[165] The official interpretation of the IMT held that all of the charges had a solid basis in customary international law,[166] which was elaborated in the verdict. The Nuremberg Trials After the war, the top surviving German leaders were tried for Nazi Germany's crimes, including the crimes of the Holocaust. I look forward to hearing from him. Of course he was amongst other guards to his left and right. Per newspaper accounts of the scene, when the inmates heard the news they "shouted with joy" and "chattering excitedly, hastily shed the red . The indictment lodged against them contained four counts: (1) crimes against peace (i.e., the planning, initiating, and waging of wars of aggression in violation of international treaties and agreements), (2) crimes against humanity (i.e., exterminations, deportations, and genocide), (3) war crimes (i.e., violations of the laws of war), and (4) a common plan or conspiracy to commit the criminal acts listed in the first three counts. Join historians and history buffs alike with our Unlimited Digital Access pass to every military history article ever published (over 3,000 articles) in Sovereigns military history magazines. One can only imagine the effect the pounding had on the condemned prisoners, now with only one more day to live. He was found innocent and released but sentenced in 1949 by a German court to nine years in prison. [240] The IMT is one of the most well-studied trials in history, and it has also been the subject of an abundance of books and scholarly publications, along with motion pictures such as Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and The Memory of Justice (1976). I sure would like to find out more about his service. [38], In early 1946, there were a thousand employees from the four countries' delegations in Nuremberg, of which about two-thirds were from the United States. [46] The British chief prosecutor was Hartley Shawcross, assisted by David Maxwell Fyfe, who had been the attorney general in Churchill's government. Guards gradually learned through everyday observation, however, that the prisoners collective makeup truly spanned a psychologically intricate cross-section of those who had served Hitler. [146][147] Defense lawyer Alfred Seidl[de] repeatedly tried to disclose the secret protocols of the GermanSoviet pact. Among those brought to trial were. The door was opened just enough to allow Streicher to enter. [10] The declaration also stated that those high-ranking Nazis who had committed crimes in several countries would be dealt with jointly. [65], Some of the most prominent NazisAdolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbelshad committed suicide and therefore could not be tried. Mark Felton Productions. I do have a photo of my Dad standing behind the German prisoners. By far the most attention--not surprisingly, given the figures involved--has focused on the first Nuremberg trial of twenty-one major war criminals. Ambassador-Plenipotentiary 193536. [157] Over the course of the trial, crimes against humanity and especially against Jews (who were mentioned as victims of Nazi atrocities far more than any other group) came to upstage the aggressive war charge. Hans Frank, known as the Slayer of Poles, was small, outwardly arrogant, and had a cruel face, Prestianni revealed. Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Law Library. He never repented for anything he ever did. The Ugly Truth About the Nuremberg Tribunals. [115], From 17 January to 7 February 1946, France presented its charges and supporting evidence. The same routine was followed for each of the condemned prisoners. [12] The United States insisted on a fair trial as a means of reforming Germany. Prestianni never served in the trial courtroom, only in the cellblock. [195][196], These trials emphasized the crimes committed during the Holocaust. In the Hostages case, several generals were tried for executing thousands of hostages and prisoners of war, looting, using forced labor, and deporting civilians in the Balkans. William L Shierer "the Rise and Fall of the third Reich", part IV, Nuremberg-chapter, the United States committed the same breach, Last and Near-Last Words of the Famous, Infamous and Those In-Between, "The International Military Tribunal for Germany", The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_defendants_at_the_International_Military_Tribunal&oldid=1114903079, Successor to Hess as Nazi Party Secretary. This page was last edited on 8 October 2022, at 21:33. My dad, Frederick M. Bencriscutto, was in the field artillery in the 1st Infantry Division during WWII. My mother had pointed his photo out to me on several occasions but I was too young to remember. There were limits to how much gore that could be tolerated by some of the courtroom guards, he recalled. Some were gassed. Let me have that again, please. [49][48] The French government tried to appoint staff who were not tainted by collaboration with the Vichy regime; some appointments were of those who had been in the French resistance. [64] The division of labor, and the haste with which the indictment was prepared, resulted in duplication, imprecise language, and