Scene from the courtroom

Scene from the courtroom

A newspaper article announcing the trials (found at the Newseum)

The Nuremberg Trials

     The end of World War II left Europe with countless captured German Nazi leaders and other officials, who were responsible for waging war and committing inumerable social atrocities. The Allies during World War II—the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain- took charge of carrying out a fair and just trial for each Nazi official instead of immediately sentencing them to death. France was also part of this group although it was not considered as one of the World War II allies. By agreeing on giving a fair trial to each Nazi leader, the Allies avoided accusations that the
officials had been sentenced to death without evidence. Since these trials were conducted by three nations and rather than one, the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT), issued on August 8th, 1945,  was created to set laws and procedures agreed on by the Allies. The Charter identified three kinds of crime: Crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. In order to carryout the cases, two judges from each allied power- a main judge and an alternate,  were chosen. 24 Nazis were accused, but one was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial, and one committed suicide before the trials began. Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels had all committed suicide before the trials. The trial lasted 10 months—From November 20th 1945 to October 1st, 1946. In the end, 12 were sentenced to death, 7 were given prison sentences, and 3 were deemed innocent. 

        The Nuremberg trials signified the end of the oppressive Nazi regime and Hitler's Third Reich, and the beginning of a new era of criminal justice and international law. The trials demanded cooperation between the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France as procedures, such as the IMT, needed to be agreed upon. Furthermore, the trials at Nuremberg led to other milestones in cooperation among world powers, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention. the Nuremberg trials also helped discourage further war by publicizing the consequences of war crimes.