1. Essential Question: What were the legacies of the Nuremberg trials?
Legacy of Nuremberg
Essential Question: What were the legacies of the Nuremberg trials?

2. Nuremberg Trials
The International Military Tribunal of 1946, convened by the U.S., British, French and Soviets, which convicted the major Nazi leaders who survived World War II
Twelve cases tried by U.S. military tribunals at Nuremberg from of groups of doctors, lawyers, industrialists, and more.

3. 1st Nuremberg Trial
2 sets of trials to prosecute members of the Nazi Party for War Crimes.
1st: It was entitled the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, which tried the 21 most important leaders of Nazi Germany.
began on November 20, 1945.

5. 1. Count One: “conspiracy to wage aggressive war,”
addressed crimes committed before the war officially began.
2. Count Two: “waging an aggressive war,”
addressed the undertaking of war in violation of international treaties.
3. Count Three: “war crimes,”
addressed more traditional violations of the laws of war, including the killing or mistreatment of prisoners of war and the use of outlawed weapons.
4. Count Four: “crimes against humanity,”
addressed the crimes committed against Jews, ethnic minorities, physically and mentally disabled persons, civilians in occupied countries, and others.

6. 2nd Nuremberg Trial
2nd: for lesser war criminals, was conducted under Control Council Law No. 10, at the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunals.

7. “I was just following orders”

8. “That was the tragedy. Not that one man had the courage to be evil
“That was the tragedy. Not that one man had the courage to be evil. But that millions had not the courage to be good.”
John Fowles

9. Shortcomings First time Ad hoc – for a particular purpose
Need a permanent tribunal to be effective, not subject to political whims and current politics
Not all sides were investigated
Victors’ justice
Retrospective Law-making
Superior Orders
E.g. Malmedy Massacre – POW’s shot during the Battle of the Bulge

10. Results:
18 defendants were convicted on one or more counts and three were found not guilty.
11 were sentenced to death by hanging.
3 were acquitted
And others were given prison sentences of 10 to 15 years, or life imprisonment..

11. Ten men were hanged in November 1946
Ten men were hanged in November One of those sentenced to death committed suicide just hours before his scheduled execution

12. Legacy International Law Human Rights & Genocide Conventions
Code of Medical Ethics
Enforcement Mechanisms & Tribunals
Models of Bringing Individual Perpetrators to Justice
Deportations to Home Countries for Justice
Vocabulary: War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide, Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Models: International Criminal Court, War Crimes Trials, Truth and Reconciliation Commission

13. from his opening statement
The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. …
Justice Jackson
from his opening statement

14. Substantive Innovations
Established Crimes Against Humanity as a charge: mass crimes – murder, torture, (rape)
Established Crime of Genocide
A new order of magnitude
Was not a charge but was being articulated by a man named Raphael Lemkin

15. Never Again?

16. Genocides Continue
Armenia East Timor Sudan Europe Uganda ?? Indonesia Iraq ?? Burundi Yugoslavia Bangladesh Rwanda Uganda Cambodia