[117] The French prosecutors, more than their British or American counterparts, emphasized the guilt of the German people;[118] they barely mentioned the charge of aggressive war and instead focused on forced labor, economic plunder, massacres, and Germanization. [163] Contrary to the prosecution, the verdict dated the planning of aggression to the 1937 Hossbach Memorandum and not to the founding of the Nazi Party. [179], The exact sentences to be given each defendant were debated at length by the judges. [206], Many Germans at the time of the trials focused on finding food and shelter; few followed the trial closely. Benjamin Ferencz: You oughta get some more friends. [222] By the late 1950s, the West German consensus on release began to erode, due to greater openness in political culture and new revelations of Nazi criminality, including the first trials of Nazi perpetrators in West German courts. [211] The educational purpose of the Nuremberg Military Tribunals was a failure, in part because of the resistance to war crimes trials in German society, but also because of the United States Army's refusal to publish the trial record in German for fear it would undermine the fight against communism. [1] Most of the defendants were also charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ferencz learned quickly. [100], On 21 November, Jackson gave the opening speech for the prosecution. [153] Midway through the trial, Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech denouncing the Soviet threat delighted the defense. [6][7] Trainin's ideas were reprinted in the West and widely adopted. In the Hostages case, several generals were tried for executing thousands of hostages and prisoners of war, looting, using forced labor, and deporting civilians in the Balkans. 27-year-old Ben Ferencz became the chief prosecutor of 22 Einsatzgruppen commanders at Nuremberg. [60] The American prosecution became derailed during attempts to provide evidence of the German annexation of Austria. [20][21] The offenses that would be prosecuted were crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Never again doesnt mean anything unless you know what has happened and why, said Cohen, who has partnered with Stanford Libraries to digitally archive the records and create a searchable website for the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (1945-1946). [85] After the American prosecution flooded the trial with untranslated evidence, the judges insisted that all of the evidence be read into the record, which slowed the trial. Many of the worst offenders were not prosecuted, for logistical or financial reasons. Benjamin Ferencz: Going on right this minute, yes. "Informed consent for treatment serves a slightly different purpose. You know? The SA, the Reich Cabinet, and the General Staff and High Command were not ruled to be criminal organizations. Defendants-- absolutely blank. Included in the archive are firsthand accounts from the few who survived the Nazi concentration camps, including for example Marie-Claude Vaillant Couturier, a member of the French Resistance who was imprisoned at Auschwitz and Ravensbrck. Although controversial at the time for their use of ex post facto law, the trials' innovation of holding individuals responsible for violations of international law established international criminal law. [38], In early 1946, there were a thousand employees from the four countries' delegations in Nuremberg, of which about two-thirds were from the United States. He wanted to be a pilot, but the Army Air Corps wouldn't take him. These indictments and criminal procedures were carried out by the occupying Allies following the events of the Second World War. [172] All 22 defendants were charged with crimes against peace, and 12 were convicted. [200] The case law of the trials fleshed out the skeleton provided by the Nuremberg charter and the IMT verdict. [124] Paulus incriminated his former associates, pointing to Keitel, Jodl, and Gring as the defendants most responsible for the war. Benjamin Ferencz: Standard routine, nicht schuldig. But the trials were already underway, and prosecution staff was stretched thin. [224][225][226] During the two decades after the trial, opinions were predominantly negative. [104] On 29 November, the prosecution was unprepared to continue presenting on the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and instead screened Nazi Concentration and Prison Camps. [110] Unlike Jackson, he attempted to minimize the novelty of the aggression charges. Fact-checked by: Myth Detector. June 27, 2021 / 6:54 PM Lesley Stahl: Had you prosecuted trials before? [58], The charge of conspiracy was spearheaded by the United States prosecution and was less popular with the other Allies. [150] The judges barred most evidence on Allied misdeeds from being heard in court. Benjamin Ferencz: Well, if it's naive to want peace instead of war, let 'em make sure they say I'm naive. In mid-1945, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States agreed to convene a joint tribunal in Nuremberg, with the Nuremberg Charter as its legal instrument. At the time, Ferencz just had the documents, and he started adding up the numbers. Monday, Aug. 16, 2021, in Des Moines . Benjamin Ferencz: Well, don't say that. [10][11], Of all the