Subsequent Nuremberg trials

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The judges in the Krupp trial (back to front: Daly, Anderson, and Wilkins).

The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (more formally, the Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals) were a series of twelve U.S. military tribunals for war crimes against surviving members of the military, political, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany, held in the Palace of Justice, Nuremberg, after World War II from 1946 to 1949 following the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT).

Background

Although it had been initially planned to hold more than just one international trial at the IMT, the growing differences between the victorious allies (the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Soviet Union) made this impossible. However, the Control Council Law No. 10, which the Allied Control Council had issued on December 20, 1945, empowered any of the occupying authorities to try suspected war criminals in their respective occupation zones. Based on this law, the U.S. authorities proceeded after the end of the initial Nuremberg Trial against the major war criminals to hold another twelve trials in Nuremberg. The judges in all these trials were American, and so were the prosecutors; the Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution was Brigadier General Telford Taylor. In the other occupation zones similar trials took place.

Trials

The twelve U.S. trials before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT) took place from December 9, 1946 to April 13, 1949. The trials were:

  1. The Doctors' Trial (9 December 1946 - 20 August 1947)
  2. The Milch Trial (2 January - 14 April 1947)
  3. The Judges' Trial (5 March - 4 December 1947)
  4. The Pohl Trial (8 April - 3 November 1947)
  5. The Flick Trial (19 April - 22 December 1947)
  6. The IG Farben Trial (27 August 1947 - 30 July 1948)
  7. The Hostages Trial (8 July 1947 – 19 February 1948)
  8. The RuSHA Trial (20 October 1947 - 10 March 1948)
  9. The Einsatzgruppen Trial (29 September 1947 - 10 April 1948)
  10. The Krupp Trial (8 December 1947 - 31 July 1948)
  11. The Ministries Trial (6 January 1948 - 13 April 1949)
  12. The High Command Trial (30 December 1947 - 28 October 1948)

Result

In total, 142 of the 185 defendants were found guilty of at least one of the charges. 24 persons received death sentences, of which 11 were subsequently converted into life sentences; 20 were sentenced to life imprisonment, 98 were handed down sentences of varying lengths, and 35 were acquitted. Four defendants had to be removed from trials due to illness, and four more committed suicide during the trials.

Many of the longer prison sentences were reduced substantially by decree of high commissioner John J. McCloy in 1951, and 10 outstanding death sentences from the Einsatzgruppen Trial were converted to prison terms. The same year, an amnesty released many of those who had received prison sentences.

Conduct of the prosecution

In a 2005 interview for the Washington Post Benjamin B. Ferencz, Chief Prosecutor for the United States Army at the Einsatzgruppen Trial, revealed some of his activities during his period in Germany:

Americans delivered some low-ranking German suspects to displaced persons camps for the purpose of having them executed by the DPs, without prior trial or sentencing.[1]

"I once saw DPs beat an SS man and then strap him to the steel gurney of a crematorium. They slid him in the oven, turned on the heat and took him back out. Beat him again, and put him back in until he was burnt alive. I did nothing to stop it. I suppose I could have brandished my weapon or shot in the air, but I was not inclined to do so. Does that make me an accomplice to murder?"[1]

In the interview, Ferencz also pointed out that the military legal norms at the time permitted actions that would not be possible today.

"You know how I got witness statements? I'd go into a village where, say, an American pilot had parachuted and been beaten to death and line everyone one up against the wall. Then I'd say, 'Anyone who lies will be shot on the spot.' It never occurred to me that statements taken under duress would be invalid."[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Matthew Brzezinski, Giving Hitler Hell Washington Post Sunday, July 24, 2005; Page W08
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