Subsequent Nuremberg trials

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This article is about the U.S. Nuremberg trials. For the earlier international trials, see Nuremberg trials.
Auschwitz survivor  [de] testifies for the prosecution in the Ministries trial

The Subsequent Nuremberg trials were a series of 12 military tribunals for war crimes against members of the leadership of Nazi Germany between December 1946 and April 1949. They followed the first and best-known Nuremberg trial before the International Military Tribunal which concluded in October 1946. In contrast, the subsequent trials were conducted before U.S. military courts rather than an international court. They are known also collectively known as the Nuremberg Military Tribunals.

These trials dealt with German industrialists accused of using slave labor and plundering occupied countries, and high-ranking army officers accused of atrocities against prisoners of war. The subsequent trials were held in the same location, at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg.[1]

Background[]

Although it had been initially planned to hold more than just one international trial at the IMT, the growing differences between the victors of the second world war (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 20 December 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.[2]

Trials[]

The twelve U.S. trials before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT) took place from 9 December 1946 to 13 April 1949.[2] The trials were as follows:

# Designations Dates Defendants
1 Doctors' Trial 9 December 1946 – 20 August 1947 23 Nazi physicians of the Action T4
2 Milch Trial 2 January – 14 April 1947 Field Marshal Erhard Milch of the Luftwaffe
3 Judges' Trial 5 March – 4 December 1947 16 Nazi German "racial purity" jurists
4 Pohl Trial 8 April – 3 November 1947 Oswald Pohl and 17 SS officers
5 Flick Trial 19 April – 22 December 1947 Friedrich Flick and 5 directors of his companies
6 IG Farben Trial 27 August 1947 – 30 July 1948 24 directors of IG Farben, maker of Zyklon B
7 Hostages Trial 8 July 1947 – 19 February 1948 12 German generals of the Balkan Campaign
8 RuSHA Trial 20 October 1947 – 10 March 1948 14 racial cleansing and resettlement officials
9 Einsatzgruppen Trial 29 September 1947 – 10 April 1948 24 officers of Einsatzgruppen
10 Krupp Trial 8 December 1947 – 31 July 1948 12 directors of the Krupp Group
11 Ministries Trial 6 January 1948 – 13 April 1949 21 officials of Reich ministries
12 High Command Trial 30 December 1947 – 28 October 1948 14 High Command generals

Result[]

The Nuremberg process initiated 3,887 cases of which about 3,400 were dropped. 489 cases went to trial, involving 1,672 defendants. 1,416 of them were found guilty; less than 200 were executed, and another 279 defendants were sent to life in prison. By the 1950s almost all of them had been released.[3]

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.

Criticism[]

Some of the NMTs have been criticised for their conclusion that "moral bombing" of civilians, including its nuclear variety, was legal, and for their judgement that, in certain situations, executing civilians in reprisal was permissible.[4]

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. "Someone who was not there could never really grasp how unreal the situation was," he said. The Americans delivered at least a dozen low-ranking German SS suspects to displaced persons camps for the purpose of having them executed by the DPs ("displaced persons"), without prior trial or sentencing. Under military law at that time, it was legal to hand over suspects to their victims for further questioning.[5]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Nuremberg Trials". HISTORY. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Kevin Jon Heller (2011). The Trials. Introduction: the indictments, biographical information, and the verdicts. The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law. Oxford University Press. pp. 85–. ISBN 9780199554317. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  3. ^ Nelson, Anne (April 2009). Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler. Random House. pp. 305–6. ISBN 9781588367990. subsequent nuremberg trials 200 nazi.
  4. ^ Heller, Kevin Jon (2011). The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 3.
  5. ^ Brzezinski, Matthew (24 July 2005). "Giving Hitler Hell". The Washington Post. Retrieved 6 October 2012.

Further reading[]

External links[]

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