PowerPoint Presentation Justice at

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Justice at
Nuremberg
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The privilege of opening the first trial in
history for crimes against the peace of the world
imposes a great responsibility. The four great
nations flushed with victory and stung with
injury, stay the hand of vengeance and
voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the
judgment of the law. The crimes which we seek t
o condemn and punish have been so calculated, so
malignant and so devastating, that civilization
cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it
cannot survive their being repeated.
Justice Robert Jackson, Chief Prosecutor for th
e United States
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Setting the Stage

• The French, Russians, and British supported
  summary executions of war criminals
  
• United States pushed for a trial
• August, 1945 - Allies create the International
  Military Tribunal
  
• London Charter outlined rules of trial and crimes
  to be tried
  

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The Crimes

• Conspiracy to Wage Aggressive War - focused on
  policies before the war
  
• Waging Aggressive War - the planning and
  initiation of war
  
• War Crimes - treatment of POWs, bombing of
  civilians, and slave labor
  
• Crimes Against Humanity - Death camps, killing
  squads, and concentration camps

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Selection of Defendants

• Six Nazi organizations tried
• 24 men who represented the major branches of Nazi
  government
  
• Hermann Goering and Rudolph Hess were the two
  highest ranking Germans tried
  

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Selection of Defendants
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Selection of Defendants
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Evidence
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Evidence
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Evidence
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Evidence
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Evidence
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Evidence
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Evidence
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Results

• Three organizations found guilty
• 3 acquitted, 8 given sentences, 13 sentenced to
  death
  
• Goering would cheat his sentence and commit
  suicide
  
• Only Albert Speer would admit guilt

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Results
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Legacy

• While 100s of Nazis were prosecuted throughout
  Europe, many escaped
  
• Many claimed they were just following orders
• Crimes Against Humanity established
• A permanent international tribunal on war crimes
  - only moderately successful
  
• Nuremberg proceedings immediately documented
  Hitlers rise to power and his role in the war

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Germany allowed itself to be robbed of its
conscience and its very soul. Evil masters came
who awakened its primitive passions and made
possible the atrocities which I have described to
you. In truth, the crime of these men is that
they caused the German people to retrogress more
than 12 centuries. - French prosecutor, Charles D
ubost