effect for a reasonable period of time, then it can be interpreted as binding on all nations not just those who signed the original treaty. This is a highly controversial aspect of international law, one that is still actively debated in international legal journals.
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]].
* The Conclusions of the Nuremberg trials served to help draft:
** [[The Genocide Convention]], 1948.
** The [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]], 1948.
** [[The Convention on the Abolition of the Statute of Limitations on War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity]], 1968.
** The [[Geneva Convention]] on the Laws and Customs of War, 1949; its supplementary protocols, 1977.
==Validity of the court==
US Supreme Court Chief Justice [[Harlan Fiske Stone]] called the Nuremberg trials a fraud. "[[Chief US prosecutor]] Jackson is away conducting his high-grade lynching party in Nuremberg," he wrote. "I don't mind what he does to the Nazis, but I hate to see the pretense that he is running a court and proceeding according to common law. This is a little too sanctimonious a fraud to meet my old-fashioned ideas."<ref>'Harlan Fiske Stone: Pillar of the Law', Alpheus T. Mason, (New York: Viking, 1956)</ref>
Associate Supreme Court Justice [[William O. Douglas]] charged that the Allies were guilty of "substituting power for principle" at Nuremberg. "I thought at the time and still think that the Nuremberg trials were unprincipled," he wrote. "Law was created ex post facto to suit the passion and clamor of the time."<ref>'Dönitz at Nuremberg: A Reappraisal', H. K. Thompson, Jr. and Henry Strutz, (Torrance, Calif.: 1983)</ref>
The validity of the court has been questioned for a variety of reasons:
* The defendants were not allowed to appeal or affect the selection of judges. [[A. L. Goodhart]], Professor at [[Oxford University|Oxford]], opposed the view that, because the judges were appointed by the victors, the Tribunal was not impartial and could not be regarded as a court in the true sense. He wrote:
::"Attractive as this argument may sound in theory, it ignores the fact that it runs counter to the administration of law in every country. If it were true then no spy could be given a legal trial, because his case is always heard by judges representing the enemy country. Yet no one has ever argued that in such cases it was necessary to call on neutral judges. The prisoner has the right to demand that his judges shall be fair, but not that they shall be neutral. As Lord Writ has pointed out, the same principle is applicable to ordinary criminal law because 'a burglar cannot complain that he is being tried by a jury of honest citizens.'" ("The Legality of the Nuremberg Trials", ''Juridical Review'', April, 1946.)
* The main Soviet judge, [[Iona Nikitchenko|Nikitchenko]], had taken part in [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin's]] [[Moscow Trials|show trials]] of 1936-1938,<ref>[[Robert Conquest|Conquest, Robert]] ''The Great Terror A Reassessment'' London: Oxford University Press, 1990 page 92.</ref>.
* One of the charges, brought against Keitel, Jodl, and Ribbentrop included conspiracy to commit aggression against [[Poland]] in [[1939]]. The Secret Protocols of the [[German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact]] of [[August 23]], 1939, proposed the partition of Poland between the Germans and the Soviets (which was subsequently executed in September 1939); however, Soviet leaders were not tried for being part of the same conspiracy.<ref> Bauer, Eddy ''The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War II Volume 22'' New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation 1972 page 3071.</ref>. Instead, the Tribunal falsely proclaimed the Secret Protocols of the Non-Aggression Pact to be a forgery. Moreover, Allied Powers Britain and Soviet Union were not tried for preparing and conducting the [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran]] and the [[Winter War]], respectively.
