Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials, or formally Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal were the trials of the most important Nazis. They were held in the German city of Nuremberg (Nürnberg), from November 14, 1945 to October 1, 1946.
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2 The validity of the court 3 The main trial 4 Influence on the development of international criminal law 5 See Also 6 External Links |
At the meetings in Tehran (1943), Yalta (1945) and Potsdam (1945), the three major wartime powers of the USA, USSR and Britain had agreed the format to punish those responsible for war-crimes during World War II. France managed to gain a place on the tribunal too. Some 200 German war crimes defendants were tried at Nuremberg, but it is often overlooked that 1,600 German war crimes defendants were tried under the traditional channels of military justice.
The Soviet Union had wanted the trials to take place in Berlin, however Nuremberg was chosen as the site for the trials for several reasons:
Creation of the Court
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.
Each of the four countries provided one judge and an alternate; and the prosecutors. The judges were:
- Geoffrey Lawrence (British main and president)
- William Birkett (British alternate)
- Francis Biddle (US main)
- John Parker (US alternate)
- Henri de Vabre (French main)
- Robett Falco (French alternate)
- Iola Nikitchenko (Russian main)
- Alexander Volchkov (Russian alternate)
The defendants were not allowed to complain about the selection of judges. Some people argue that, because of this, the Tribunal was not impartial and could not be regarded as a court in the true sense. The trial had all the trappings of a kangaroo court. A.L. Goodheart, Professor at Oxford, refuted this view, writing:
The main Soviet judge, Nikitchenko, had taken part in Stalin's show trials of 1936-38, something which in later years may have damaged the credibility of the Nuremberg trials somewhat. The trials were conducted under their own rules of evidence; the indictments were created ex postfacto and were not based on any nation's law; the tu quoque defense was removed; and the entire spirit of the assembly was "victor's justice". All this did little to help the credibility of trials. But the spirit of the time was well reflected at Nuremberg - a long, brutal and extraordinarily costly war had been fought and the surviving leaders of the losing side could not expect to simply walk away from the disaster they had created.
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 organizations" - the leadership of the Nazi party, the SS and SD, the Gestapo, the SA and the High Command of the army. The indictments were for:
The twenty-four accused were:
The validity of the court
It is interesting to note that after the fall of Communism in 1991 there were no similar trials against Communist Gulag guards and mass murderers. For example Lazar Kaganovich, who was responsible for the artificial famine in Ukraine under Stalin during the 1920's was never brought to justice. The main trial
Defendants in the dock:
Front row: Göring, Hess, von Ribbentrop, and Keitel;
second row: Dönitz, Raeder, Schirach, Sauckel.
The definition of what constitutes a war crime is described by the Nuremberg Principles, a document which came out of this trial.
The medical experiments conducted by German doctors led to the creation of the Nüremberg code to control future trials involving human subjects, and the so-called Doctors' Trial.
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 (Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1950, vol. III). The influence of the tribunal can also be seen in the proposals for a permanent international criminal court, and the draft 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.Influence on the development of international criminal law