Allies, the Soviet Union lobbied most intensely for trying the defeated German leaders for aggression in addition to war crimes. [212], The German churches, both Catholic and Protestant, were vociferous proponents of amnesty,[213] which had cross-party support in West Germany, which was established in 1949. [135] The Soviet Union also called two Holocaust survivors as witnesses, Samuel Rajzmana Treblinka survivorand poet Abraham Sutzkever, who eloquently described the murder of tens of thousands of Jews from Vilna, although their testimony did not directly incriminate any of the defendants. from. Bus Tours. [115], From 17 January to 7 February 1946, France presented its charges and supporting evidence. This photograph was taken in Kyiv, Ukraine, not Nuremberg . [34][35] Located in the American occupation zone, Nuremberg was a symbolic location as the site of Nazi rallies. So the world is changing. By UPI Staff. more_horiz. Brigadier General Telford Taylor was Chief of Counsel during the Doctors Trial. [123] The next week, the Soviet prosecution suddenly produced former field marshal Friedrich von Paulus, captured after the Battle of Stalingrad, as a witness and questioned him about the preparations for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Ron DeSantis awarded B The technology will allow users to discover and cut straight to material in a really dense corpus without being an expert on the trial or being a lawyer, and that is really powerful, Van Tuyl said. [87] In France, some verdicts were met with outrage from the media and especially from organizations for deportees and resistance fighters, as they were perceived as too lenient. [197] The trials heard 1,300 witnesses, entered more than 30,000 documents into evidence, and generated 132,855 pages of transcripts, with the judgements themselves totaling 3,828 pages. Benjamin Ferencz: Never in my life. Judge: How do you plead to this indictment, guilty or not guilty? Look at the emancipation of woman in my lifetime. The Nuremberg trials were a series of indictments and criminal procedures against Nazi war criminals that were held from 20 November 1945 to 1 October 1946 at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany.These indictments and criminal procedures were carried out by the occupying Allies following the events of the Second World War.. 2021/07/09 | Georgia. It was the first time that international tribunals . They're not real. They all have already tags on 'em. (Image credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Courtesy Randy Cole). War makes murderers out of otherwise decent people. [189], One set of trials focused on the actions of German professionals: the Doctors' trial focused on human experimentation and euthanasia murders, the Judges' trial on the role of the judiciary in Nazi crimes, and the Ministries trial on the culpability of bureaucrats of German government ministries, especially the Foreign Office. [60] Conspiracy charges were especially central to the cases against propagandists and industrialists; the former were charged with providing the ideological justification for war and other crimes, while the latter were accused of economic mobilization without which no war would have been possible. [14][15] The exact form that retribution would take was left unresolved at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. And look at you. Cohen is also the WSD-HANDA Professor in Human Rights and International Justice. 25. The United States delegation outlined the overall Nazi conspiracy and criminality of Nazi organizations. [17] On May 8, Germany surrendered unconditionally. Just put 'em in the ditch. The Rome Statute establishing a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), which had been proposed in 1953, was finally agreed to in 1998. For the subsequent trials held by the United States, see, "International Military Tribunal" redirects here. [4], In early 1942, representatives of eight governments-in-exile in the United Kingdom issued a declaration on Punishment for War Crimes, which demanded an international court to try the Axis crimes committed in occupied countries. Without simultaneous translation the trial cannot happen. And you shouldn't-- you know-- be despairing because it's never happened before. For the Tokyo Trial, see. They could-- like, they're waiting for a bus. He's a patriotic human being acting in the interest of his country, in his mind. A team of over 1,000 lawyers and over 10,000 medical experts led by Dr. Reiner Fuellmich have begun legal proceedings against the CDC, WHO & the Davos Group for crimes against humanity. [46], The French prosecutor, Franois de Menthon, had just overseen trials of the leaders of Vichy France;[37] he resigned in January 1946 and was replaced by Auguste Champetier de Ribes. The Jews were shot? The Doctors' Trial was one of 13 proceedings. [207][208] In a 1946 poll, 78 percent of Germans assessed the trial as fair, but four years later that had fallen to 38 percent, with 30 percent considering it unfair. I'm sitting here listening to you. Einsatzgruppen D was the unit of Ferencz's lead defendant Otto Ohlendorf. [141] The defendants tried to blame their crimes on Hitler, who was mentioned 1,200 times during the trialmore than the top five defendants combined. [74], Although