* In 1915, the Allied Powers, Britain, France, and Russia, jointly issued a statement explicitly charging, for the first time, another government (the [[Sublime Porte]]) of committing "a [[crime against humanity]]". However it was not until the phrase was further developed in the ''London Charter'' that it had a specific meaning. As the London Charter definition of what constituted a crime against humanity was unknown when many of the crimes were committed, it could be argued to be a retrospective law, in violation of the principles of prohibition of [[ex post facto law]]s and the general principle of penal law [[nullum crimen, nulla poena sine praevia lege poenali]].<ref>{{citeweb|title=MOTION ADOPTED BY ALL DEFENSE COUNSEL|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/v1-30.htm}}</ref>
* The court agreed to relieve the Soviet leadership from attending these trials as war criminals in order to hide their [[Soviet war crimes|crimes against war civilians]], crimes that were committed by their army that included "carving up Poland in 1939 and attacking Finland three months later." This "exclusion request" was initiated by the Russians and subsequently approved by the court's administration.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/20/newsid_4356000/4356166.stm BBC News. ''1945: Nuremberg trial of Nazis begins'']. November 20, 1945.</ref>
* The trials were conducted under their own [[rules of evidence]]; the indictments were created ''[[ex post facto]]'' and were not based on any nation's law; the ''[[tu quoque]]'' defense was removed; and some claim the entire spirit of the assembly was "[[victor's justice]]". The Charter of the International Military Tribunal permitted the use of normally inadmissible "evidence." Article 19 specified that "The Tribunal shall not be bound by technical rules of evidence... and shall admit any evidence which it deems to have probative value". Article 21 of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal (IMT) Charter stipulated:
::"The Tribunal shall not require proof of facts of common knowledge but shall take judicial notice thereof. It shall also take judicial notice of official governmental documents and reports of the United [Allied] Nations, including acts and documents of the committees set up in the various allied countries for the investigation of war crimes, and the records and findings of military and other Tribunals of any of the United [Allied] Nations"
* The chief Soviet prosecutor submitted false documentation in an attempt to indict defendants for the murder of thousands of Polish officers in the Katyn forest near Smolensk. However, the other Allied prosecutors refused to support the indictment and German lawyers promised to mount an embarrassing defense. No one was charged nor found guilty at Nuremberg for the [[Katyn Massacre|Katyn Forrest massacre]]. <ref>[http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/places/germany/nuremberg/ftp.py?places/germany/nuremberg/tusa/katyn-hearing German Defense Team Clobbers Soviet Claims]</ref> In 1990, the Soviet government acknowledged that the Katyn massacre was carried out, not by the Germans, but by the Soviet secret police.<ref name="bbc161204">[[BBC News]] story : Russia to release massacre files, [[December 16]] [[2004]] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4102967.stm online]</ref>
However, as described [[Nuremberg Trials#Creation of the courts|above]], the [[unconditional surrender]] of the Axis powers was unusual and led directly to the formation of the international tribunals. In most cases those who are not prisoners of war are tried under their own judicial system if they are suspected of committing war crimes; in restricting the international tribunal to trying suspected Axis war crimes, the Allies were acting within normal international law.
Moreover, the Tribunal itself strongly disputed that the [[London Charter of the International Military Tribunal|London Charter]] was ''ex post facto'' law, pointing to existing international agreements signed by Germany that made aggressive war and certain wartime actions unlawful, such as the [[Kellogg-Briand Pact]], the [[Covenant of the League of Nations]], and the [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)|Hague Conventions]].<ref>{{citeweb|title=International Military Tribunal, Judgment of the International Military Tribunal (1946)|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judlawch.htm}}</ref>
Additionally, many commentators felt the Nuremberg Trials represented a step forward in extending fairness to the vanquished by requiring that actual criminal misdeeds be proved before punishment could ensue; including some of the defendants and their legal team:
:Perhaps the most telling responses to the critics of Jackson and Nuremberg were those of the defendants at trial. Hans Frank, the defendant who had served as the Nazi Governor General of occupied Poland, stated, “I regard this trial as a God-willed court to examine and put an end to the terrible era of suffering under Adolf Hitler.” With the same theme, but a different emphasis, defendant Albert Speer, Hitler’s war production minister, said, “This trial is necessary. There is a shared responsibility for such horrible crimes even in an authoritarian state.” Dr. Theodore Klefish, a member of the German defense team, wrote: "It is obvious that the trial and judgment of such proceedings require of the tribunal the utmost impartiality, loyalty and sense of justice. The Nuremberg tribunal has met all these requirements with consideration and dignity. Nobody dares to doubt that it was guided by the search for truth and justice from the first to the last day of this tremendous trial."<ref> [http://www.roberthjackson.org/Man/theman2-6-6/ Robert Jackson and International Human Rights], Professor [[Henry T. King]], [[Robert H. Jackson Center]], [[May 1]], [[2003]]</ref>
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}
==Further reading==
{{main|Nuremberg Trials bibliography}}
==See also==
* [[Nazi war criminals]]
* [[Command responsibility]]
* [[Doctors' Trial]]
* [[Nazi eugenics]]
* ''[[Judgment at Nuremberg]]'' (1961 film)
* [[Nuremberg Defense]]
* ''[[Nuremberg Diary]]'', an account of observations and discussions with the defendants by an American psychologist
* [[Tanya Savicheva]]
* [[War crime]] and [[List of war crimes]]
* [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East]]
* ''[[Eichmann in Jerusalem]]''
==External links==
* [http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_major-war-criminals.html Official records of the Nuremberg trials (The Blue series) in 42 volumes from the records of the Library of congress]
* [http://www.aegistrust.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=75/ UK Holocaust Centre] Owned and run by the [http://www.aegistrust.org/ Aegis Trust] An independent international organisation dedicated to eliminating genocide
* [http://www.museen.nuernberg.de/english/english/reichsparteitag_e/pages/prozesse_e.html Official page of the Nuremberg City Museum]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/nuremberg-defence-doesnt-make-the-grade/2006/01/17/1137466989840.html Nuremberg defence doesn't make the grade]-[[The Age|The Age newspaper]]
* [http://library.lawschool.cornell.edu/WhatWeHave/SpecialCollections/Donovan/index.cfm Donovan Nuremberg Trials Collection] Cornell Law Library
* [http://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/php/docs_swi.php?DI=1&text=overview Nuremberg Trials Project: A digital document collection] Harvard Law School Library
* [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judcont.htm The Avalon Project]
* [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/imtconst.htm Charter of the International Military Tribunal] (Nuremberg trials)
* [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/subsequenttrials.html The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials]
* [http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/ Nizkor Holocaust Web Project]
* [http://www.ushmm.org/research/doctors/ United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Online Exhibit]
* [http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/warcrimetrials/ Special focus on The Nuremberg Trials - USHMM]
* [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/nuremberg.htm Famous World Trials - Nuremberg Trials]
* [http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/gallery/N1945.htm Nuremberg Trials Gallery]
* [http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/trials3.html The Nuremberg Trials: The Defendants and Verdicts]
* [http://www.rit.edu/~mjd6897/NurembergTrials/main.html Results and Reactions to the Nuremberg Trials]
* [http://history.acusd.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/nuremberg-trials.html Nuremberg War Crimes - Trials]
* [http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1685.html Nuremberg Trials 1945-1949]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nuremberg/index.html "American Experience: The Nuremberg Trials"] (PBS)
* [http://www.trial-ch.org/trialwatch/search/en?CF=3 Trial Watch: The Nuremberg Trials]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-2213985,00.html Obituary of Anthony Marreco]
* [http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/trials.htm Crimes, Trials and Laws]
* [http://www.worldwar-two.net/acontecimentos/84/ Nuremberg Trials]
* [http://www.worldwar-two.net/acontecimentos/85/ Nuremberg defendants]
* [http://www.fredautley.com/nuremberg.htm ''The Nuremberg Judgments''], Chapter 6 from ''[http://www.fredautley.com/pdffiles/book01.pdf The High Cost of Vengeance]'', by [[Freda Utley]], [[Regenery Publishing|Henry Regnery Company]], Chicago, (1948). Made available by "The Freda Utley Foundation"
* [http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/10/tree-fell-in-forest-nuremberg.php A Tree Fell in the Forest: The Nuremberg Judgments 60 Years On], [[JURIST]]Whats up
* [http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/media/tyrannicide_se070218.ram CBC Radio: A Conversation with Geoffrey Robertson, Author of the Tyrannicide Brief (Feb 18/07)] (RealAudio)
* [http://www.goarmy.com/jag/nuremberg.jsp JAG Corps Attorneys]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/20/newsid_4356000/4356166.stm Attorney Shawcross reads an account of a massacre - 27 July 1946 (BBC)] (Windows Media and Real Audio) Warning: graphic descriptions of atrocities
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