Following the Second World War, many concentration camps such as Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz were liberated. [228][24] The charge of crimes against humanity, the charge of conspiracy, and imposing criminal penalties on individuals for breaches of international law were also novel but attracted little criticism. star wars fanfiction terran alliance; when a girl says i'll keep that in mind; hillsborough disaster who was to blame; how to get into stanford with a low gpa [54] The Soviet judges and prosecutors were not permitted to make any major decisions without consulting a commission in Moscow led by Soviet politician Andrei Vyshinsky; the resulting delays hampered the Soviet effort to set the agenda. 23rd September 2021 at 5:18pm. The tribunal was given the authority to find any individual guilty of the commission of war crimes (counts 13 listed above) and to declare any group or organization to be criminal in character. He could never understand why he had been tried for war crimes. Between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946, the International Military Tribunal (IMT) tried 24 of the most important political and military leaders of Nazi Germany. In an attempt to further depersonalize them, prisoners were designated by numbers rather than by their familial surnames. They, as a group, had no problem with their guilt. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). He thought a mature, Lutheran, German-speaking chaplain who had worked in prisons . To some, he was demeaned as the foreigner., I didnt like his looks at all. The International Military Tribunal (IMT) delivered its judgment against the Nazi leaders on September 30 and October 1, 1946. [67] Former Nazis were allowed to serve as counsel[45] and by mid-November all defendants had lawyers. He looked like a gaunt corpse, like a ghost. [161][162], The International Military Tribunal agreed with the prosecution that aggression was the gravest charge against the accused, stating in its judgement that because war in general is evil, "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.
10 Things You May Not Know About the Nuremberg Trials I look forward to hearing from him. These were 60 year old Emma Zimmer, nee Mezel, and 36 year old . [58], The charge of conspiracy was spearheaded by the United States prosecution and was less popular with the other Allies. A further 12. Number 3 was Konstantin von Neurath, a former high-ranking politician. list of guards at nuremberg trialsdelpark homes sutton list of guards at nuremberg trials. [227] The main legal criticisms of the trial focused on questions of retroactivity, selectivity, and jurisdiction. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. BAY CITY . Waffen-SS Soldiers Guarded the Nuremberg Trials Mark Felton Productions 1.82M subscribers Subscribe 81K 4.3M views 2 years ago Unbelievable but true - an entire unit of former Waffen-SS. He recently passed in January of 2020 at the age of 91. [124] Paulus incriminated his former associates, pointing to Keitel, Jodl, and Gring as the defendants most responsible for the war. I did nothing to be here, he stated. Proposals for how to punish the defeated Nazi leaders ranged from a show trial (the Soviet Union) to summary executions (the United Kingdom). My dad, Frederick M. Bencriscutto, was in the field artillery in the 1st Infantry Division during WWII. [206], Many Germans at the time of the trials focused on finding food and shelter; few followed the trial closely. The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II.. But the Nuremberg Trials showed contempt for the only-obeying-orders position, and we hold it in contempt too.". The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. [155] In the context of the brewing Cold War, the trial became a means of condemning not only Germany but also the Soviet Union. He had actually tried to usurp Hitlers authority during the last days of the Reich but remained an ardent supporter of the Nazi regime during the trial, often proving himself a skilled debater. Schirach, who had been replaced by Hitler as head of the youth movement in 1940 and drafted into Army service where he saw considerable combat on the Eastern Front, maintained his decorum and seldom responded to the teasing. [132] The inclusion of Katyn in the charges undermined the credibility of Soviet evidence in general. He always was respectful, always the consummate gentleman. Speer was convicted and served 20 years in prison. Nuremberg was first and foremost theater to lay bare the crimes of the Nazi regime for the general public, and symbolically prosecute one leading member of the regime for a particular segment (the Army, the Navy, the SS, the Ministry of Propaganda etc). [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. Two of the six were acquitted, two given prison terms and two sentenced to death. Give me information about your Dad and I will help you research about your fathers deployment to Germany. It was always a battle of authority. My father, Jack J. After one of those accused, Robert Ley, former director of the nations Labor Front, hanged himself from a drain pipe with a torn towel, prisoners were kept under constant visual surveillance by guards, and while sleeping were forced to do so with their faces and hands exposed above their blankets at all times.
