What You Need to Know

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10.        The Nuremberg Trials started at the end of World War II, in 14 November 1945 and ended on 1 October 1946. The significance of this date is that it marked the end of this historical time, and it shows how quickly the Allies were in taking affirmative.

            9. The Nuremberg Trials were regulated by the International Military Tribunal which composed of the following main allied nations: France, Britain, the United States of America and the Former Soviet Union. These four nations, through their association in the IMT, set a precedent for other nations to follow in the future.

            8. The city of Nuremberg was chosen for the trials because it was the only city in Germany with a prison. Furthermore the city of Nuremberg had been used by Nazi Germany as a “party city” meant for political party rallies.

            7. The U.S prosecutor for the trials was Robert Jackson who was skeptical with how the Nuremberg Trial would run. He believed that these trials would not be successful just like the ones held after WWI, but was proven wrong. In fact these trials went so well it established international laws that are used to this day.

            6. Out of the 24 Nazi officials accused 3 were acquitted, 12 were hanged, and 6 received life sentences ranging from 10 years to life time.

            5.Adolf Eichmann fled europe and lived in Argentina under an alias, after WWII. He was identified by a local in the area who called the Mossad (Isreaeli Special forces); his identity was confirmed by his ear. He faced15 criminal chares and was executed by hanging on 1962.

            4. Albert Speer was given a lighter sentenceof 20 years, because he had ignored Hitler's orders to destroy Germany's infrastructure. He avoided the gallows even though he was known as the architect behind the slave labor of the Jewish people.

           3. Hermann Goering was the second in command to Hitler, and was sentenced to execution by hanging. A few days before his execution date he commit suicide by ingesting a cyanide pill, the whereabouts of how he acquired that pill are unknown, and thus marked the deat of the Third Reich.

            2. Each of the four nations chose two judges from their own nation to represent them at the judges bench, in an attempt to reduce bias decisions.

            1. The various counts the accused were charged with were: 1) participation in a conspiracy and crimes against peace, 2) waging wars against agression, 3) war crimes and 4) crimes against humanity.

               This fact is by far the most important in this study, because these counts were a combination of many charters and war conventions from various nations (such as Geneva Convention). The accused having breached the terms of these international laws was the invitation for the nation to make the IMT. The Nurembeg Trials were the milestone for the formaiton of permanent international courts, which is currently still functioning.