[40] Each state appointed a prosecution team and two judges, one being an alternate. Popular radio commentator; head of the news division of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry. SS members were generally frowned upon and can't imagine them having anything to do with the trials except sit in the dock. [132] The inclusion of Katyn in the charges undermined the credibility of Soviet evidence in general. Where they lived. Nuremberg Trials: What Happened When Nazis Faced Justice? - Forces Network Sentenced to death, Reich Law Leader 193345 and Governor-General of the, Hitler's Minister of the Interior 193343 and. [101] He described the fact that the defeated Nazis received a trial as "one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason". The Wiener Holocaust Library's holdings on war crime trials largely pertain to those crimes committed by the Nazis and their allies during the Second World War. Gring was the acknowledged leader among the prisoners. The Nuremberg Trials - The Washington Post 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. I wish I would have ask more questions about his experience there. [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. [227] The main legal criticisms of the trial focused on questions of retroactivity, selectivity, and jurisdiction. If one inadvertently looked up at her, she arbitrarily ordered the prisoner shot. He was not tall at all and didnt really stand out in any way from the others, Prestianni said. 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. [48] The French judges were Henri Donnedieu de Vabres, a professor of criminal law, and alternate Robert Falco, who had represented France at the London Conference. [197] The trials heard 1,300 witnesses, entered more than 30,000 documents into evidence, and generated 132,855 pages of transcripts, with the judgements themselves totaling 3,828 pages. [135] The Soviet Union also called two Holocaust survivors as witnesses, Samuel Rajzmana Treblinka survivorand poet Abraham Sutzkever, who eloquently described the murder of tens of thousands of Jews from Vilna, although their testimony did not directly incriminate any of the defendants. Among those brought to trial were. All the prisoners smoked pipes, and they all tried to wheedle cigarettes from us.. Still others displayed docile and taciturn mannerisms and personalities. 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. [206], Many Germans at the time of the trials focused on finding food and shelter; few followed the trial closely. He had been instrumental in establishing a totalitarian state. 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. [130] The defense presented evidence of Soviet responsibility,[131] and Katyn was not mentioned in the verdict. The authority of the International Military Tribunal to conduct these trials stemmed from the London Agreement of August 8, 1945. They saw the horrible films the NAZIs took and heard the case the prosecution presented with all the evidence and saw the brutal photos, It was very hard on these young women, but they did their job they were asked to do. In one report i read, it mentioned that "K" Company of the 26th Inf., 1st Div. my father david c bergeron was a 1st LT with the guards at the war trials. Four were sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years: Karl Dnitz, Baldur von Schirach, Albert Speer, and Konstantin von Neurath. Somewhat regularly, cellblock guards also pulled duty patrolling the parapet-style walls 50 feet above the cellblock and the courtyard, where observation of strolling prisoners below could be maintained. So the court then allowed him to choose any lawyer he wanted and Stahmer was his pick. Frick, one of Hitlers closest advisers during the early years of the Nazi regime, was one of those hanged. To move from one corridor to another, guards carried different colored passes. Guards gradually learned through everyday observation, however, that the prisoners collective makeup truly spanned a psychologically intricate cross-section of those who had served Hitler. 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. He didnt really talk to me very much. Throughout the trial, he steadfastly maintained his innocence, saying they had arrested and charged the wrong person. Ribbentrop, Prestianni related, was a man without humor. He was the first of 10 hanged on October 16, 1946. 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. [174] The judges interpreted crimes against humanity narrowly; they determined that crimes against German Jews before 1939 were not under the court's jurisdiction because the prosecution had not proven a connection to aggressive war. On 1 October 1946, 12 death sentences were passed down by the judges of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on some of the most high-ranking and influential members of Nazi Germany. While they walked, the prisoners were separated by a prescribed number of yards. It would be so greatly appreciated. My mother had pointed his photo out to me on several occasions but I was too young to remember. While on duty, guards carried no weapons, only wooden truncheons. [201], At the same time as the Nuremberg Charter was finalized, the Allies also signed the Potsdam Agreement, which provided for the mass expulsion of millions of Germans from central and eastern Europe, so that certain acts for which Nazis were convicted at Nuremberg were therefore made an official policy of the Allies. Procurement is quick and merely requires an . During watch on one bitter cold night, Prestianni contracted pneumonia and collapsed, unconscious. I inherited all of it. [22][23] War crimes already existed in international law as criminal violations of the laws and customs of war. The tribunal consisted of a member plus an alternate selected by each of the four signatory countries. Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to death, three to life imprisonment, four to imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years, and three were acquitted. For example, Baldur von Schirach, former head of the Hitler Youth, was known only as Number 1. [12] The United States insisted on a fair trial as a means of reforming Germany. [119] Unlike the British and American prosecution strategy, which focused on using German documents to make their case, the French prosecutors took the perspective of the victims, submitting postwar police reports and calling eleven witnesses. He was physically one tough guy, Prestianni offered. [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. While he was held at Nuremberg, he portrayed himself in a quiet, unassuming demeanor. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. [71][72] The military leaders were Hermann Gring, Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, Erich Raeder, and Karl Dnitz. Some were convicted of historys most barbaric crimes against humanity. Prompt medical attention was readily available to all prisoners. This wasnt authorized, but it was done on occasion, Prestianni smiled. He died about five years ago and I wished I would have asked questions. Many of the prisoners never accepted the fact that they were no longer on top of the world. Streicher, sentenced to death, was perhaps the most despised prisoner of all due to his complete obsession with sex. In rendering these decisions, the tribunal rejected the major defenses offered by the defendants. Gring enjoyed baiting his guards. [238][239] The Palace of Justice houses a museum on the trial and the courtroom became a tourist attraction, drawing 13,138 visitors in 2005. Considered by some as the most intelligent and talented prisoner, he was the quintessential gentleman. It was only sometime later that I realized in retrospect that I had become part of history, Prestianni said. The toilet was the single source of water. [98] Jackson maintained that while the United States did "not seek to convict the whole German people of crime", neither did the trial "serve to absolve the whole German people except 21 men in the dock". Also represented were some leaders of the German economy, such as Gustav Krupp (of the conglomerate Krupp AG) and former Reichsbank president Hjalmar Schacht.[2]. Let me have that again, please. Many of the worst offenders were not prosecuted, for logistical or financial reasons. They, as a group, had no problem with their guilt. Raeder was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released for poor health on September 26, 1955. [104] On 29 November, the prosecution was unprepared to continue presenting on the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and instead screened Nazi Concentration and Prison Camps. My final wish is that Germany should recover her unity and that, for the sake of peace, there should be an understanding between East and West. 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. [95] None of the defendants tried to assert that the Nazis' crimes had not occurred; instead, they attempted to divert blame from their own actions. Mark Felton Productions. 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. Dnitz, who was named successor to Hitler during the waning days of the war and served 10 years in prison, remained aloof. Prestianni said that during his guard duties he tried to adhere to his fathers advice. He was a man of some stature with flowing white hair, but he would still never be noticed much in a crowd. Did Hermann Gring have a defense attorney during the Nuremberg Trials [156], On 31 August, closing arguments were presented. [240] The IMT is one of the most well-studied trials in history, and it has also been the subject of an abundance of books and scholarly publications, along with motion pictures such as Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and The Memory of Justice (1976). Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany waged war across Europe, invading Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Low Countries, France, Denmark, Norway, Yugoslavia, Greece, and the Soviet Union, among others. That was until he took his own life by biting down on a cyanide capsule a few hours before he was scheduled to be hanged., Prestianni remembered vividly the night of the executions and Grings suicide. The names were -- Wippern, Hahnefeld and myself carried out the checking. [60] The American prosecution became derailed during attempts to provide evidence of the German annexation of Austria. Ten of those men would be hung 16 days later. This is evidenced by the change of the guards uniforms back and forth from the heavier, darker, winter uniform to the lighter colored summer uniform. 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. Adam Weishaupt, Abraham: The World's First Psychopath. Does anyone know where I can read about the nuremberg trials from the guards perspective? [80][81] The aim was to have these organizations declared criminal, so that their members could be tried expeditiously for membership in a criminal organization. Perhaps the most feared group of accused criminals in the annals of history was a potpourri of personalities who had been associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Asked whether the 60-year myth about Streicher struggling for 20 minutes at the end of the hangmans rope was true, Prestianni said guards never witnessed the hanging and he had not heard any such rumors at the time, but guessed it could have happened. , That used to shut him up but usually only for a few minutes, and then he would start up again with the jokes. At least Im out here and you are in there, said the former guard. They were not to be shown disrespect. Waffen-SS Soldiers Guard the Nuremberg Trials [46], The French prosecutor, Franois de Menthon, had just overseen trials of the leaders of Vichy France;[37] he resigned in January 1946 and was replaced by Auguste Champetier de Ribes. What were the verdicts of Nrnberg trials? [217][218] The last prisoner was released in 1958. [142] In contrast, most defendants avoided incriminating each other. [52] Initially, it was planned that Iona Nikitchenko, who had presided over the Moscow trials, would serve as the chief prosecutor, but he was appointed as a judge and replaced by Roman Rudenko, a show trial prosecutor[53] chosen for his skill as an orator. I need your: [155] In the context of the brewing Cold War, the trial became a means of condemning not only Germany but also the Soviet Union. Guides: German Legal Research Guide: Nuremberg Trials Materials By creating an Aryan nation, the world would look up to and envy Germany for its racial purity.. Nuremberg Trials Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Nrnberg trials, Nrnberg also spelled Nuremberg, series of trials held in Nrnberg, Germany, in 194546, in which former Nazi leaders were indicted and tried as war criminals by the International Military Tribunal. [86] Overall, the prosecution called 37 witnesses compared to the defense's 83, not including 19 defendants who testified on their own behalf. Call us at (425) 485-6059. Some of these camps, such as Treblinka, were death camps, intended to kill every prisoner that passed through their gates. Im always looking for pictures of the guards and hoping one day I will see him as a young soldier. John C. Woods, hangman at Nuremberg Anyone else might have been embarrassed about botching such a high-level execution.
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list of guards at nuremberg trials