1. Nuremberg Trials Tokyo War Crime Tribunal
WWII War crime trials
Nuremberg Trials
Tokyo War Crime Tribunal

2. Effects of WWII in Europe

3. Yalta Conference
February 1945 Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at Yalta (Soviet Union) to discuss the postwar world
Formed the United Nations
Divided Germany and Berlin into four zones
Stalin obtained Poland if he promised to allow free elections
Stalin gained Pacific islands if he promised to declare war on Japan

5. New United Nations structure!

6. Major change = makeup of Security Council!
10 non- permanent members are elected for two-year terms by General Assembly

8. KEEP IN MIND:
Stalin is gong to break these promises …….. COLD WAR!!!!

9. Nuremberg Trials
November October 1946

10. Declaration on German Atrocities in Occupied Europe
Published by the U.S., Soviet Union, and England
Gave a "full warning" that, when the Nazis were defeated, the Allies would "pursue them to the uttermost ends of the earth ... in order that justice may be done. ... and will be punished by a joint decision of the Government of the Allies.” (11/1943)
In accordance with the United Nations (tried before the International Military Tribunal)

11. Nuremberg Court House

12. Charges Tribunal persecuted 23 top Nazi officials for the following:
Count One: Participation in a common plan for the accomplishment of a crime against peace
Count Two: Planning, initiating, waging aggressive war
violation of international law or treaties
Count Three: War Crimes
including mistreatment of POW’s & civilians
Count Four: Crimes Against Humanity
murder, extermination, enslavement of civilian populations; persecution on the basis of racial, religions or political grounds

13. Top Nazi officials NOT tried…..
Heinrich Himmler: leader/founder of the SS, chief of German police (including the Gestapo), facilitator of all concentration camps

14. Top Nazi officials NOT tried…..
Joseph Goebbels: Minister of Propaganda, Chancellor of Germany, facilitator of all censorship and media

15. Nazi Escape through Ratlines
Ratlines: system of escape routes for Fascists
Led toward havens in South America, particularly Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Bolivia.
Two routes: 1) Germany  Spain  Argent; 2) Germany  Rome  Genoa  S. Amer
13 top ranking Nazis escaped to South America (most never found) 
Joseph Mengele, head doctor at Auschwitz lived rest of his life in Brazil
Gustav Wagner, Staff Sargent of SS lived rest of life in Argentina

16. Top Nazis “tried” in Nuremberg …
Robert Ley: head of the German Labour Front
Indicted on three counts
When asked about being a war criminal….. "Stand us against a wall and shoot us, well and good, you are victors. But why should I be brought before a Tribunal like a c-c-c- ... I can't even get the word out!"

17. Top Nazis “tried” in Nuremberg …
Martin Bormann: Hitler’s private secretary, 2nd in command at Auschwitz, general in SS, responsible for domestic affairs
Tried in absentia

18. Hermann Göring
Leader of the Nazi Party, founder of the Gestapo, commander-and-chief of the Luftwaffe, 2nd in command

19. "I only thought we would eliminate Jews from positions in big business and government"

21. Outcome Twelve were sentenced to death
Seven received prison sentences (ranging from 10 years to life in prison)
Four were acquitted
The definition of what constitutes a war crime is now described by the Nuremberg principles, a set of guidelines created as a result of the trial
Influenced the Tokyo War Tribunal

22. American Newsreel Covering the Trials

24. Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal
April 1946 – November 1948

25. Effects of WWII in Asia Japan was eliminated as a major power
Allied occupation of Japan; MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP)
Removal of Japanese troops in China
In 1949, China falls to communism under Mao Zedong
Territories are reclaimed: Taiwan, Korea (divided), Pacific Islands
SU gets control of Sakhalin and Kuril Islands
The Emperor would help maintain political stability and facilitate reform
Japan was turned into a democratic state with a new constitution

26. Declaration of General MacArthur
Accused the defendants of promoting a scheme of conquest that "contemplated and carried out...murdering, mutilating and ill-treating prisoners of war (and) civilian internees...forcing them to labor under inhumane conditions...plundering public and private property, destroying cities, towns, and villages beyond any justification of military necessity; (perpetrating) mass murder, rape, pillage, torture and other barbaric cruelties upon the helpless civilian population of the over-run countries."
In January 1946, MacArthur ordered the establishment of an International Military Tribunal

27. Ichigaya Court in Tokyo, formerly the Imperial Japanese Army HQ building

28. Charges
Class A: participation in a joint conspiracy to start and wage an aggressive war
28 Japanese military/political leaders charged with Class A
Class B: crimes against humanity
Class C: those in "the planning, ordering, authorization, or failure to prevent such transgressions at higher levels in the command structure“
more than 5,700 Japanese nationals were charged with Class B and C crimes, mostly entailing prisoner abuse

29. Asian Civilians: Japan lost 2-3 million & China lost 12-20 million

30. The Japanese troops often burned/buried people alive

31. Laha Airfield Massacre – Feb 1942

32. Alexandra Hospital Massacre: Feb 1942

33. Japanese Occupation of Nauru: 1942-1945

34. Sook Ching Massacre:

35. I-8: March & July 1944

36. Massacre of Manila: March 1945

37. Unit 731

38. Unit 731 Experiments Vivisection Amputation Organ Removal
Disease Injection
Biological Warfare
Plague planes, germ-releasing bombs, etc.

39. War Tribunal in Tokyo
Trials were carried out by General MacArthur and an appointed 11 judges (Australia, Canada, China, France, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, UK, US & USSR)

40. Chief Prosecutor; U.S. Judge Joseph Keenan
"War and treaty-breakers should be stripped of the glamour of national heroes and exposed as what they really are—plain, ordinary murderers”

41. 28 Primary Defendants
The trial lasted for more than two and a half years, hearing testimony from 419 witnesses and admitting 4,336 exhibits of evidence, including depositions from 779 individuals.

42. Top Japanese Officials NOT Tried…
Emperor Hirohito (Allies needed him to legitimize democratic reforms)
Nobusuke Kishi (conservative ally – later Prime Minister)
Shiro Iishi (received immunity in exchange for data on medical experiments)

43. Hirohito’s Amnesty
"MacArthur's truly extraordinary measures to save Hirohito from trial as a war criminal had a lasting and profoundly distorting impact on Japanese understanding of the lost war months before the Tokyo tribunal commenced, MacArthur's highest subordinates were working to attribute ultimate responsibility for Pearl Harbor to Hideki Tojo”
Japanese Historian, Herbert Bix
3 of the judges on trial later said Hirohito should’ve been the main one tried, and Tojo should’ve been the one acquitted

45. Outcome 984 were condemned to death 475 received life sentences
2,944 were given prison terms
1,018 were acquitted
279 were never brought to trial or not sentenced

46. Hideki Tojo
Found guilty on 35 counts!

47. American Newsreel Covering the Trials
Show the clip!

48. Long Term Impact
In 1978, 1,068 convicted war criminals, including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals (Tojo) were secretly enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine

49. Long Term Impact
Today, denial of Japanese war crimes remains a symbol of nationalism
In a Japanese survey conducted on the 60th Anniversary of the sentencing (2006):
70% of those questioned were unaware of the details of the trials
rose to 90% for those in the 20–29 age group.
76% recognized a degree of aggression on Japan's part during the war
Only 7% believed it was a war strictly for self-defense

50. Compare/Contrast the two War Crimes Trials

51. Discussion
In your opinion, do you think the U.S., Soviet Union, England or France should have been tried for war crimes? Why or why not?
How would they have been tried?
Should a victorious power be forced to take responsibility?