After the atrocities of World War II, the world was hungry for justice. The crimes
committed against the Jewish community, and the enormous loss of life around the
globe were unthinkable. After VE Day and the subsequent surrender of Japan,
everyone was wondering how members of the Nazi party would be held accountable.
Never before in history had any trials been held for international war criminals,
and there were many hurdles to overcome in the pursuit of justice. Hello and welcome back to
Nutty History. Today we’re going to talk about what really happened at the Nuremberg trials.
The war was still three years away from ending when some of the world powers began discussing
what kind of punishments would be suitable for those involved in the mass decimation
of European Jews. Great Britain, United States, France, and the Soviet Union resolved in 1942 to
prosecute the people responsible for the heinous crimes committed against the Jewish population,
which included medical experiments, starvation, forced labor and death by methods such
as by weapon or asphyxiation via poison gas. The leader of the Soviet Union and the leader
of Great Britain initially suggested some form of group decimation as a form of punishment,
but they were eventually convinced that a criminal trial would be a more appropriate way of dealing
with the crimes that had been committed. However, this left the four nations with the predicament of
how to go about establishing a type of criminal trial that had never been done before.
Throughout history there have been prosecution of war crimes, but before the Nuremberg trials
those trials had only been on a nation by nation basis. No one knew how to go about prosecuting
internationally, since France, Great Britain, Soviet Union and the U.S. were all involved
in the formation of the historic trials, and they all had their own laws and regulations.
After much discussion, the Allies solidified the rules that would accompany the Nuremberg trials,
by signing in the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal or the IMT.
The IMT, which was issued on August 8, 1945, defined three different categories of crimes.
The first category was crimes against the peace. This included planning and preparing crimes,
starting or waging wars of aggression, and starting or waging wars in violation of
international agreements. The second category were war crimes, which included improper treatment of
civilians and prisoners. The final category was crimes against humanity, which included murder
and persecution based on political, religious or racial grounds. The next decision the Allies
had to make was where to hold the trials, and they soon came up with the perfect location.
Nuremberg is a large city located in the German state of Bavaria. While today it is known for
its beautiful architecture and educational institutions, during the leadup to the war
Nuremberg played frequent host to large Nazi propaganda rallies. The Allies felt this city
would be the perfect place to hold the symbolic death of the Nazi party. The war had ravaged much
of the city, but the Palace of Justice remained in fairly good shape and included a large prison
complex that could hold up to 1200 people. The only work that had to be done before the trial
began was the expansion of the courtroom. This work was completed by German prisoners.
Between 1945 and 1949 there were twelve trials held at Nuremberg, but the first trial is the one
that stands out the most sharply in history. This was partly due to it being the first of its kind,
but also because it tried the highest-ranking Nazi officials involved in the war. The trial was
known as the Major War Criminals’ Trial and took place from November 20, 1945, until October 1,
1946. Twenty-four men were indicted, but one man took his own life before the trial took place,
and another was deemed medically unfit, so the official number that stood trial was twenty-two.
While people around the world would have loved to see Hitler stand trial,
they sadly never got the chance, as he killed himself in an underground bunker in April of 1945.
However, there were still many Nazis who had held great positions of power in Hitler’s army
and had been responsible for the deaths of millions. The trial was meticulous,
and testimony and examination took place over many months. Judges from France, Great Britain,
the Soviet Union and the United States all presided over the trial and took great care
in their deliberations until finally announcing the verdicts. Twelve men were sentenced to death.
Three men were sentenced to life in prison. Four were given prison terms that ranged
from ten to twenty years, and three men were acquitted. Although the men acquitted were all
certainly involved with the Nazis in some way, it was concluded that none of their actions fell
under the specifications listed within the three categories of crimes on trial. This first trial
was famous for not only sentencing some of most vicious war criminals who remained alive
after the war, but also for establishing the rules of international law. The Nuremberg
trials established the right of humanitarian intervention to stop Crimes Against Humanity.
