The Nuremberg Trials Essay Example

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials held in Nuremberg, Germany between 1945 and 1949. All trials took place in the American, French, and British zones. These trials were held by the International Military Tribunal for the purpose of charging all earlier Nazi leaders as war criminals after World War II ended. After the war, the Allies faced the difficult conclusion of what to do with the Nazis who we find out slaughtered more than six million Jews and countless other killings. We will never truly know how many Nazi war criminals plied their killing crafts during the war, but we do know over the past five decades several thousands of German criminals have been held accountable for their murderous deeds (Rice 86). The Germans were not the only people being charged as war criminals, but people such as the Gestapo and the Nazi secret police were not only being charged as war criminals but were being charged with being criminals in character. This research paper will examine the Nuremberg Trials through its history, the crimes and prosecution that follows, and four out of the original twenty-four defendants.

Setting up the Nuremberg trials was not easy, the Allies crossed many legal and procedural barriers. The laws for the Nuremberg trials were eventually issued in 1945 on the 8th of August with the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal (“Nuremberg Trials”). The very first trial session took place on October 18, 1945, but the sessions quickly moved to Nuremberg also spelled as Nurnberg on November 20. The Nuremberg trials decided the destiny of an additional 185 defendants, out of those 35 were acquitted, 19 were released on various grounds, 24 were later executed, 20 were surprisingly sentenced to life in prison, and 87 were given shorter terms of imprisonment. It took about a year to complete a total of just 216 trial sessions. In deciding the sentences in which the men would suffer for their criminal acts, the tribunal rejected multiple things including the major defenses offered by the defendants, the argument that only a state and no individual could be found guilty for absolutely any war crimes, and the statement that the war crimes were committed before they were declared a crime (“Nuremberg trials”). The sentences were charged by not one single judge, but by a tribunal, also known as a panel of judges, each of the Allied powers offered two judges, one main judge, and an alternate. The 1935 laws that took away Jewish citizenship and their rights were later also named after the Nuremberg. Airey Neave was a British major who was assigned to work for the Allies who were involved in the Nuremberg trials described the sentences as unfair when he said in court that he could feel the presence of dead millions when being prosecuted (The Holocaust Survivors 24-25). Nuremberg war crime trials will continue to be held until the last Nazi war criminal is brought to justice and executed or lies deep in his grave.

The men scheduled for trial did everything to get out of it as one man was stated medically unfit for trial and another man killed himself before the trial was even executed. Most of the defendants denied the criminal charges, but the tribunal found all but three guilty (“Nuremberg Trials”). Many different defendants who attend the Nuremberg trials were charged with up to four different crimes depending on the war crime they had committed. These four war crimes are crimes against peace, crimes against war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes. The crime against peace includes preparing, planning, wars in violation of agreements, and starting or waging wars of aggression. The crime of war crimes includes improper treatment of civilians and prisoners of war and violations of customs or law of war. The crime against humanity includes religious or racial grounds, murder, enslavement, persecution on political, and deportation of civilians (“Nuremberg Trials”). Conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes means taking the action of committing any of the foregoing crimes which are crimes against peace, humanity, and war crimes. When being sentenced for any war crimes one can go as far as being sentenced to death row. Some of the sentences one may receive are death imprisonment, life imprisonment, being convicted or tried by the IMT, the trial being held but denied, never actually being tried, or one may have fled before execution. Although all defendants being prosecuted claimed they were just following orders and proceeded to deny all charges the judge says the defendants told the court that Hitler was the only responsible one for the war crimes he had committed.

On October 1, 1946, the sentence on 22 of the original 24 defendants was passed down. Four of those 22 defendants were Rudolf Hess, Martin Bormann, Herman Goring, and Albert Speer. Rudolf Hess was guilty of counts one and two and was later sentenced to life imprisonment, but at Spandau Prison in 1987 Rudolf passed away after he had hung himself at age 93. Rudolf Hess was one out of the three defendants who were sentenced to life imprisonment as he served his charges in prison where he was described as the sole inmate. After Hess passed away on August 17, 1987, in West Berlin where he was impersonated, he was buried in Wunsiedel, Germany, where his grave later became a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis, but in 2011 it was decided that his body should be removed from the site in Wunsiedel and be placed elsewhere. His remains then became cremated and his ashes were spread in an undefined lake (“Nuremberg trials”). Martin Bormann was tried in absentia, was guilty on counts three and four, and was sentenced to hanging. Herman Goring committed suicide with a cyanide capsule that he had hidden in a jar of skincare medication the night before his execution. When Goring was sentenced to death he asked to be shot instead of hanging, but his request was quickly denied. Albert Speer was guilty on counts three and four and was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. Albert was one out of the four defendants who were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years. He owned up to his guilt at the Nuremberg trials at Spandau prison in West Berlin from 1945 to 1946 (“Nuremberg trials”). The death sentences, excluding Hermann and Martin, were carried out on October 16, 1946.

This research paper examined the Nuremberg Trials through its history, the crimes and prosecution that follows, and four out of the original twenty-four defendants. Although these trials were very traumatic they finally ended after four long years. Even though the trials were not the fairest thing we may never forget their purpose.