lack of attribution of specific charges to individual defendants. In this capacity, he was ultimately responsible for the use of slave laborers from the occupied territories in armaments production. It was in my family until the early 2000s. View full size Courtesy, U.S. Army The Military Tribunal proceedings in Nuremberg, Germany, Herman Goering sits between two guards, the left one being Andrew Wendland of Bay City. Upon arriving in the European Theater, Prestianni, a replacement, found himself in the U.S. 1st Infantry Division. Known as the Jew Baiter, even in the United States, he was rabidly anti-Semitic. [130] The defense presented evidence of Soviet responsibility,[131] and Katyn was not mentioned in the verdict. [141] The defendants tried to blame their crimes on Hitler, who was mentioned 1,200 times during the trialmore than the top five defendants combined. [82], Over the summer, all of the national delegations struggled to gather evidence for the upcoming trial. [163] Contrary to the prosecution, the verdict dated the planning of aggression to the 1937 Hossbach Memorandum and not to the founding of the Nazi Party. He was a man of some stature with flowing white hair, but he would still never be noticed much in a crowd. Ten of them Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Alfred Rosenberg, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Keitel, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart were hanged on October 16, 1946. [20][21] The offenses that would be prosecuted were crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. [39] Besides legal professionals, there were many social-science researchers, psychologists, translators and interpreters, and graphic designers, the latter to make the many charts used during the trial. Their trial was held before an International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg, Germany. I tried to treat each prisoner without rancor.. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Her guards were repulsed, and some requested reassignment to another cellblock. The prisoners were restricted to groups of six to eight, which were strictly segregated from one another. They were individually handcuffed to guards, driven by ambulance to a nearby airfield, and flown to Berlin, where they were processed at Spandau Prison. The tribunal responded that such acts had been regarded as criminal prior to World War II. He was physically one tough guy, Prestianni offered. [69][37], The defendants, who were largely unrepentant,[70] included former cabinet ministers: Franz von Papen (who had brought Hitler to power); Joachim von Ribbentrop (foreign minister), Wilhelm Frick (interior minister), and Alfred Rosenberg, minister for the occupied eastern territories. [59] The conspiracy charge was used to charge the top Nazi leaders, as well as bureaucrats who had never killed anyone or perhaps even directly ordered killing. [152] The defendants' witnesses sometimes managed to exculpate them, but other witnessesincluding Rudolf Hss, the former commandant of Auschwitz, and Hans Bernd Gisevius, a member of the German resistanceeffectively incriminated the defendants. [100], On 21 November, Jackson gave the opening speech for the prosecution. [32] The trial was held under modified common law. [228][24] The charge of crimes against humanity, the charge of conspiracy, and imposing criminal penalties on individuals for breaches of international law were also novel but attracted little criticism. My father Ed Rossi was also a guard at the Nuremberg trials. [73] Also on trial were propagandists Julius Streicher and Hans Fritzsche; Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy who had flown to Britain in 1941; Hans Frank, governor-general of the General Governorate of Poland; Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach; Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands; and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the leader of Himmler's Reich Main Security Office. The prisons concrete walls, most of which were more than three feet thick, encased the solitary cell window that offered the prisoners no view of the outside world. While on duty, guards carried no weapons, only wooden truncheons. These were people, Neurath reasoned, of whom Germany was cleansing the world.. Those men who liberated the camps of the Holocau. Andrus, a strict disciplinarian, were constantly reminded that the prisoners should be treated with civility and objectivity at all times. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. [133], Inspired by the films shown by the American prosecution, the Soviet Union commissioned three films for the trial: The German Fascist Destruction of the Cultural Treasures of the Peoples of the USSR, Atrocities Committed by the German Fascist Invaders in the USSR, and The German Fascist Destruction of Soviet Cities, using footage from Soviet filmmakers as well as shots from German newsreels. Stahmer fought hard for his clie. [171] Only eight defendants were convicted on that charge; all of whom were also found guilty of crimes against peace. [67] Former Nazis were allowed to serve as counsel[45] and by mid-November all defendants had lawyers. [169][170] The judges did not agree that the conspiracy extended to anyone who participated in the affairs of the Nazi government, only taking being present at the high-level meetings discussing war plans in 1937 and 1939 as evidence of belonging to the conspiracy. [85] After the American prosecution flooded the trial with untranslated evidence, the judges insisted that all of the evidence be read into the record, which slowed the trial. These visits usually were brief, and participants were separated by a screen. Courtesy Emily Aho Around Memorial Day of 2000, Emily Aho took her then 75-year-old father, Emilio "Leo". [43] The United States prosecution believed that Nazism was the product of a German deviation from Western history (the Sonderweg thesis) and sought to correct this deviation with a trial that would serve both retributive and educational purposes. My father Paul Davis Smith served at a guard at Nuremberg though he never really talked much about it so I dont know in what capacity. That was enough. Three days on and three days off with shifts of four hours on, four hours off each day was the standard work assignment for guards. I only patrolled there once. [159] During the closing statements, most defendants disappointed the judges by their lies and denial. He had actually tried to usurp Hitlers authority during the last days of the Reich but remained an ardent supporter of the Nazi regime during the trial, often proving himself a skilled debater. . They, as a group, had no problem with their guilt. Colonels from all four countries were running around trying to determine how it happened.. Before his execution, he aligned himself with Jodl and, to a lesser extent, Raeder and Dnitz, the military clique. He has little or no memory of the six remaining defendants, Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach, Labor Front head Robert Ley, Minister of Economics Walther Funk, Plenipotentiary for Labor Deployment Fritz Sauckel, propagandist Hans Fritzsche, or Artur Seys-Inquart, the administrator of the occupied Netherlands. [229] Some defenders of the trial argued that the legal principle of nullum crimen sine lege (no crime without law) was not binding in international proceedings. [224][225][226] During the two decades after the trial, opinions were predominantly negative. He always was respectful, always the consummate gentleman. Speer was convicted and served 20 years in prison. To some, he was demeaned as the foreigner., I didnt like his looks at all. Some smiled while others snarled at each other or harshly criticized other individuals. All guards were forced to stand practically motionless at parade rest behind their assigned prisoner seated before them in the dock. [14][15] The exact form that retribution would take was left unresolved at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. My Dad Arthur Tacopino was a guard at The Nuremberg Trials. She was given the nickname "Bloody Brigette" by the camp . Following the Second World War, many concentration camps such as Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz were liberated. [102] Jackson's focus was on the aggressive war charge, which he described as the root of the crimes against humanity and of war crimes. Schirach, who had been replaced by Hitler as head of the youth movement in 1940 and drafted into Army service where he saw considerable combat on the Eastern Front, maintained his decorum and seldom responded to the teasing. Raeder kept to himself, voraciously reading and writing his memoirs, but when he interacted with the others, it was often to lash out in anger. [52] Initially, it was planned that Iona Nikitchenko, who had presided over the Moscow trials, would serve as the chief prosecutor, but he was appointed as a judge and replaced by Roman Rudenko, a show trial prosecutor[53] chosen for his skill as an orator. [158][136] In contrast to the opening prosecution statements, all eight closing statements highlighted the Holocaust; and the French and British prosecutors made this the main charge, as opposed to that of aggression. Q. Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to death by hanging. The crew (left to right) Private (1st Class) Carl E McCray (Salem, Va.) and Sergeant E Wilson (Texas.)'. Also represented were some leaders of the German economy, such as Gustav Krupp (of the conglomerate Krupp AG) and former Reichsbank president Hjalmar Schacht. [40] Each state appointed a prosecution team and two judges, one being an alternate. 1,148 Nuremberg Trials Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO 1,148 Nuremberg Trials Premium High Res Photos Browse 1,148 nuremberg trials stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. For the subsequent trials held by the United States, see, "International Military Tribunal" redirects here. [194] Luftwaffe general Erhard Milch was tried for using slave labor and deporting civilians. Boy I wish I asked more questions of the trials. In July 2020, Dey was found guilty and given a two . [74], Although the list of defendants was finalized on 29 August,[75] as late as October, Jackson demanded changes and expansion of the defendants list, but this was rejected. [60] The American prosecution became derailed during attempts to provide evidence of the German annexation of Austria. Whenever these female prisoners, most of whom were former concentration camp guards, created a problem, we merely, as instructed, called the sergeant-of-the-guard to resolve the situation. 