the list of defendants was finalized on 29 August,[75] as late as October, Jackson demanded changes and expansion of the defendants list, but this was rejected. [181] All three acquittals (Papen, Schacht, and Fritzsche) were based on a deadlock between the judges; these acquittals surprised observers. His equivocations, standing in sharp contrast to his genocidal editorial line reflected in slogans like Germany will live as long as it sees the Jews as the mortal enemy of mankind, are now available online for the first time along with hundreds of additional hours of audio and video recordings from the trials of 24 Nazis that ended 1946, nearly 75 years ago. Now I will tell you something very profound, which I have learned after many years. The first of the Nuremberg trials was to be the biggest murder trial in human history, with 21 Nazi leaders appearing before the court charged with the deaths of millions of innocent people during . [194] Luftwaffe general Erhard Milch was tried for using slave labor and deporting civilians. [22][23] War crimes already existed in international law as criminal violations of the laws and customs of war. Ferencz had immigrated to the U.S. as a baby, the son of poor Jewish parents from a small town in Romania. Benjamin Ferencz: Of course, is my answer. [151], In order to appease concerns about fair process, the defendants were allowed a free hand with their witnesses and a great deal of irrelevant testimony was heard. He was proud of that. [136][137] The Soviet prosecution case was generally well received and presented compelling evidence about the suffering of the Soviet people and the Soviet contribution to victory. add_to_queue. Published Jul 14, 2021. Benjamin Ferencz: And I'm still in there fighting. Stanford University is marking the 75th anniversary of the International Military . Massachusetts woman arrested for placing swastikas at Jewish womans home, Netflixs Rough Diamonds brings viewers into the drama of Antwerps Orthodox diamond district, Sofia Richie, Lionel Richies daughter, marries Jewish music executive after converting to Judaism, Sammys Roumanian, iconic Lower East Side Jewish restaurant, mounts a comeback, Stranger Things star Brett Gelman proposes to singer girlfriend Ari Dayan in Jerusalem, Disney+ series A Small Light tells the Anne Frank story from the perspective of the woman who hid her, Barbra Streisand is getting the next Jewish Nobel, in prizes return to celebrity tradition, Meet the real-life rabbi in the synagogue scene of Are You There God? [185] Twelve military trials were convened solely by the United States in the same courtroom that had hosted the International Military Tribunal. Benjamin Ferencz: He gave me a bunch of binders, four binders. . [219][220] The German public took the early releases as confirmation of what they saw as the illegitimacy of the trials. [111][112] The British case covered invasions, from that of Poland to that of the Soviet Union, which Shawcross covered in the second part of his speech;[113] these charges took three days to present, with Maxwell Fyfe detailing 15 treaties broken by Germany. (the covid vaccines are still experimental as of August 8, 2021), that is called duress, overreaching, and coercion, which is a clear . [158][136] In contrast to the opening prosecution statements, all eight closing statements highlighted the Holocaust; and the French and British prosecutors made this the main charge, as opposed to that of aggression. Benjamin Ferencz: There was only one time I wanted to-- really. [129] The Soviet prosecution also attempted to fabricate German responsibility for the Katyn massacre, which had in fact been committed by the Soviet Union. The film, compiled from footage of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, shocked both the defendants and the judges, who adjourned the trial. [27] Especially the United States wanted to avoid countenancing any rule that would give an international court jurisdiction over a government's treatment of its own citizens. [52][46] The Soviet personnel's lack of knowledge of English, lack of interpreters, and unfamiliarity with diplomacy and international institutions also limited their influence. Well, see here, this-- they rounded 'em up. 22 mins. Following the end of World War II, trials aimed at holding Nazi war criminals accountable were held in Nuremberg, Germany. Ben Ferencz in court: The charges we have brought accuse the defendants of having committed crimes against humanity. I said, "Look. [132] The inclusion of Katyn in the charges undermined the credibility of Soviet evidence in general. And you're full of energy and passion. There are also transcripts of eyewitness accounts, including that of Hermann Grbe, a construction manager who described the horrors of a mass execution he saw in Dubno, Ukraine. They would never have been brought to justice were it not for Ben Ferencz. [120] Ultimately, the French prosecution was unable to convince the court that Germanization was a crime against humanity, and incidents such as the German annexation of AlsaceLorraine went unmentioned in the final verdict. Part of an artillery battalion, he landed on the beach at Normandy and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

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