War Trials

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster; and when you

look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

-Friedrich Nietzsche

The Holocaust

• The Nazis killed over 6 million Jews during World War II, which became known as the Holocaust

• The Nazis also killed approximately 6 million Poles, Slavs, and Gypsies as well during the Holocaust.

The Allies and the Trials• Winston Churchill did not want a trial

– Thought all should be hung

• Americans and Russians wanted a trial

• Many people were convinced that the individuals responsible had to be tried before an international court and they wanted each person to take personal responsibility for their actions

The Lieber Code

• Compiled by Frances Lieber and given to American soldiers during the Civil War– It detailed how civilians, prisoners of war, and spies were

to be treated– Other nations, including Britain, France, and Germany

prepared similar manuals

The Hague/ Geneva Accord

• Held in 1907 in Hague, Netherlands– Focused on the rights of civilians and soldiers who

have surrendered

– The Geneva Accord established how prisoners of war were to be treated and called for the protection of the wounded.

Nuremberg Trial

• In November 1945, the victors of World War II began the first international war crimes trial.

• This was a trial set up to punish those guilty for a wide range of criminal activity carried out in the lead up to, and during the war.

“By the judgment of the Nuremberg Tribunal, October 1, 1946, it was established that the

highest officials of a government are answerable before the bar of international courts for committing war crimes, crimes

against peace, and—in connection with either of these—crimes against humanity.”

Harry S. Truman

Address at the Laying of the Cornerstone of the New U.S. Courts Building for the District of Columbia June 27, 1950 #147 Truman

Library

The Crimes

• Crime of conspiracy– Leaders, organizers, instigators, and accomplices

in the formulation or execution of a common plan, or a conspiracy to commit any of the following crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in executing such a plan.

The Crimes

• Crimes against peace

– Planning, preparing or initiating a war of aggression.

• War Crimes– This meant breaking the rules of war. It included

killing prisoners or war and destroying homes and property

The Crimes

• Crimes against humanity– The murder, extermination, enslavement,

deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population before or during the war.

Why Nuremberg?

• The location chosen for the trials, Nuremburg in Germany, was significant for it was here that the National Socialist Party, i.e. the Nazi Party, held its annual rallies.

• Adolf Hitler had foreseen Nuremburg as the 'party city'. Now many of the leaders of the party were on trial for their lives, just a short distance from the grand arena where they had their rallies.

Nuremberg Jail

How the trials were set up

• Allies formed the International Military Tribunal (IMT) to bring the Nazi leaders to trial– Tribunal is a court of justice

• The defendants were made aware of all charges, each was entitled to a lawyer and had the right to plead his own case, offering witnesses and evidence on his behalf.

The Nuremberg Trials• Began Nov. 20, 1945

and lasted 10 months• Chief prosecutor was

Robert H. Jackson, justice on United States Supreme Court– Opening Statement by

Jackson

Nuremberg Trials (Major Defendants)

• Karl Doentiz- German Admiral (Chosen by Hitler to succeed him as Fuhrer

• Hans Frank- Governor-General of Occupied Poland (Jew butcher of Kracow)

• Wilhelm Frick- Minister of the Interior• Hans Fritzsche- Head of Radio Division (Propaganda Ministry)• Walther Funk- Minister of Economics• Hermann Goering- Luftwaffe Chief, Director of 4-Year Plan• Rudolf Hoess- Deputy to the Fuhrer and the Nazi Party Leader• Alfred Jodl- Chief of Operations• Ernst Kaltenbrunner- Chief of RSHA and Chief of Security Police• Wilhelm Keitel- Chief of Staff of the German High Command• Konstantin von Neurath- Minister of Foreign Affairs• Franz von Papen- Reich Chancellor prior to Hitler, Vice Chancellor

under Hitler, Ambassador to Turkey

Nuremberg Trials (Major Defendants 2)

• Erich Raeder- Commander in Chief of the German Navy• Joachim von Ribbentrop- Foreign Minister• Alfred Rosenberg- Chief Nazi Philosopher and Reichminister of

the Eastern Occupied Territories• Fritz Sauckel- Chief of Slave Labor Recruitment• Hjalmar Schacht- Reichsbank President and Minister of

Economics before the War• Baldur von Schirach- Hitler Youth Leader• Arthur Seyss-Inquart- Austrian Chancellor, the Reich

Commissioner for the Netherlands• Albert Speer- Reichmaster of Armaments and Munitions• Julius Streicher- Anti-Semitic Editor of Der Sturmer

Defendants

• .

• The 21 defendants came from very different backgrounds. Some, like Hitler's chosen successor Hermann Goering, were senior politicians - their responsibility in the Holocaust was clear.

• Most of them were regarded by the western public as key playmakers in a system that had brought war to Europe and cost the lives of 50 million people.

