The Nuremberg Trials E-Book

50MINUTES

• Herausgeber: 50Minutes.com
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: History
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 40

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Keen to learn but short on time? Get to grips with the events of the Nuremberg trials in next to no time with this concise guide.

50Minutes.com provides a clear and engaging analysis of the Nuremberg trials. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the world was slowly coming round to the large-scale atrocities committed by the Nazis. The Allies recognised the need for international jurisdiction on war crimes and crimes against humanity, such as the Holocaust, and soon one of the darkest and most significant trials in history was underway.

In just 50 minutes you will:
   • Expand your knowledge of one of the most widely publicised and historically significant trials of all time
   • Understand the notions of crimes against peace and crimes against humanity, particularly in the context of the Holocaust
   • Analyse the impact of the Nuremberg trials on international jurisdiction, and the eventual creation of the International Criminal Court

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Leseprobe

The Nuremberg trials

Key information

When: 20 November 1945-1 October 1946.Where: Nuremberg (Germany).Context: end of the Second World War.Key protagonists:Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence, British judge (1880-1971)Robert H. Jackson, US Supreme Court Justice (1892-1954)Hermann Göring, marshal of the Third Reich (1893-1946)Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments of the Third Reich (1905-1981).Impact:The establishment of the International Criminal Court.The development of legal definitions of the concepts of crimes against peace and humanity, and of genocide.

Introduction

While the Second World War was still ongoing, the nations who were victims of the horrific actions of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) wanted the crimes that had been committed to be recognised and ruled on. For the first time in history, an international military tribunal took place. The trials, which took place in Nuremberg, Germany, took legal action against 24 Nazi leaders and eight organisations, all accused of conspiracies, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946, 401 hearings, during which 94 witnesses were questioned and thousands of pieces of written evidence analysed, uncovered the truth about the Nazis’ deplorable actions. This allowed the four appointed judges, representing the Allied countries (United Kingdom, United States, France and the Soviet Union), to reach an unbiased verdict.

But the Nuremberg trials were also part of a broader context, that of international criminal jurisdiction. This was its first real application and as such led to new reflections on how to give rulings following a war, paving the way for the establishment of other international courts. The verdicts also provided a precedent for the legal definition of the concepts of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity and genocide. The media coverage of the debates and the hopes of those who had been oppressed by Nazi Germany made these trials a major turning point in the legal history of the 20th century.

Context

How can we rule on war?

From the second half of the 19th century onwards, weaponry had advanced at an astounding rate and the professional standing army was gradually integrating with the conscript army, making the distinction between soldier and civilian increasingly difficult. In order to better regulate war and limit crimes, international law tried to draft legislation using treaties that came to shape the criminal history of the time. The Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law of 1856 and the First Geneva Convention of 1864, “for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field”, were drafted in this context. Two fundamental texts were used in conjunction with these two treaties: the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which defined the laws and customs of war on land, emphasising disarmament and conflict prevention.

However, the First World War (1914-1918) and the use of toxic gases, the deportation of civilian populations and submarine warfare blew all these regulations out of the water. Although no trial was held at the end of the conflict, there was still a certain amount of reflection to determine the responsibilities of each country. The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 pointed the finger at Wilhelm II (German Emperor and King of Prussia, 1859-1941), who was considered to be responsible for initiating the hostilities, due to the violation of Belgium and Luxembourg’s neutrality. The British Prime Minister David Lloyd George (1863-1945) went as far as demanding that the German monarch be hanged. An extradition request was also made by the Netherlands so that they could bring the emperor to trial themselves. In addition, one article of the Treaty of Versailles required the German government to hand the individuals accused of war crimes over to the Allied powers. But the Netherlands refused, and this demand of the Treaty of Versailles was not met. However, the Reichsgericht (‘Imperial Court of Justice’), the highest judicial authority in the German Empire, received the authorisation to try war criminals. Thus began the Leipzig War Trials, which were held in the Reichsgericht from 1921 to 1922. Only one of the 16 prosecutions led to a conviction, that of Ludwig Dithmar, who was found guilty of torpedoing a Canadian hospital ship and was sentenced to four years in prison. However, compared with the horrors committed during the war, these rulings were seen as entirely farcical by the Allied countries.

Convictions of crimes in the Second World War

During the interwar period, various treaties were ratified on the subject, in many of which the idea of punishing not only the States, but also natural persons acting within these States, can be found. The Nuremberg trials constituted the first attempt at an international response to the crimes committed by the main Nazi leaders during the Second World War.