(no subject)
From the time the National Socialist German Workers' Party (or the Nazis) rose to power under the leadership of Adolf Hitler in 1933 they committed numerous War Crimes, Crimes against Peace, and Crimes against Humanity.
Like: the execution of Russian and Allied Prisoners of War, imprisonment of thousands of political prisoners, terror bombing of major cities and the placement of Jews in concentration camps and the use of slave labour to run the munitions factories.
On may 2nd 1945 the Nazis unconditionally surrendered to the allied forces. Some turned themselves in, some were handed over by the soviet
Unconvering evidence wasn't an issue although some documents were destroyed and some consentration camps were abandoned there was still plenty of documents left behind to prove such horrific crimes took place during the nazi regime
Main Trial
From 1945 - 1949 in Place of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany starting with 22 captured nazi officials in front of the international military tribunal “the main trial” 24 were originally accused and were to be put on trial but one man was deemed medically unfit to stand trial and another man, Robert Ley committed suicide before the trials began. One was also Tried in absentia, which means he “tried even though he wasn’t there”
The Defendants were charged with 4 crimes A fifth charge was originally present which was Membership in a criminal organization but was removed from this list because they felt one could not be guilty just by association. Although in the Subsequent trials it was considered a crime.They were also accused of violating the treaty of Versailles.
The 4 charges were as follows:
Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of crime against peace
Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace
War crimes
Crimes against humanity
Here is a video of twelve of the defendants (including the infamous Hermann Göring who was probably the most important surviving defendant) putting their pleas of “not guilty” on the record.
((VIDEO 2:17))
A common defense was that the person in question was simply following orders. Alfred Jodl said "The indictment knocked me on the head. First of all, I hand no idea at all about 90 per cent of the accusations in it. The crimes are horrible beyond belief, if they are true. Secondly, I don't see how they can fail to recognize a soldier's obligation to obey orders. That's the code I've live by all my life." Although Jodl was hanged his sentence has been criticized for being too harsh as other men in the similar ranks got lesser sentences.
Although according to the “Nuremberg Principals” and I quote “The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him”
Henry J. Kellermann, who interrogated the defendants, recalls an incident where he recalled showing a video that showed the Warsaw ghetto and the concentration camps “uh, it was amazing how they fell apart.
[Hermann] Goering never looked at it, neither did [Rudolf] Hess.
… [Hans] Frank, the "Butcher of Poland," broke into tears.
So did [Fritz] Sauckel...The only person who looked at the screen with obvious
glee and pleasure was [Julius] Streicher ...this was his show. He felt that he was
vindicated completely by that picture.”
The final sentences are as follows
3 acquitted
18 guilty on one or more
4 life in prison
11 of the men were sentenced to death
4 men got 10-20 years in prison
Nuremberg Military Tribunals
There were 12 separate trials held in the palace of justice called officially the “Subsequent Nuremberg Trials” 185 people were tried 122 guilty the rest were either aquitted or had committed suicide.
The twelve trials were as follows
Doctor's Trial - doctors accused of being involved in human experimentation
Milch Trial- Erhard Milch was accused of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Judges Trial- 16 German jurists and lawyers held responsible for implementing and furthering the Nazi "racial purity"
Pohl- members of Economics and Administrative Department were tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity
Flick -Friedrich Flick and five other high-ranking directors of Flick's group for war crimes and crimes against humanity
IG farben- conglomerate of chemical firms for war crimes and crimes against humanity. they also provided the chemical Zlycon B to consentration camps. which was the chemical used the the gas chambers
Hostages- German generals war crimes and crimes against humanity including mass murder
Einsatzgruppen Trial- SS mobile death squads for mass murder.
RuSHA Trial - officials of various SS organizations- war crimes and crimes against humanity
Krupp Trial - directors of the Krupp Group crimes against peace and humanity
High Command Trial- all high-ranking generals for crimes against peace
Ministries Trial -officials of various Reich ministries - crimes against peace,war crimes and crimes against humanity