1. Justice after the Holocaust…  Why do we study the Holocaust?  Hannah Arendt, one of the foremost political philosophers of our time, offered one answer to that question. She argued that we can put past evils into the service of a future good only by squarely facing reality. She wrote, “The methods used in the pursuit of historical truth are not the methods of the prosecutor, and the men who stand guard over the facts are not the officers of interest groups—no matter how legitimate their claim—but the reporters, the historians, and finally the poets.” The facts, no matter how horrifying must be preserved, not “lest we forget,” but so that we may judge.

2. Justice after the Holocaust…  Read & Annotate – “A No Fault Holocaust” Activity: “Save the last word”  Step two: Students read and respond to text  Highlight three sentences that particularly stood out to you and write each sentence on a sheet of paper. Underneath each selected sentence, write a few sentences explaining why you chose that quote - what it meant to you, reminded you of, etc… Step three: Sharing in small groups  In groups of 3 - discuss the quotation. What do they think it means? Why do they think these words might be important? To whom?  ***First student will read a quote and allow the other two group members to discuss. After they discuss the quote, read what you wrote under the quotation.

3. FHAO – Holocaust is over…Now what? Consider:  How do societies attempt to repair themselves after episodes of traumatic violence and oppression?  The answer the Allies put forth after defeating the Nazis was the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.  The Nuremberg Trials consisted of thirteen trials held between the fall of 1945 and 1947 that prosecuted many top Nazi officials.

4. FHAO – Nuremberg Trials  Who do you think should be held responsible for crimes committed during the Holocaust? *Complete “Assessing and Defining Responsibility” Graphic organizer - Assess the level of responsibility of these people for what happened in German-occupied territories between 1933 and 1945. - Be prepared to defend your reasoning. - 1. Not Responsible - 2. Minimally Responsible - 3. Responsible - 4. Very Responsible

5. FHAO – Nuremberg Trials  Background  As the war came to an end, there was disagreement on the question of what to do with the defeated Nazi leaders.  Joseph Stalin suggested executing at least 50,000 members of the German army  British Prime Minister Winston Churchill advocated executions without trials for high-ranking Nazi military officials.  The United States, however, was strongly committed to the idea of an international war crimes trial.

6. FHAO – Nuremberg Trials  One of the most important questions the international military tribunal needed to answer was - “Who would be put on trial?”  While it may have been obvious to prosecute high-ranking Nazi officials, it was less clear to what degree lesser officers, bureaucrats, industrialists, and civilians should be held responsible for these crimes.  Another key question that needed to be answered: What laws had the Germans broken?  The Allies argued that the Germans had violated international law—a body of rules that has evolved out of centuries of encounters among the peoples of the world.  The various international laws set forth in military manuals and treaties dealt only with crimes committed as a part of a war. They did not address genocide—“the crime with no name.”

7. FHAO – Nuremberg Trials  *These crimes were not without precedent – THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE  The various international laws set forth in military manuals and treaties dealt only with crimes committed as a part of a war.  They did not address genocide—“the crime with no name.”  The first attempt to do so occurred in 1915, just after the massacre of the Armenians.  In May of that year the Allies formally accused Turkish leaders of a “crime against humanity and civilization.”  Although a new Turkish government agreed to bring the nation’s former leaders to justice, the defendants had fled the country.  Because they were not present for the trial, the proceedings did not command worldwide attention. The lack of justice in this case made it easier for the Turkish government to deny their role in these massacres.

8. FHAO – Nuremberg Trials  In October, 1945 an International Military Tribunal (IMT), created by Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union was established.  The Tribunal indicted 24 Nazis for one or more of the following crimes:  Conspiracy  crimes against peace  war crimes  crimes against humanity.  Because the judicial proceedings were held in Nuremberg, Germany, they were called the Nuremberg Trials.  The purpose of these trials was to find out who was responsible for the Holocaust and to punish the perpetrators.

9. FHAO – Nuremberg Trials  By using the tool of international law, the “four great nations” were establishing a precedent that crimes against humanity would not go unrecognized or unpunished.  By publicly indicting Nazi leaders, the Allied governments believed that future leaders might be deterred from inflicting harm on their civilians.

10. FHAO – Nuremberg Trials  Of the men actually brought to trial:  5 were military leaders and the rest were prominent government or party officials.  Their trial was organized much the way criminal trials are organized in the United States.  The defendants were made aware of all charges against them.  Each was entitled to a lawyer and had the right to plead his own case, offering witnesses and evidence in his own behalf.  **Throughout the trial, the prosecution used the Nazis’ own records as evidence.  **From these abundant records, it was clear that during the war the Nazis were not trying to hide information about the deportations, forced labor, and mass murders.  This fact alone illustrates what must have been the mindset of many Nazi officials: we have nothing to hide because we are not doing anything wrong.

