The Nuremberg Trials saw the end of the regime that caused the holocaust and was the first
time in history where an international court sentenced people to prison… and to death.
It would later set the stage for the international court of justice, the universal declaration
of human rights, and two Geneva Conventions.
Germany started the second world war when it invaded Poland and eventually attacked
over a dozen countries throughout the continent. But by 1943, the tide of war had turned: The
Soviet Union had pushed back at Moscow, Sint Petersburg, and Stalingrad. While the British
had beaten back the German air raids and pushed the Axis powers out of Africa.
So the leaders of the major allied powers came together to discuss the state of the
world after the WW2 had ended. Stalin of the Soviet Union, Roosevelt of the USA, and Churchill
of the United Kingdom discussed creating the United Nations, the D-Day invasion, and dividing
Germany up into 4 occupation zones. Because Germany. Will. be. Divided. But that was not
all. Over the course of World War 2, it became apparent to the Allied forces that Germany
committed atrocities on a massive scale. The night raids, the forced deportations, the
mass genocide. There was only 1 question on everybody’s minds: how do you punish acts
so evil?
To this question there were basically only three answers: The first, was to do nothing.
To let all the atrocities, all the death, all the destruction... go unpunished. But
how could any country consent to such a course of action? How could the far-off USA, or the
invaded Soviet Union, or the occupied Czechoslovakia consent to such a course of action?
The second option was to put all the perpetrators to death through executive action, to simply
give the command to kill thousands of people, regardless of whether they committed war crimes
or not. But this action was disliked by both Churchill and Roosevelt at the time.
And so the third option was eventually chosen by the end of the war: Justice through prosecution.
It was decided that the perpetrators of the second world war and of the holocaust, would
be dealt a fairness and justice that they themselves destroyed in Germany.
But that brought up the next question: how do you punish someone from another sovereign
country for crimes that are not actually illegal in that country?
The allied powers answered this question with the London Charter of the International Military
Tribunal. This charter laid out a system where the 4 different legal codes of France, Soviet
Union, USA, and UK would be incorporated into a single tribunal. There were prosecutors
and defense attorneys according to British and US laws but decisions and sentences were
imposed by a group of judges, according to French and Soviet legislation.
Furthermore, four types of crimes were decided that a person could be indicted for.
The first is ‘Crimes Against Peace’. Which included planning, initiating, and waging
wars of aggression or wars in violation of international treaties.
The second is ‘Crimes Against Humanity’. Such as exterminations, deportations, and
genocide. The third crime is ‘War Crimes’. This
basically meant a violation of the rules of war that were set before the Second World
War, such as executing prisoners. The fourth crime is ‘a common plan or conspiracy
to commit any of the three aforementioned crimes’. Afterall, simply because you didn’t
put anyone in the gas chambers yourself, doesn’t mean you’re not guilty of creating the system
leading to such genocide.
It would be possible for someone to be indicted for any or all of these crimes. For example,
Wilhelm Keitel, who was the de facto head of the German military during the war and
was indicted for all four crimes. He was found guilty on all four charges at the Nuremberg
Trial and sentenced to death. Or take the case of Julius Streicher, publisher of an
anti-Semitic newspaper. He was only indicted for conspiracy and crimes against humanity
and would only would be found guilty of the latter and sentenced to death.
It is important to note that this is not the only trial. There were several others such
as the Doctors’ trial and the Judges’ trial. The Nuremberg Trial, however, was only
for the worst offenders, those who had created the system of oppression and extermination
in Germany and its occupying territories, such as Wilhelm Frick, Minister of the Interior
and co-author of the anti semitic laws imposed in Germany before the war. Or Ernst Kaltenbrunner,
the highest ranking SS leader tried at nuremberg and chief of the Intelligence, Gestapo, and
Criminal Police. Both were found guilty and both were sentenced to death.
In total, 24 men would be indicted at the trials. Of those 24 men, there were three
unique cases. The first is of Martin Bormann who was Party secretary. He was absent at
the trial. He would be found guilty and sentenced to death, however, it would be discovered
in 1972 that he had actually died a few days before the war had ended.
There is also the case of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, a major industrialist.
He was found medically unfit for trial and passed away in 1950 without sentencing.