The trials set the precedent that all humanity would be guarded by an international legal shield,
and that anyone, no matter their position, could be held responsible for Crimes Against
Humanity. Despite clear sentences, the execution of the twelve men sentenced to death did not go
as planned. On October 15, 1946, Hermann Goering, Gestapo founder and Luftwaffe commander-in-chief,
claimed his own life by ingesting a glass capsule of potassium cyanide that he had managed to sneak
with him into prison. Goering, who had been responsible for the murder of countless people
and was scheduled to be hanged the next day, wrote in a letter to his wife that he couldn’t
bear to be executed “in so terrible a fashion by my enemies”. Due to Goering’s taking his own life,
the Allies felt they had to move fast, and they ordered the immediate decimation of the remaining
men sentenced to death. On October 16, 1945, the war criminals were hung one after the other
in the prison gymnasium. Witnesses claim the ropes were too short and the trap doors small,
which led to a long and painful strangulation. Those reports have never been confirmed.
Over the following years a total of 177 people were tried in Nuremberg. 161 of them were
convicted, and twenty-four of those convicted were also sentenced to death. Growing tensions between
the Allies resulted in the remaining trials being conducted in front of the U.S. military tribunal
instead of the international judges who had overseen the first trial. In the remaining trials
the defendants included physicians, judges, SS commanders, police commanders, military personnel,
and diplomats. The trials delved into some of the most horrifying aspects of the war. Testimony was
given on the carefully planned out extermination of European Jews, and the atrocities committed
against them and anyone else deemed to be outside of the “pure" race in extermination camps. During
the Doctors Trial details were given on the inhumane and brutal medical experiments conducted
by doctors on prisoners of war. The Judges trial brought judges and lawyers to center stage,
where it was found that they had assisted Nazis by helping to implement the horrifying eugenics
law of the Third Reich. This law promoted Hitler’s vision of an “ideal” race, and forbade procreation
between Jewish and non-Jewish Germans. The eugenics law was also responsible for the forced
sterilization of 400,000 Germans, many of those were deemed unfit by the Nazis due to disabilities
such as hearing or vision impairments. While the Nuremberg trials were referred to as the
victor’s justice, many of the punishments did not end up being particularly severe. Many of the
prisoners sent to prison with long sentences were pardoned a short time later in the 1950s, and only
thirteen of the twenty-four sentenced to death at the subsequent trials were actually executed.
There were many mixed emotions regarding the Nuremberg trials. Some people felt they didn’t
go far enough, while others, such as Harlan Stone, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, called
the trials a “high-grade lynching party.”(voice actor and editor bleep out lynching) Regardless
of anyone’s’ opinions, the Nuremberg trial contributed hugely to the establishment of
international law, and their impact is still felt today. The proceedings
at Nuremberg directly contributed to the United Nations Genocide Convention in 1948,
as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the same year and the Geneva Convention
on the Laws and Customs of War in 1949. Not only did the Nuremberg trials play a huge role
in the development of international law, but they also changed how we communicate between nations.
Since the trials had defendants, judges and lawyers all speaking different languages, there
was an initial concern that the language barriers would slow down the trials or cause conflict.
Because of this, a new instantaneous translation system was developed by IBM,
which allowed trial participants to listen to translations of the proceedings in real time via
headset. A yellow and red light system alerted speakers to slow down or repeat statements as
needed. This simultaneous translation system meant that the trials could proceed four times faster
had they used consecutive translation, which had been the norm up until that point. Today,
instantaneous translation is used around the world in trials, meetings, and news conferences.
While the Nuremberg trials were important and necessary, they haven’t completely changed the
course of history. Sadly, war crimes continue to be committed in countries all over the world.
Now, at least, we can classify these atrocities as war crimes, and, hopefully, more and more
people can be held accountable. Thank you for watching Nutty History. We’ll see you next time.