The Nuremberg Trials
They were a series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany between 1945 and 1949. The defendants who were the Nazi Party officials, high-ranking military officers, German industrialists, lawyers ,and doctors were charged with crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. Judges from the Allied Powers, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States, attended the hearings of twenty-two major Nazi criminals. There was no precedent for an international trial of war criminals. Civilian officials as well as many military officers could be accused of war crimes.
The city of Nuremberg was selected as the location for the trials because its Palace of Justice was relatively undamaged by the war and included a large prison area. It was also held in Nuremberg because Nuremberg had been the site of annual Nazi propaganda rallies; holding the postwar trials there marked the symbolic end of Hitler’s government, the Third Reich. People who played key roles in using the concentration camps as forced laborers (high-level government officials, and business executives), were not sent to death, but received short prison sentences or no penalty at all. There were 22 Nazi leaders - eleven were given the death penalty, three were acquitted, three were given life imprisonment and four were given imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years.
They were held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. The Nuremberg trials are now regarded as a milestone toward the establishment of a permanent international court an important precedent for dealing with later instances of genocide and other crimes against humanity. It was most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany. An international court was created to operate the trial. Crimes against humanity was given an official definition and became a focus of international law.
The city of Nuremberg was selected as the location for the trials because its Palace of Justice was relatively undamaged by the war and included a large prison area. It was also held in Nuremberg because Nuremberg had been the site of annual Nazi propaganda rallies; holding the postwar trials there marked the symbolic end of Hitler’s government, the Third Reich. People who played key roles in using the concentration camps as forced laborers (high-level government officials, and business executives), were not sent to death, but received short prison sentences or no penalty at all. There were 22 Nazi leaders - eleven were given the death penalty, three were acquitted, three were given life imprisonment and four were given imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years.
They were held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. The Nuremberg trials are now regarded as a milestone toward the establishment of a permanent international court an important precedent for dealing with later instances of genocide and other crimes against humanity. It was most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany. An international court was created to operate the trial. Crimes against humanity was given an official definition and became a focus of international law.