And thirdly is the case of Robert Ley. Head of the German trade unions. He believed that,
as the loser in the war, he ought to just be shot, rather than be brought before a tribunal
like a criminal. Ley strangled himself in his cell, three days after receiving his indictment.
The trial was now almost ready, the war was over, the men had been capured, and the crimes
were determined. But there was one more obstacle to overcome before the trials could commence.
And that was the problem of language. This trial was held between French, English, Russian,
and German speakers. How were they going to communicate efficiently with each other? Well,
IBM came up with a brilliant system that we still use today: simultaneous interpretation.
This is the technique where interpreters translate what is being said, while it is being said.
And then everybody else can listen to the translation in their native language directly
via headphones. This is how, for example, the UN and European Parliament work today.
Now it was finally time for the trial to commence. Each of the four countries provided a prosecutor
and a team of experts behind them. The defendants were entitled to receive a copy of the indictments
made against them, any relevant explanation to the charges brought against him, and to
be represented by a leawyer of their choice. Afterall, this would be a fair trial. And
of course, the defendants choose the best German lawyers possible.
Such as Admiral Karl Dönitz, head of the German navy from 1943 onward. He was indicted
because he had ordered his submarines not to help the survivors of any sinking ship,
instead letting them drown in the freezing Atlantic, in clear violation of the Second
London Naval Treaty. His lawyer, however, would save his life. He presented evidence
that the USA had committed the exact same breach of the treaty in the Pacific and argued
that Dönitz should not be convicted for a crime the USA also committed. And it worked.
Karl Dönitz was sentenced to only 10 years in prison, released in 1956 and died in 1980.
When the trial started, the prosecution was, at first, afraid that there wouldn’t be
any evidence that these men were responsible for any atrocities committed during the war.
But they forgot the German character. The Germans documented EVERYTHING: 47 crates of
binders, 1400 kilogram of party records, and kilometers of film poured in.
The prosecution didn’t go directly after the greater atrocities of WW2. Instead, laying
bare the system of conspiracy which would slowly lead to the Second World War and the
atrocities committed in them. They wanted to prove that it was these men who created
the system that would lead to these atrocities. From the supposed need for ‘breathing room’
to feed the German people to the aspiration of the extermination of what they considered
the ‘undesirable population’. The prosecution pulled out one incriminating document after
another. For example, a document that showed how they were planning to start a war by whatever
means necessary. “It is my unalterable decision to squash Czechoslovakia by military in the
near future. It is the job of the political leaders to bring about the military and politically
suitable moment.”
The primary defence of the accused, was that these actions were only made illegal after
the crimes had been committed. But this prosecution countered by stating that the first person
to be sentenced for murder could just as easily have argued that ‘nobody had ever been sentenced
for murder and so they shouldn’t either’ . That some crimes are so universally immoral
that it shouldn’t require a president. One of the defendants, Albert Speer, realized
that the prosecution, the allied powers, and the judges wanted to hear an apology, an admission
of wrongdoing, an expression of repentance. And so he gave them one. He took personal
responsibility for the crimes he and his country had committed. While Speer was responsible
for ordering the use of hundreds of thousands slave labourers, he was only sentenced to
20 years in prison. He was released in 1966 and died in 1981.
Once the prosecution had presented that there was indeed a common conspiracy against peace
and certain types of people, they continued with the atrocities of the war. They questioned
the commander of Auschwitz, who explained how he had been ordered to create an extermination
centre. They showed a documentary about the concentration camps, which I will not show
here as I do not want anyone in my audience to involuntarily see the horrific acts depicted
in them. If you do wish to see this evidence, it is available on the English Wikipedia page
on the Nuremberg Trials. It showed the horrors of the concentration camps, the piles of bodies,
the gas chambers, the unimaginable suffering… People in the courtroom cried, some even fainted
The defence of the men on trial could largely be summed up as ‘I was just following orders’.
The prosecution deconstructed that argument. Stating that “men who commit crimes cannot
plea as a defence that they committed them in uniform. Military men are not above and
beyond the moral and legal requirements that apply to others, incapable of exercising moral
judgement on their own” . They pointed out that another German general, Erwin Rommel,
had been ordered to kill any commandos that he had or would capture. But Rommel had burned
the order, showing that even a high-ranking general was able to exercise moral judgement
and disobey immoral order.
