The Nuremberg Trials

 

Palace of Justice, Nuremberg Germany Photo from Gerhart America's Advocate , p.386

 

 

The Nuremberg Trials took place in Nuremberg, Germany from November 1945 to August 1946 and tried high-ranking Nazi war criminals.  These trials were the first of their kind in history.  Subsequent trials were held after the 1945-46 trial.  These prosecuted lesser Nazi prisoners of war. 

 

Map of Germany map from atlapedia

 

 

There were 22 defendants in the first trial.  They were:

  1. Hermann Goering                                             12. Hans Frank
  2. Constantin von Neurath                                    13. Joachim von Ribbentrop
  3. Ernst Kaltenbrunner                                          14. Arthur Seyss-Inquart  
  4. Baldur Schirach                                                15. Julius Streicher
  5. Rudolf Hess                                                      16. Fritz Sauckel
  6. Walter Funk                                                     17. Martin Bormann (in absentia)
  7. General Wilhelm Keitel                                     18. Hjalmar Schacht
  8. Franz von Papen                                               19. General Alfred Jodl
  9. Admiral Erich Raeder                                       20. Hans Fritsche
  10. Albert Speer                                                     21. Grossadmiral Karl Doenitz 
  11. Wilhelm Frick                                                   22. Alfred Rosenberg

 

Signatures of Defendants from Martin, Inside Nurnberg p.22-23

 

 

The Nuremberg Trials were designed to punish individuals, through a military tribunal, for atrocities committed during war.  The charges fell into four main categories with each prosecuting country responsible for a single count.  The United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia were the main prosecuting countries.

Four counts were brought against each defendant:

           

            Count 1: The Common Plan or Conspiracy

            Count 2: Crimes Against Peace

            Count 3: War Crimes

            Count 4: Crimes Against Humanity   

 

The United States was assigned Count 1, Great Britain Count 2, France Count 3, and Russia Count 4.

 

Of the twenty-two defendants twelve were condemned to death by hanging, three were given life terms in prison, two were sentenced to 20 years in prison, 1one was sentenced to 15 years and one to 10 years in prison, and three were acquitted.  Hermann Goering, who was to hang with the others, killed himself by biting into a glass capsule filled with hydrocyanic acid on the morning of October 16, 1946.

 

 

 

 

Palace of Justice and Prison Compond Photo from umkc

 

 

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Web page by Amy Suelzle

Revised 12/9/02