The Nuremberg Trials | American Experience | PBS Sentenced to death, Reich Law Leader 193345 and Governor-General of the, Hitler's Minister of the Interior 193343 and. Each of the governing countries, the United States, England, France, and Russia, had its own interpretation of punishment. My father became an MP after the war. Prestianni never served in the trial courtroom, only in the cellblock. After his release from prison in Nuremberg, a Stuttgart court sentenced him to eight years in a work camp. [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. Thank you so much for your time and I am looking forward to getting into many discussions. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. These citations refer to documents at "The International Military Tribunal for Germany". My father Paul Davis Smith served at a guard at Nuremberg though he never really talked much about it so I dont know in what capacity. [6] The Soviet Union wanted to hold a show trial similar to the 1930s Moscow trials, in order to demonstrate the Nazi leaders' guilt and build a case for war reparations to rebuild the Soviet economy, which had been devastated by the war. The indictment lodged against them contained four counts: (1) crimes against peace (i.e., the planning, initiating, and waging of wars of aggression in violation of international treaties and agreements), (2) crimes against humanity (i.e., exterminations, deportations, and genocide), (3) war crimes (i.e., violations of the laws of war), and (4) a common plan or conspiracy to commit the criminal acts listed in the first three counts. All were destined for incarceration, at least during their trials, in two of Germanys most feared prisons: the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg and Spandau Prison on the western outskirts of Berlin. Michael Prestianni served as a guard at Nuremberg as high-ranking Nazis stood trial for their lives. The culmination of the unprecedented War Crimes trials in the German city of Nuremberg, where the Nazis had staged their infamous pre-war rallies. Each prisoners cell was equipped with a simple, bench-like bed against one wall adjacent to the cell door, a primitive commode, a wooden table to hold the few allowed pictures and other personal items, and a chair too rickety to support the weight of a standing man. Whether the prisoners availed themselves of this privilege was by individual choice. --. [61], The problem of translating the indictment and evidence into the three official languages of the tribunal, as well as German, was severe due to the scale of the task and difficulty in recruiting interpreters, especially in the Soviet Union.
What were the names of the US soldiers who stood guard at the Nuremberg Surviving members of the company marked the 56th anniversary of its founding , which took place, according to Toronto's Tommy Tomson, on December 26, 1946. Guards occasionally retaliated against unpopular, troublesome prisoners by rapping on the cell doors with their night sticks to disturb the occupants sleep. Neurath, after serving eight years of his 15-year sentence, was spirited away in clandestine fashion, without fanfare, and mysteriously set free in the dead of night on November 6, 1954, because of an alleged eye ailment. [67] Also prosecuted were leaders of the German economy, such as Gustav Krupp (of the conglomerate Krupp AG), former Reichsbank president Hjalmar Schacht, and economic planners Albert Speer and Walther Funk, along with Speer's subordinate and head of the forced labor program, Fritz Sauckel. [18], At the London Conference, held from 26 June to 2 August 1945, representatives of France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States negotiated the exact form that the trial would take. He promoted an intentionalist view of the Nazi state and its overall conspiracy to commit all of the crimes mentioned in the indictment. Whenever these female prisoners, most of whom were former concentration camp guards, created a problem, we merely, as instructed, called the sergeant-of-the-guard to resolve the situation.
The Nuremberg Trials - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Brush with infamy: Mercer man, 95, oversaw guards at Nuremberg trials [138], From March to July 1946, the defense presented its counterarguments. [205] Where the prosecution was disappointed by some of the verdicts, the defense could take satisfaction. [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. His daily diary notes culminated in a book after his release. The first of the trials was the Major War Crimes Trial, in . An enduring mystery of the 1946 Nuremberg trials was apparently solved yesterday when an American former prison guard claimed it was he who, as an unwitting accomplice, passed to Hermann. The SA, the Reich Cabinet, and the General Staff and High Command were not ruled to be criminal organizations. [76] Of the 24 men indicted, Martin Bormann was tried in absentia, as the Allies were unaware of his death; Krupp was too ill to stand trial; and Robert Ley committed suicide. Other absent and dead men including Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, Adolf Eichmann, and Bormann were also blamed. [224][225][226] During the two decades after the trial, opinions were predominantly negative. The Ugly Truth About the Nuremberg Tribunals. During his three-month tour of duty at Nuremberg prison, Prestianni was assigned to 16 different prisoners. This page was last edited on 8 October 2022, at 21:33. They wanted to run the whole show. [165] The official interpretation of the IMT held that all of the charges had a solid basis in customary international law,[166] which was elaborated in the verdict. [66][67] The prosecutors wanted to try representative leaders of German politics, economy, and military; and the Americans had a list of 70 names at the London Conference. Soldiers in tank stand guard in front of the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg where the International Military Tribunal . American chow was prepared for the guards and other Army personnel. It was a very old, ancient, almost primitive prison, Prestianni recalls.
Obeying Orders | Facing History and Ourselves At this time, 24 former Nazi leaders were charged with the perpetration of war crimes, and various groups (such as the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police) were charged with being criminal in character. The trials were not fair, though not in the way you are suggesting.
