Nuremberg Trials

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. 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. 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]: Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany, of lessened importance when the extension of national policies became military rather than diplomatic; tried and executed, principally for planning war, by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) ^[e]
• Wilhelm Keitel [r]: Field Marshal of Nazi Germany who headed the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht; executed for war crimes by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) ^[e]
• 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]: Early Nazi Party member and philopsopher, later Minister for the occupied territories on the Eastern Front; tried and executed by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) ^[e]
• 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]: Early member of the Nazi Party, who published an extremely anti-Semitic newspaper; Gauleiter of Franconia (1929-1940); removed for corruption; While he was not in the war planning circles, he was executed for his participation in incitement to genocide ^[e]
• 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]: German naval officer who rose to head the submarine forces of Nazi Germany, then the overall naval command (Oberkommando der Marine), and was briefly Adolf Hitler's successor as President of the Reich. Sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) ^[e]
• Erich Raeder [r]: First commander of the Navy of Nazi Germany, replaced by Karl Doenitz; convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) and sentenced to life, but later commuted ^[e]
• Baldur von Schirach [r]: (1907-1974) SA Obergruppenfuehrer; Gauleiter of Vienna (Aug. 1940 - May 1945); Reich Youth Leader (1931-1940) independent of SA command as of 1932; served 20 years by order of Trial of Major War Criminals of the International Military Tribunal ^[e]
• Fritz Sauckel [r]: Plenipotentiary in charge of the Nazi slave labor program; executed by sentence of the International Military Tribunal for the Major War Criminals ^[e]
• 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]: Nazi representative to Austria during the Anschluss and then Reich Commissar in the Netherlands; executed by order of the International Military Tribunal for the Major War Criminals ^[e]
• 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]: German Nazi administrator, little-known to the public but became immensely powerful as the head of Adolf Hitler's personal office, the Chancellery of the Nazi Party, essentially controlling access to him. ^[e]
• Hjalmar Schact [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Franz von Papen [r]: (1879 - 1969) Ex-Reichswehr, Catholic Center Party, Herrenklub, Chancellor (1932-33), Vice Chancellor; under house arrest during Night of the Long Knives; Ambassador to Austria before Anschluss; acquitted of war crimes in Nuremberg Trials ^[e]
• Hans Fritzsche [r]: Public spokesman for the Propaganda Ministry of Nazi Germany; tried by the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg) and acquitted of all charges ^[e]