As the trial progressed, a very curious case become clear. That of Hjalmar Schacht. Schacht
was a prominent banker and economist in Germany, having served as president of the central
bank and economics minister. While an important figure before the war, he had lost all his
power by the time it started and had even been in contact with resistance leaders throughout
the war until he himself put in a concentration camp. In the end, he was acquitted and set
free. He would go on to advise developing countries on matters of finance and economics
and passed away in 1970.
Now that all the evidence had been presented and the accused could defend themselves, it
was time to pass judgement. It took the judges 2 days to determine the sentences of these
24 men. 12 were sentenced to death by hanging, 7 were given prison sentences, 3 were acquitted,
and 2 were left without a decision. Of those men sentenced to death who have not
yet been mentioned in this video are Hans Frank: Governor-general of occupied poland.
Alfred Jodl: A general in the German army, who signed the summary execution of the Allied
commandos and Soviet commissars. Joachim von Ribbentrop: Ambassador to the
UK and later minister of foreign affair. Alfred Rosenberg: Minister of the Eastern
Occupied Territories. Fritz Sauckel: head of the slave labour program.
Artur Seyss-Inquart: Commander of the occupied Netherlands.
And Hermann Goering. The men sentenced to prison who have not yet
been mentioned are Walter Funk: Minister of economics. Sentenced
to life in prison, released due to ill health in 1957 and passed away in 1960.
Constantin von Neurath: Minister of foreign affairs and reich protector of Bohemia and
Moravia and resigned in 1943. Sentenced to 15 years in prison, released in 1954 due to
ill health, and passed away in 1956. Erich Raeder: Commander in chief of the German
navy until his retirement in 1943. sentenced to life imprisonment, released in 1955 due
to ill health, and passed away in 1960. Baldur von Schirach: Head of the Hitler jugend
until 1940. Sentenced to 20 years in prison and passed away in 1974
And Rudolf Hess. And Aside from Schagt, there were two other
men who were acquitted. First was Hans Fritzsche. Popular radio commentator and head of the
news division of the Propaganda Ministry. His crimes weren’t deemed severe enough
for this tribunal and would later be sentenced to nine years in prison at a different trial.
But he was released early in 1950 due to ill health and died in 1953.
Secondly is Franz von Papen. He served as Chancellor and vice-chancellor of Germany.
Was an ambassador to austria and later turkey. He was acquitted, however, later sentenced
to 8 years in prison for his actions during the war. He appealed the decision and was
once again acquitted after serving only 2 years of prison and passed away in 1969.
The hangings of those sentenced to death, would take place on October 16th. But Hermann
Goering, the highest ranking man on trial, took one last act of defiance by committing
suicide. He was commander of the air force, de-facto head of the economy and the original
head of the Gestapo. Found guilty on all charges and sentenced to death.
The hangings were supposed be done via the ‘standard drop method’, where the goal
is to break the neck so the person dies instantly instead of a slow strangulation. But some
of the hangings were botched and took several minutes of strangulation before they died.
Von Ribbentrop took 17 minutes to die, jodl 18, keidl 28. The bodies were then cremated
and their ashes dumped into a river.
The last one of these men to die was Rudolf Hess. He flew to Scotland in 1941 to negotiate
a peace treaty with the British but was instead imprisoned, thus he didn’t participate in
many of the atrocities. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in 1987 when he
strangled himself at the age of 93. The prison was demolished to prevent it from becoming
a shrine to the followers of their toxic ideology. Instead, his burial site had become a destination
for yearly pilgrimages. So when the lease of his burial site ended in 2011, his grave
was reopened his remains cremated, and his ashes scattered at the sea.
And so ended the regime that started the second world war in Europe, committed genocide with
a brutality rarely seen in history, and took the lives of 50-56 million people. This video
was only a summary of the Nuremberg Trials. I have left out matters related, but not directly
impacting the trials and there is much more to learn. Such as the fact that the Soviet
Union committed many of the same atrocities but were not put on trial, or the prosecution
of various organizations such as the SS. Therefore, if you’re interested in reading more about
the topic, I will provide a few sources down below where you can learn more about the subject.