11. FHAO – Nuremberg Trials  In the course of the trial, the tribunal rejected the long- standing doctrine of sovereign immunity  This doctrine exempted heads of state from prosecution for actions taken while in office  The tribunal also rejected the doctrine of superior orders  This would protect subordinates from being prosecuted for crimes they committed as a result of a direct order.  As U.S. Chief Prosecutor Justice Robert Jackson explained, “The combination of these two doctrines means that nobody is responsible. Society as modernly organized cannot tolerate so broad an area of official irresponsibility.”

12. FHAO – Nuremberg Trials  OUTCOMES:  Of 21 defendants, 18 were convicted  One defendant committed suicide upon receiving the indictment  12 were sentenced to death.  As important as the convictions were the acquittals, which gave the Nuremberg Trial immediate and long-standing credibility.  Each Nuremberg defendant had been granted a genuine opportunity to defend himself in the courtroom.  In three cases, the evidence was insufficient to convict the defendants of legal responsibility, and they were acquitted.  **Signaling an intention to prosecute lesser perpetrators, the tribunal also found three organizations—the SS, the Gestapo and Security Service, and the Nazi Party Leadership to be criminal entities in which membership potentially constituted a crime.

13. FHAO – Nuremberg Trials  12 subsequent trials at Nuremberg for second-rank Nazi offenders.  Those trials focused on members of the military, political, and economic leadership of Germany during the Third Reich  Included as defendants the  Doctors  Judges  Policemen  captains of industry  ministry officials  Soldiers  and others who had helped realize the ideological goals of the Nazi regime  Each victorious Allied power conducted dozens of trials with lower-level Nazis and non-Nazi perpetrators as defendants.  In the U.S. zone alone, nearly 1,700 defendants were tried in 462 separate proceedings.  By prosecuting and convicting low-ranking officials, Allied judges maintained the principle of individual legal responsibility for criminal acts while at the same time conveying in no uncertain terms that the acceptance, participation, and cooperation of people at every level of German society had facilitated Nazi crimes.

14. FHAO – Nuremberg  Small Group Activity: Nuremberg Fact Sheet  Read through the information regarding 2-3 defendants at the Nuremberg Trials  Summarize accusations against each  Interpret their view of their participation in the Final Solution  Record the verdict and punishment of each man’s crimes  Reflect – Was justice served? Were they punished harshly enough? Were they punished too harshly?

15. FHAO – Nuremberg Trials  VIDEO: “A Plea for Humanity” (Einsatzgruppen on Trial)  Answer the questions on the note taking guide as you view the brief film

16. FHAO - Justice  Trials such as those that were held in Nuremberg represent one prominent way to think about RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE  This type of justice focuses on punishment  Offenders should suffer to make up for the crimes they committed  Focuses on TRIALS, IMPRISONMENT, & FINES  Another way to think about justice, is through the concept of RESTORATIVE JUSTICE  This type of justice focuses on compensating victims and healing the society in which injustice occurred  Focuses on establishing truth about what happened Rebuilding relationships in the community Seeking and granting forgiveness

17. FHAO – Postwar Society  Efforts to restore and repair society:  Denazification The Allied governments administered a denazification program after the war. This included policies such as banning former Nazis from civil service jobs and removing all Nazi symbols and language from German society.  “Wiedergutmachung” In 1953, West Germany established a program called “wiedergutmachung” which means “making good again.” This program compensated those who could prove that they suffered discrimination or persecution at the hands of the Nazis.  Apologizing On Dec. 7, 1970, West German Chancellor travelled to Warsaw, Poland and dropped to his knees before the monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The image of this gesture of repentance was published worldwide.  Action Reconciliation Service for Peace ARSP is a German volunteer service org. founded after WW2, to confront the legacy of the Nazi regime. The volunteer org was intended to serve as atonement – as a way to begin to make up for the crimes committed by the Nazis. Today, this work includes working on memorials and cleaning Jewish cemeteries.

18. FHAO – Humanity’s aspirations to do justice  Re-write the following quotations in your own words:  1)“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.”  2) “we must summon such detachment and intellectual integrity that this trial will commend itself to posterity as fulfilling humanity’s aspiration to do justice”