World War II ended in 1945, but the world was coming to realize the atrocities committed by the leaders and members of the German Nazi party. The Allied powers, consisting of the US, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, decided that the leaders of Nazi Germany had to be held accountable for their actions during the War.
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenWorld War II ended in 1945, but the world was coming to realize the atrocities committed by the leaders and members of the German Nazi party. The Allied powers, consisting of the US, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, decided that the leaders of Nazi Germany had to be held accountable for their actions during the War.
The Allied created a specific court system in which German leaders accused of war crimes were to be tried in a court of law. Between 1945 and 1949, a series of trials headed by an international group formed by the Allied powers of the US, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, aimed to hold German leaders accountable for their actions. These became known as the Nuremberg Trials.
The Nuremberg Trials took place between 1945 to 1949. The Trails were led by the Allied powers of France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the US, who each appointed a representative to the prosecuting team.
The defendants of the Nuremberg Trials were the leaders of Nazi Germany and those who carried out war crimes during World War II. Many of those on trial were directly involved with the Holocaust.
The celebration of the end of World War II on May 8, 1945, came with the atrocities of the Nazi reign in Germany coming to light, including genocide and persecution of the Jewish people, which became known as the Holocaust.
The Allied powers turned their attention to the future of the Axis powers, mainly Germany, whose actions had culminated in mass destruction and genocide. Shortly after, Allied leaders from the US, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union convened at the Potsdam Conference on July 17, 1945. Here they decided that the war crimes committed by Nazi leaders could not go unpunished, and any reference to the party should be removed. They called this process denazification,
genocide
the systematic murder of a specific group of people; the term was first used to describe the Holocaust during World War II
denazification
the Allied attempt to rid Germany of the Nazi party after the War ended
Before this, there were no concrete processes for international courts to try leaders of another country in a court of law for war crimes. The Allied powers came to agreements to set up the International Military Tribunal to guide the trials and guidelines on how to proceed with a fair trial of the Germans.
The Trials are generally agreed to have two rounds: the first one being led by the International Military Tribunal and the second one being led by the American Military Tribunal.
Nuremberg, a city in the German state of Bavaria, was chosen not only for its convenient Palace of Justice, which had withstood the violence of the War. The town had been known for holding Nazi propaganda rallies before the War. Holding the trials in the city would be symbolic of the end of the reign of Nazi Germany.
Before the first of the Nuremberg Trials began, the Allied leaders had to do a lot of background work to organize international trials.
Two years before, in 1943, the leaders of the Allied powers signed the Moscow Declaration of German Atrocities, stating that when the War ended, the leaders of Nazi Germany would be tried for their crimes. The Moscow Declaration was implemented in August 1945 when the Allied forces forged and signed the London Charter and Agreement, which created a new branch of their alliance called the International Military Tribunal (IMT).
Each country, the US, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, appointed a representative to the IMT. The London Charter and Agreement set up a format for the trials, as well as outlining three crimes the majority of defendants would be accused of:
The Trail of Major War Criminals began on November 20, 1945, and ended on October 1, 1946. The Allies elected British Justice Geoffrey Lawrence to preside over the trials of 22 German officials.
The officials being tried were considered Major War Criminals, as they were leaders within the Nazi party. They were considered Major War Criminals because their crimes were not specific to a particular place and affected the vast population instead of a particular group or person.
During the Major War Criminal trials, crimes against humanity were also used in a court of law for the first time.
Crimes against humanity
is defined by the International Military Tribunal as: "murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation...persecutions on political racial or religious grounds."
The Trials stretched on for almost a year, and the jurists reviewed an incredible amount of evidence. Twelve defendants were sentenced to death, three were sentenced to life in prison, and four were sent to prison. Three were found not guilty.
Several leaders of Nazi Germany committed suicide before they could stand trial for their actions. Others fled the country, settling in countries such as Argentina.
After the Trial of Major Criminals came to a close, the control of the Nuremberg Trials was left to American jurisdiction. The last trial was a joint effort with the IMT in December 1946. While the decisions were in the hands of the Americans, the trials were still held in the Palace of Justice in Germany. There they had twelve more trials of Nazi Germany leaders accused of war crimes. These Trials were known as the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings.
The Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings were led by Associate Supreme Court Justice Robert H Jackson, who was also the leader of the making of the London Charter. Other American judges during the Trials were: Francis Biddle, John J Parker, and Edward Francis Carter.
The 12 American-led trials began on December 9, 1946. These trials differed from the Trials of Major War Criminals because they mainly focused on crimes committed against a specific individual or group of people. The Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings included, but were not limited to:
Many felt that the Nuremberg trials were unfair and even referred to as the "lynching party" by Supreme Court Justice Harlan Stone. They were against the trials because those on trial were accused of crimes that technically did not exist as laws before the War. The German prisoners complained that their sentencing and imprisonment were an application of ex-post facto law.
While the US Supreme Court ceded that they did not have official jurisdiction over Germany, they solidified the sentences. However, in 1951, the American High Commissioner for Occupied Germany (HICOG), John McCloy, decided to commute the sentences of those sentenced in the US-led trials.
Ex-post facto
when a law is applied to a crime that was legal or not explicitly illegal when it was committed
Commute
to reduce the amount of time a person spends in jail serving time for a crime
The Nuremberg Trials were the first time multiple countries came together in a court of law and set an important precedent for future international statutes and relationships. Before Nuremberg, it was not assumed that leaders in the military or government could be individually held accountable for their actions.
There was a need for instantaneous translation since representatives from many countries attended the trials. Everything in the trials was translated into English, French, German, and Russian.
The trials set a precedent that civilians would be protected by international law, and no one, not even leaders of countries, is exempt from being convicted of crimes against humanity. Both military and political leaders could be put on trial and held accountable for their actions during wartime.
While the trials were groundbreaking, they paved the way for the United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948 and the Geneva Convention on the Laws and Customs of War in 1949. The attempt to bring German Nazi war criminals continued into the 21st century.
Beyond the direct implications of World War II, the laws put into place during the Nuremberg Trials were applied to other events in the 20th century, such as the genocide in Rwanda. The Trials changed the way the world viewed the effects of War.
The US stopped the Nuremberg Trials after they completed trying those they knew had committed crimes. Other reasons may include turning their attention to the burgeoning Cold War.
The main players in the Nuremberg Trials were the representatives chosen from each Allied country, and the defendants from defeated Germany.
The defendants of the Nuremberg trials were German war officials.
The US was represented by Associate Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson.
How long did the Nuremberg Trials last?
The Nuremberg Trials were held between 1945 and 1949.
Who was on trial during the Nuremberg Trials?
The defendants of the Nuremberg Trials were those in the Nazi party, mostly military and political leaders.
What were the Allied powers that made up the International Military Tribunal?
France, Great Britain, Soviet Union, and the United States.
What is denazification?
The process of removing all references to the Nazi party.
What were the three main crimes that the London Charter and Agreement outlined?
1. Crimes against peace
2. War crimes
3. Crimes against humanity
What was the name of the series of trials held under the International Military Tribunal?
The Trial of Major War Criminals
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