10 issued by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. [27] Especially the United States wanted to avoid countenancing any rule that would give an international court jurisdiction over a government's treatment of its own citizens. (November 1945) Sources: All photos copyright and courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum List of defendants at the International Military Tribunal, William L. Shierer "The Rise and Fall of the third reich", Nuremberg-chapter of part IV. Thank you so much for your time and I am looking forward to getting into many discussions. Im always looking for pictures of the guards and hoping one day I will see him as a young soldier. [201], At the same time as the Nuremberg Charter was finalized, the Allies also signed the Potsdam Agreement, which provided for the mass expulsion of millions of Germans from central and eastern Europe, so that certain acts for which Nazis were convicted at Nuremberg were therefore made an official policy of the Allies. [238][239] The Palace of Justice houses a museum on the trial and the courtroom became a tourist attraction, drawing 13,138 visitors in 2005. There was a constant, steady flow of rules and regulations, many of them meaningless, while others tended to be more punitive, he said. The first, held by an international tribunal (American, British, French, and Russian), was the "War. [36][35] On 8 August, the Nuremberg Charter was signed in London. [10][11], Of all the Allies, the Soviet Union lobbied most intensely for trying the defeated German leaders for aggression in addition to war crimes. By creating an Aryan nation, the world would look up to and envy Germany for its racial purity.. Other Units at Nuremberg were The US Constabulary, the 793rd MP . How long did it take you to learn what you are doing? he often asked. [80][81] The aim was to have these organizations declared criminal, so that their members could be tried expeditiously for membership in a criminal organization. [206], Many Germans at the time of the trials focused on finding food and shelter; few followed the trial closely. I never treated him differently than I did the others I guarded.. [126] Lev Smirnov presented evidence on the Lidice massacre in Czechoslovakia, adding that such destruction of villages had occurred throughout eastern Europe. The seventh series of Ravensbrck trials was held between July 2nd and July 21st, 1948 to hear the cases of Aufseherin accused of maltreatment of prisoners and making selections for the gas chambers. He was usually confrontational and argumentative with the other prisoners. [106] Although these aspects had already been covered by the American prosecution, Soviet prosecutors introduced new evidence from Extraordinary State Commission reports and interrogations of senior enemy officers. False accusations of rape, abuse, or other misconduct by guards were commonplace. By special arrangement with a guard or prison official, he gave his handwritten notes to be mimeographed and returned to him. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. He rarely talked, but when he did his speech was rambling. However, fraternization did occur on a regular basis and, for the most part, went unpunished by the prison administration. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [144] Most defendants argued their own insignificance within the Nazi system, but Gring took the opposite approach, presenting himself as Hitler's loyalist and expecting that while he would be executed, the German people would eventually appreciate his loyalty. Trial issues are criminal activities or subjects at issue in a trial that are addressed by a document. Two and a quarter hours before he was to be executed he took poison under the. All were destined for incarceration, at least during their trials, in two of Germanys most feared prisons: the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg and Spandau Prison on the western outskirts of Berlin. While they walked, the prisoners were separated by a prescribed number of yards. The Nuremberg Trials: Table of Contents | Indictments | Defendants & Verdicts Click Left/Right to Scroll American guards maintain constant surveillance over Nazi war criminals in the Nuremberg prison. In mid-1945, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States agreed to convene a joint tribunal in Nuremberg, with the Nuremberg Charter as its legal instrument. [234][235] Further developments in international criminal law in the aftermath of the trials included the Genocide Convention (1948) and the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949). The Nazi war criminal, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, after execution at Nuremberg. [214] By then, the Americans were hoping to use the offer of pardon to convicted war criminals