Nuremberg Trials: Difference between revisions
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While the Allies had, for some time, been discussing how to handle the leaders of the Third Reich, the formal IMT opened in Berlin on October 18, 1945. Proceedings began in Nuremberg on November 14, 1945, and ended with the sentences on October 1, 1946. | While the Allies had, for some time, been discussing how to handle the leaders of the Third Reich, the formal IMT opened in Berlin on October 18, 1945. Proceedings began in Nuremberg on November 14, 1945, and ended with the sentences on October 1, 1946. | ||
Convicted defendants condemned to death were subsequently executed, at Nuremberg, on October 16, 1946. Those defendants subject to imprisonment were held at [[Spandau Prison]] in Berlin, which closed after the last prisoner, [[Rudolf Hess]], died on August 17, 1987. | Convicted defendants condemned to death were subsequently executed, at Nuremberg, on October 16, 1946.<ref name=execution>{{citation | ||
|title = The Sentencing and Execution of Nazi War Criminals, 1946 | |||
| contribution = The Executions | |||
| journal = Eyewitness to History | |||
| url = http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/nurembergcont.htm | |||
}}</ref> Those defendants subject to imprisonment were held at [[Spandau Prison]] in Berlin, which closed after the last prisoner, [[Rudolf Hess]], died on August 17, 1987. | |||
==Defendants== | ==Defendants== | ||
===Individual=== | ===Individual=== |
Revision as of 18:18, 17 February 2009
Template:TOC-right The International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg by the four major Allied powers in Europe, convened as the Allied Control Commission, this proceeding tried the designated Major War Criminals of Nazi Germany, as well as determining whether certain Nazi organizations were to be considered as criminal conspiracies to which membership was a crime. It complemented the International Military Tribunal (Tokyo) of the Major War Criminals of the Empire of Japan, and was followed by a series of Nuremberg Military Tribunals conducted by the United States.
This was an unprecedented event in international law. [1] It was not a conventional trial, and there was no body of international law to guide it. Few would argue that many of the charges were ex post facto, for offenses, such as crimes against humanity, which were not recognized in international law at the time they were committed. Some of the offenses, such as crimes against peace, arguably violated the Kellogg-Briand accord, but that treaty did not prescribe enforcement.
Planning and conduct
While the Allies had, for some time, been discussing how to handle the leaders of the Third Reich, the formal IMT opened in Berlin on October 18, 1945. Proceedings began in Nuremberg on November 14, 1945, and ended with the sentences on October 1, 1946.
Convicted defendants condemned to death were subsequently executed, at Nuremberg, on October 16, 1946.[2] Those defendants subject to imprisonment were held at Spandau Prison in Berlin, which closed after the last prisoner, Rudolf Hess, died on August 17, 1987.
Defendants
Individual
An opening session of the IMT was held at Berlin on 18 October 1945; the tribunal convened at Nuremberg on 14 November 1945 and concluded its business with the passing of sentence on twenty-two defendants on 1 October 1946. These defendants were:
- Herman Goering [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Rudolf Hess [r]: Early Nazi Party member to whom Adolf Hitler dictated Mein Kampf; became Deputy Fuhrer but lost bureaucratic power; made an unauthorized flight to Great Britain in 1941 to seek a peace agreement but was interned; sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) and died in Spandau Prison [e]
- Joachim von Ribbentrop [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Wilhelm Keitel [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Ernst Kaltenbrunner [r]: Second commander of the Reich Main Security Administration (RSHA) of the SS of Nazi Germany; executed for war crimes by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) [e]
- Alfred Rosenberg [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Hans Frank [r]: Nazi lawyer, who directed the occupation of Poland (i.e., the Generalgouvernement); executed by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) [e]
- Wilhelm Frick [r]: (1877-1946) Early Nazi who took part in the Beer Hall Putsch; later Reich Minister of the Interior of Nazi Germany with authority over the Nuremberg Laws; titular authority over the police apparatus that was actually controlled by Heinrich Himmler; last Protector of Bohemia and Moravia; executed by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) [e]
- Julius Streicher [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Walter Funk [r]: President of the Nazi Reichsbank from 1939, after replacing Hjalmar Schacht, taking a supportive but not primary role in confiscation of assets from Jews and from conquered countries, and sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) [e]
- Karl Doenitz [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Erich Raeder [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Baldur von Schirach [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Fritz Sauckel [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Alfred Jodl [r]: Colonel-general in the Army of Nazi Germany; head of operations branch of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the overall command staff; executed for war crimes by sentence of the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) [e]
- Arthur Seyss-Inquart [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Albert Speer [r]: (1905-1981) Architect, and Nazi Minister of Armament and Munitions 1942-1945; close personal relationship with Adolf Hitler but opposed his scorched-earth policies and plotted assassination; sentenced to 20 years by the Nuremberg Trials where he was eloquent in accepting responsibility, probably saving his life [e]
- Constantin von Neurath [r]: (1873-1956) German career diplomat, foreign minister 1932 under Franz von Papen 1932, continued under Nazis until expansionist policy of 1938; took role in Czech occupation [e]
- Martin Bormann [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Hjalmar Schact [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Franz von Papen [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Hans Fritzsche [r]: Add brief definition or description
Organizational
References
- ↑ Papers of the International Military Tribunal and the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, ArchivesHub, a national gateway to descriptions of archives in UK universities and colleges, University of Southampton Libraries Special Collections Reference: GB 0738 MS 200
- ↑ , The Executions"The Sentencing and Execution of Nazi War Criminals, 1946", Eyewitness to History