Nuremberg Trials: Judgment
This segment was written by Allison Harrer and edited by Karen
Phinney. It is an overview of the actual Nuremberg trials, including a brief
summary of each of the twenty-one Nazi officials tried. Sources used include
www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremburg/nuremburg.htm,
www.facts.com/icof/nazi.htm,
and G.M. Gilbert's Nuremburg Diary.
Shortly after WWII ended in May 1945, Allied governments jointly
agreed that those responsible for wartime atrocities must be held accountable
and punished for their crimes. The International Military Tribunal (IMT) was
organized in the German city of Nuremberg in order to do just that. The United
States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union each appointed judges and
supplied prosecutors to the Tribunal for the trials of high-level Nazi officials
seized after the war. Prior to the Nuremberg trials, war crimes were limited
to the military courts of the individual countries; "for the first time, the
concepts of collective guilt were used to justify punishment," (Facts On File
News Services, 1997). Some 5,000 Nazi's were charged with war crimes.
However, the Nuremberg trials were designed specifically to prosecute high-ranking
Nazi officials with whom authority over heinous atrocities rested. The four
counts of the indictment were: 1- Conspiracy to commit crimes alleged in other
counts; 2- Crimes against peace; 3- War crimes; 4- Crimes against humanity.
The Nuremburg trials were one of the first organized attempts to apply principles
of international law, and established new precedents for the international community.
Verdict: Guilty on all four counts
Sentence: Death by hanging.
Hess,
Rudolf: Hess was the deputy to the Fuhrer and Nazi Party leader. These
positions endowed him with responsibilities such as handling all Party matters
and gave him the authority to make decisions in Hitler's name on all questions
of Party leadership. Hess signed decrees persecuting Jews and was an informed
and willing participant in German aggression against Austria, Czechoslovakia,
and Poland.
Verdict: Guilty on counts 1 & 2.
Sentence: Life Imprisonment.
- Ribbentrop, Joachim Von: Ribbentrop was the German Ambassador to
England who played a significant diplomatic role in regards to aggressive
plans against Czechoslovakia, Austria, the Soviet Union, and Poland. Ribbentrop
also "played an important part in Hitler's 'final solution' of the Jewish
question," because Hitler's policies and plans coincided very closely with
his own (Gilbert 438-439). He played an active role in the 'final solution'
when he worked to accelerate the deportation of Jews to concentration camps
in the East.
Verdict: Guilty on all four counts.
Sentence: Death by hanging.
Keitel,
Wilhelm: Keitel was the Chief of Staff of the German High Command. He
signed orders and planned the attacks on Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belgium,
Holland, and Russia, but testified that he was opposed to the invasion of
the Soviet Union. He ordered the killing of captured commandos and reprisals
against the families of Allied volunteers. Attacks against soldiers in the
East were ordered to be 50-100 Communists for every one German soldier, remarking
"human life [is] less than nothing in the East," (Gilbert 439-440). Keitel
drafted the 'Night and Fog' decree that authorized the nighttime arrest and
secret killing of suspected members of the resistance.
Verdict: Guilty on all four counts.
Sentence: Death by hanging.
- Kaltenbrunner, Ernst: Kaltenbrunner was chief of the Security Police,
SD, and head of the RSHA, which meant he was also in charge of the Gestapo,
the SD and the Criminal Police. RSHA, at the time, engaged in widespread crimes
against humanity as well as war crimes, including mistreatment and murder
of POWs, and concentration camp workers, namely Jews, commissars, and others.
Under RSHA, about 6 million Jews were murdered, which established Kaltenbrunner
in a leading role in the 'final solution' of the Jewish question. This included
the order to have prisoners of Dachau and other camps liquidated just before
camps would have been liberated by the Allies.
Verdict: Guilty on counts 3 & 4.
Sentence: Death by hanging.
