The trial of the leaders of Nazi Germany ends in the courtroom of Nuremberg on October 1, 1946. The International Military Tribunal, established by the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union, pronounces its verdicts after nearly 11 months of hearings.
Initially, 24 people were indicted. However, two of them did not reach the actual trial: Robert Ley committed suicide in prison before the trial began, and Gustav Krupp was declared unfit to participate due to his health. Thus, 22 defendants stood trial, including Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Rosenberg, and Albert Speer.
12 death sentences and three acquittals
The tribunal found 19 of the defendants guilty of at least one of the charges. Twelve were sentenced to death by hanging, three were sentenced to life imprisonment, and four were given terms of between 10 and 20 years. Three were acquitted.
Among those sentenced to death were Göring, von Ribbentrop, Keitel, Rosenberg, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart. Martin Bormann was convicted in absentia because he had not been found after the end of the war.
The charges covered crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity and participation in a common plan to commit them. In its decision, the tribunal formulated a principle that remains key to international criminal law:
“Crimes under international law are committed by individuals, not by abstract entities.“The court also rejected the defense that the defendants were simply following orders.
The verdicts do not end the persecution
Ten of those sentenced to death were hanged in Nuremberg on 16 October 1946. Hermann Göring committed suicide with cyanide the night before his execution. The sentence against Bormann remained unexecuted, and it was later established that he had died in Berlin at the end of the war.
The main trial was followed by 12 more trials under American jurisdiction in Nuremberg between 1946 and 1949. Doctors, judges, industrialists, military commanders and SS representatives were tried in them. Thus, the Nuremberg Trials became not only a trial of the Nazi elite, but also a precedent for the personal responsibility of state and military leaders for international crimes.
Sources: Eastory, Deutsche Welle