World War II War Crimes Records | National Archives The Rome Statute establishing a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), which had been proposed in 1953, was finally agreed to in 1998. Other prisoners were outspoken in their condemnation of Hess as a traitor to the Fatherland when he flew to England in May 1941, ostensibly to arrange a peace between Hitlers Germany and Great Britain. There were limits to how much gore that could be tolerated by some of the courtroom guards, he recalled. I would like any information that would lead me to a more detailed understanding of what my father did while part of this undertaking. [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. [146][147] Defense lawyer Alfred Seidl[de] repeatedly tried to disclose the secret protocols of the GermanSoviet pact. [210] As the Cold War began, the rapidly changing political environment began to affect the effectiveness of the trials.
Meet the Lousy Kansas Hangman Who Executed Nazis | OZY The Nuremberg Trials - Home | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans The verdict was drafted by British alternate judge Norman Birkett. For added security outside the prison, three American Sherman tanks, manned by MPs, were positioned at the front, side, and rear entries to the prison. Uncover the topics related to the Nuremberg trials. Before his execution, he aligned himself with Jodl and, to a lesser extent, Raeder and Dnitz, the military clique. Joachim von Ribbentrop's body after his execution. Q. (November 1945) Sources: All photos copyright and courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Where they lived. Schacht had been imprisoned in July 1944, under suspicion of being part of an assassination conspiracy against Hitler. While on duty, guards carried no weapons, only wooden truncheons. Seven others, including Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler 's former deputy, were given prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life. [39] Besides legal professionals, there were many social-science researchers, psychologists, translators and interpreters, and graphic designers, the latter to make the many charts used during the trial. My Dad was murdered, hanged, when I was 5 years old in 1965. National Archives Collection of World War II War Crimes Records (Record Groups 153, 238 and 549) The United States conducted war crimes trials in Europe under three jurisdictions: the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuernberg (RG 238), U.S. military tribunals at Nuernberg (RG 238) and U.S. Army courts (RG 153 & RG 549).
He guarded top Nazis at Nuremberg trials; now he'll share his I believe her rank was a corporal. The defendants' lawyers jointly appealed to the court, claiming it did not have jurisdiction against the accused; but this motion was rejected. False accusations of rape, abuse, or other misconduct by guards were commonplace. For example, Baldur von Schirach, former head of the Hitler Youth, was known only as Number 1. [233] In 1950, the International Law Commission drafted the Nuremberg principles to codify international criminal law, although the Cold War prevented the adoption of these principles until the 1990s. All the prisoners smoked pipes, and they all tried to wheedle cigarettes from us.. During numerous argumentative discussions, Neurath referred to the Polish population and others that were slaughtered by German troops as untermenschen, the German expression for inferior beings. They had a profound affect on my dad, who always said, I would never want to be killed by hanging. Yet, the constables who allegedly murdered my Dad did just that. [145], Despite the fact that the charter did not recognize a tu quoque defense, such arguments were repeatedly raised during the trial. [230] The selectivity in trying Germans but not the Allies has garnered the most persistent criticism. [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. I need your: Frick was rather taciturn, not given to talking.
Guides: German Legal Research Guide: Nuremberg Trials Materials When the needling did not abate and became somewhat annoying, Prestianni said he used to give the former World War I ace his own version of a little dig in return. The judgement argued that aggressive war had already been illegal, even if no one had been punished for it, and therefore the German leaders could not count on immunity from prosecution. Some were gassed. Prestianni also favorably related to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the notorious chief of Germanys security police and a behind-the-scenes prime mover at the January 1942 Wannsee Conference where the proposed extermination of Jewry in central Europe was discussed by top Nazis. Raeder kept to himself, voraciously reading and writing his memoirs, but when he interacted with the others, it was often to lash out in anger. On the night he was to be hanged, Streicher gave Prestianni a signed, handwritten note after supper. Number 4 was assigned to Erich Raeder, the Navys former grand admiral before being replaced by Dnitz. It was also a way to indirectly charge crimes committed before the beginning of World War II, which the charter placed outside the court's jurisdiction. I wish I would have ask more questions about his experience there. He is in several pictures standing at Hans Franks left. [88], The charter allowed the admissibility of any evidence deemed to have probative value, including depositions. In this capacity, he was ultimately responsible for the use of slave laborers from the occupied territories in armaments production. We jokingly told him the girls coveted the gifts American soldiers could offer and they had all forgotten his (Schirachs) Nazi National Socialism propaganda indoctrination. His remembrance of duty at Nuremberg remains vivid.