- Rosenberg, Alfred: Rosenberg developed and spread Nazi doctrines
in several newspapers, which he edited and in the books he wrote. He headed
the APA, whose agents were active in Nazi intrigue all over the world. Rosenberg
played an important part in planning the attack on Norway. In July 1941, Hitler
appointed him as Reich Minister of the Easter Occupied Territories and stated
that he "bears a major responsibility for the formulation and execution of
occupation policies in the Occupied Eastern Territories. "He helped create
policies for Germanization, exploitation, forced labor, extermination of the
Jews, and knew of the horrendous and brutal treatment of Eastern peoples.
Verdict: Guilty on all four counts.
Sentence: Death by hanging.
Frank,
Hans: Frank was appointed Chief Civil Administration Officer as well as
Governor-General for occupied Polish territory, with the nickname "Jew butcher
of Krakow". His plans for Poland were based on the complete exploitation of
its human and economic resources, policies he was aware that caused inhumane
treatment of Poles leading to starvation, slave labor, and a program involving
the murder of at least 3 million Jews.
Verdict: Guilty on counts 3 & 4.
Sentence: Death by hanging.
- Frick, Wilhelm: Frick was "largely responsible for bringing the German
nation under the complete control of the NSDAP," by drafting, signing, and
administering laws that abolished all opposition parties and prepared for
the Gestapo and concentration camp utilization to crush any individual opposition
(Gilbert 442). Frick was very anti-Semitic and his laws reflected this and
his desire to rid German life and economy of Jewish people. He also had knowledge
of the systematic murdering of the insane, ill, and aged people, and did nothing
to stop the process.
Verdict: Guilty on counts 2, 3, & 4.
Sentence: Death by hanging.
- Streicher, Julius: Steicher was the editor of Der Sturmer,
and had a long history of anti-Semitism. He began "calling for the annihilation
of the Jewish race," as early as 1938. He organized a boycott of Jewish businesses
on April 1, 1933, and was responsible for the destruction of a Jewish synagogue
in Nuremberg on August 10, 1938 (. The tribunal stated that, "Streitcher's
incitement to murder and [mass] extermination at the time when Jews in the
East were being killed under the most horrible conditions clearly constitutes
persecution on political and racial grounds in connection with war crimes.
and constitutes a crime against humanity,"(Gilbert 442-443).
Verdict: Guilty on count 4.
Sentence: Death by hanging.
- Funk, Walther: Funk was the Minister of Nazi economic and financial
departments. He entered into an agreement with Himmler which stated that the
Reichsbank would receive currency, gold, and jewels from the SS without extensive
questioning. As a result, the Reichsbank was sent the personal belongings
taken from the victims sent to the concentration camps. The Tribunal's opinion
was that "Funk either knew what was being received or was deliberately closing
his eyes to what was being done."(Gilbert 443).
Verdict: Guilty on counts 2, 3, & 4.
Sentence: Life Imprisonment. He was released in 1957 because of poor health,
and died in 1959.
- Schacht, Baldur Von: Schacht was the Minister of Economics and Plenipotentiary
General for Germany before WWII, but while in office readied Germany's economy
for war. He played an important role in the rearmament program, which utilized
the Reichsbank to its fullest extent. However, this is not a criminal act
under the Charter. The Tribunal came to the conclusion that the evidence did
not show without a reasonable doubt that Schacht carried out this rearmament
as part of the Nazi plan to wage aggressive wars. He in fact spent 10 months
of 1944 in a concentration camp because of suspicion he was plotting against
Hitler.
Verdict: Not Guilty.
- Doenitz, Karl: Doenitz was a German naval admiral who would eventually
command the entire navy. He was chosen by Hitler to succeed him as fuehrer.
Evidence does not show the he was part of the "conspiracy to wage aggressive
wars or that he prepared and initiated such wars,"(Gilbert 444). However,
he issued the Laconia Order to the German submarine fleet, which forbid rescuing
enemy shipwreck survivors. Doenitz also was responsible for Hitler's Commando
order, "by which the members of an Allied motor torpedo boat were.turned over
to the SD and shot."
Verdict: Guilty on counts 2 & 3.
Sentence: 10 years imprisonment.