The Prosecution

• Used the Nazi’s own records

• Tried to show the Nazis planned a war and planned to conquer the world if they could– A crime against peace

• A minor part of the prosecution was documents and witnesses of the Holocaust

• American chief prosecutor Robert Jackson decided to argue his case primarily on the basis of mounds of documents written by the Nazis themselves rather than eyewitness testimony so that the trial could not be accused of relying on biased or tainted testimony. Testimony presented at Nuremberg revealed much of what we know about the Holocaust including the details of the Auschwitz death machinery, the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto, and the estimate of six million Jewish victims.

The Defense

• Too much evidence to claim the Holocaust didn’t happen– Had to make case on other issues

• Said tribunal had no legal authority

• Said they were just following orders

Goering, Hess, von Ribbentrop, and Keitel in front row

• Two prisoners in particular came to represent opposite poles in their reaction to the trials and the accusation of massive crimes.

• Hermann Goering, the man Hitler chose as his successor in the 1930s and the most flamboyant and ambitious of the party hierarchy, prepared to defend Hitler and the Reich's war policy rather than admit that what had been done was criminal.

• From the start he was determined to dominate the other prisoners and make them follow his line of defence insisting that everything that they had done was the result of their German patriotism. He told them that to defy the court was to protect Germany's reputation and to maintain their loyalty to their dead leader.

• With the start of the trial, Goering assumed at once the informal role as leader and spokesman for the whole cohort of prisoners. He was given the most prominent position in the dock.

Lunch for a Prisoner• In mid-February 1946, on the

recommendation of the psychologist who monitored prisoner behaviour, Goering was forced to exercise and take his meals on his own.

• This led to a decrease in the problems Goering was causing for the prosecution; with his isolation allowing the other prisoners to talk freely to each other and in the courtroom, the united front that Goering wanted soon collapsed.

• On the other hand Albert Speer, the architect who ran Germany's armaments effort during the war, accepted from the start the collective responsibility of the defendants for the crimes of which they were accused and tried to distance himself from Hitler's presence at the tribunal. Speer freely admitted Hitler had once held him in thrall like all the rest.

• At the same time in his interrogations and cross-examinations, he seldom expressed his individual guilt. He succeeded in presenting himself as part of the system, but not a driving force.

• Speer revealed early in the trial that at the very end of the war he had tried to find a way to assassinate Hitler by pouring poison gas into his underground bunker. The plot was abortive, but it again presented Speer to the prosecution as someone different from the rest of the defendants.

• At the end of the trial, even though he had been responsible for the mass exploitation of forced foreign labor, he was given a 20-year sentence.

• No doubt Speer benefited from his pose as a technical manager (whose social background was not very different from those who were trying him) and from his willingness to confess responsibility. The extent to which he manipulated his story to win sympathy or genuinely believed that the regime he served was criminal is still open to speculation.

• The others did not all share Speer’s frankness, any more than they shared Goering's deviance, but for the rest of the trial period the cohort of prisoners divided into small groups rather than presenting a united front.

Nuremberg Bench

• This is a photo of the Nuremberg judges..

Press Room

• The defendants were entitled to a legal counsel of their choosing. Over 400 visitors attended the proceedings each day, as well as 325 correspondents representing 23 different countries.

• The judges delivered their verdict on October 1, 1946. Three of four judges were needed for conviction. Twelve defendants were sentenced to death, among them Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hans Frank, Alfred Rosenberg, and Julius Steicher. They were hanged, cremated in Dachau, and their ashes dropped in the Isar River. Hermann Goering escaped the hangman's noose by committing suicide the night before. The IMT sentenced three defendants to life imprisonment and four to prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years. It acquitted three of the defendants.

Results• Many criminals involved in the Nuremberg Trials were hanged on October 16,

1946, some were sent to prison, or life in prison• Frank Hans was hanged wearing a beatific smile• Hans Fritzsche was acquitted but was later convicted by a German court, then

freed• Walther Funk was sentenced to life in prison but was released due to poor

health• Hermann Goering committed suicide the day before his scheduled hanging by

taking a cyanide pill • Rudolf Hess was sentenced to life in prison but killed himself in 1987• Konstantin von Neurath was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released

due to poor health in 1954 and died 2 years later• Franz von Papen was acquitted• Erich Raeder was sentenced to life in prison but was released 9 years later• Hjalmar Schacht was found not guilty but was later convicted by a German

court and sentenced to eight years• Baldur von Schirach was sentenced to 20 years• Albert Speer served a 20-year sentence and later wrote 2 books about his life

Results of the Nuremberg Trials

• Told the world in great detail about the Holocaust

• Established the principle that individuals can’t escape responsibility for their actions by saying they were following orders

• Set the standards for judging the actions of nations in the future

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsOpcMFkrFs

• Write a paragraph on whether or not you think the punishment was just.