in order to bind West Germany to the Western Bloc. He was a true Nazi all the way in every way, Prestianni recalled. [26], The final version of the charter only gave the court the ability to punish those crimes against humanity that had been committed "in connection with any crimes within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal". Today these sketches are highly prized. The 24 accused were, with respect to each charge, either indicted but not convicted (I), indicted and found guilty (G), or not charged (), as listed below by defendant, charge, and eventual outcome: Gustav was selected for indictment in error, instead of his son Alfried, who ran Krupp during most of the war. Because of his moral corruption, the other prisoners shunned him. [54] The Soviet judges and prosecutors were not permitted to make any major decisions without consulting a commission in Moscow led by Soviet politician Andrei Vyshinsky; the resulting delays hampered the Soviet effort to set the agenda. Two of the six were acquitted, two given prison terms and two sentenced to death. The Palace of Justice was relatively intact but needed to be renovated for the trial due to bomb damage; it had an attached prison where the defendants could be held. During the Nuremberg Trial, American guards maintain constant surveillance over the major Nazi war criminals in the prisonattached to the Palace of Justice. Before and during the war crimes trial, they were to be considered still innocent, Andrus drummed into the military personnel under his command. The Nrnberg trials began on November 20, 1945. I would have kept my distance from them.. The Nrnberg trials were a series of trials held in Nrnberg, Germany, in 1945 and 1946 following the end of World War II. [13] Planners in the United States Department of War were drawing up plans for an international tribunal in late 1944 and early 1945. My mothers cousin was a WAC serving in England during WW2. Where the convicted were housed on the ground floor, lower-tier cellblock, the main corridor was 60 meters (195 feet) long, lined by 16 cells on each side, and constantly patrolled by 1st Division guards. Cell doors were never opened when food was distributed. [95] None of the defendants tried to assert that the Nazis' crimes had not occurred; instead, they attempted to divert blame from their own actions. [168], The judgment found that there was a premeditated conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, the goals of the conspiracy being "the disruption of the European order as it had existed since the Treaty of Versailles" and "the creation of a Greater Germany beyond the frontiers of 1914". Master Sgt. I never heard him speak, Prestianni remembered. On the night he was to be hanged, Streicher gave Prestianni a signed, handwritten note after supper. The only part of the French charges that were accepted by the judges was the deportation of Jews from France and other parts of Western Europe. Ten of those men would be hung 16 days later. After encountering a you tube video by accident I have a different answer. Keitel was one of ten defendants hanged in the Palace of Justice in the early morning hours of October 16, 1946. Back in 1945, his grandfather was stationed in Germany for the infamous Nuremberg trials, during which he got his hands on a pair of sunglasses allegedly worn by a high ranking Nazi. The Federal Research Division (FRD) is a fee-based research and analysis unit within the Library of Congress that produces world-renowned and nonpartisan products to support research-informed policy- and decision-making. [156], On 31 August, closing arguments were presented. Dnitz, who was named successor to Hitler during the waning days of the war and served 10 years in prison, remained aloof. [87] Over the course of the trial, Western judges allowed the defendants additional leeway to denounce the Soviet Union, which was ultimately revealed to be a co-conspirator in the outbreak of World War II. The verdict was drafted by British alternate judge Norman Birkett. Patrolling the wall was cold, cold, cold, Prestianni remembered. He was good, real sharp, Prestianni related. Institutional rivalries hampered the search. [241][242], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}492716N 110254E / 49.45444N 11.04833E / 49.45444; 11.04833. [219][220] The German public took the early releases as confirmation of what they saw as the illegitimacy of the trials. [125], More so than other delegations, Soviet prosecutors showed the gruesome details of German mistreatment of prisoners of war and forced laborers, as well as the systematic murder of Jews in eastern Europe. Guards were under strict orders never to respond to verbal abuse by prisoners, no matter how hateful it might be. He held the rank of seargent when he was discharged in 1945. At least Im out here and you are in there, said the former guard. Tags International Military TribunalNurembergGermanywar crimes trialstrials National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD [41][42], The United States' chief prosecutor was Supreme Court justice Robert H. 3 Feb 1946.
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