- Raeder, Erich: Raeder was Commander and Chief of the German Navy
for 15 years, and admittied to the violation of the Versailles Treaty. He
was one of 5 leaders present at the Hoszbach Conference of November 5, 1937
from where the idea of invading Norway first arose. "It is clear from this
evidence that Raeder participated in the planning and waging of aggressive
war."
Verdict: Guilty on counts 1, 2, & 3.
Sentence: Life imprisonment. He served nine years before his release in 1955,
and died in 1960.
- Von Schirach, Baldur: Von Schirach "Used the Hitler Jugend
to educate the German Youth 'in the spirit of Nation Socialism' and subjected
them to an extensive program of Nazi propaganda. Von Schirach did not originate
the policy of deporting Jews from Vienna, but participated once he had become
Gauleiter of Vienna in which he made a speech that "defended his action in
having driven tens of thousands of Jews into the Ghetto of the East as contributing
to European culture,"(Gilbert 445).
Verdict: Guilty on count 4.
Sentence: 20 years imprisonment.
Sauckel,
Fritz: Sauckel was the Chief of Slave Labor Recruitment for the Nazi regime.
The evidence shows that Sauckel was in charge of a program involving the
deportation of more than 5 million people for slave labor under terrible conditions
of cruelty and suffering.
Verdict: Guilty on counts 3 & 4.
Sentence: Death by hanging.
- Jodl, Alfred: Jodl was the Chief of Operations for the German High
Command and was active in planning the attacks against Norway, Holland, Poland,
Greece, Yugoslavia, and Russia. He wWas
responsible for the elimination of the Soviet commissars, but used the defense
of 'superior orders', prohibited by Article 8 of the Charter as a defense.
Verdict: Guilty on all four counts.
Sentence: Death by Hanging.
- Von Papen, Franz: Von Papen was Reich Chancellor prior to Hitler
and was active in 1932 and 1933 in aiding Hitler from the Coalition Cabinet
and acquiring his appointment as Chancellor. Under Hitler he was Vice-Chancellor
and Ambassador to Turkey. He participated in Nazi consolidation of control
in 1933, and accepted the position as Minister to Austria, with the primary
purpose of bringing about the Anschluss. Under the Charter, he could not be
found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt that the purpose of his activities
was for the planning of aggressive war.
Verdict: Not Guilty.
- Seyss-Inquart, Arthur: Seyss-Inquart was Reich Commissioner for the
Occupied Netherlands. He was involved in the shooting of hostages for offenses
against occupation authorities and sending suspected opponents to concentration
camps including priests and educators. He was a knowing and voluntary participant
in War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity.
Verdict: Guilty on counts 2, 3, & 4.
Sentence: Death by hanging.
- Speer, Albert: As Reich Minister for Armaments and Munitions and
General Plenipotentiary for Armaments under the Four Year Plan, Speer had
extensive authority over production and knew labor would be foreign laborers
obtained by force. Speer was one of the few men who during the closing stages
of war, had the courage to tell Hitler "that the war was lost and to take
steps to prevent senseless destruction," (Gilbert 447).
Verdict: Guilty on counts 3 & 4.
Sentence: 20 years imprisonment.
- Neurath, Konstantin Von: Neurath was the German Minister of Foreign
Affairs and took part in the Hoszbach Conference on November 5, 1937. Although
he resigned in 1938, he retained a formal relationship with the Nazi regime
as appointed Reich Protector for Bohemia and Moravia in 1939. He served as
chief German official in the Protectorate "when the administration of this
territory played an important role in the wars of aggression which Germany
was waging in the East, knowing that the War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity
were being committed under his authority," (Gilbert 447).
Verdict: Guilty on all four counts.
Sentence: 15 years imprisonment. He was released in 1954 because of poor health
and died two years after.
- Fritzsche, Hans: Fritzsche became head of the Radio Division, one
of the twelve divisions of Goebbel's Propaganda Ministry, which made strong
propaganda statements that were not beyond a reasonable doubt intended to
"incite the German people to commit atrocities on conquered peoples, and cannot
be said to have been a participant in the crimes charged,"(Gilbert 448).
Verdict: Not Guilty.