Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg Trials (Germany) Proceedings against some of the leading figures of the Nazi regime held before a military tribunal composed of American, British, French, and Russian judges in the town where the annual mass rallies of the Nazi Party had been held 1933–8. The four charges were conspiracy against peace, crimes against peace, violation of the law and customs of war, and crimes against humanity. In the first, most famous trial (20 November 1945–1 October 1946), twelve were sentenced to death, among them Ribbentrop, Keitel, Jodl, Streicher, Bormann (in absentia), and Göring (who committed suicide before the execution). Three were acquitted, while seven received long prison sentences, such as Speer, Hess, Dönitz, and von Schirach. Also accused were the Nazi organizations (the SS, the Security Service, and the Gestapo), which were declared criminal. The main suit was followed up by twelve further trials of 177 people altogether, of whom twenty-four were sentenced to death, though only half of those executions were carried out. By 1966, all those convicted to a prison sentence had been released, with the notable exception of Hess. The trials raised substantial legal objections, as the accused had broken few laws in the execution of their crimes, while the charges such as ‘crimes against peace’ were ill-defined. In fact, the trial and the interrogations conducted in its run-up revealed a singular unwillingness on the part of all the accused (with the notable exception of Göring) to accept responsibility for their crimes. The trial revealed many details about Nazi atrocities, but its effect on the population was ambiguous. It allowed many Germans to project their culpability onto the accused. Once these had been convicted, it strengthened the popular mood to let bygones be bygones, that the necessary retribution had been done, and that the ‘zero hour’ of German history could commence.

Truth and Reconciliation Committee