Narrator: In the aftermath of World War Two and the Holocaust, several nations banded together to bring those responsible to justice. It was the first time in history that high ranking government officials were brought before an international court and charged with war crimes. This historic event is commonly called the Nuremberg Trials.
Narrator: In November of 1945, 22 leading German officials were put on trial in Nuremberg, Germany. Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, was not present. He killed himself in the final days of the war. The Nazi officials on trial represented a cross-section of the Nazi Party and the German government, including Hitler's personal aide, a leader of the Hitler Youth, the head of German radio division in the propaganda ministry, and commanders from the German military. The judges presiding over the trial came from the four major allied powers the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union.
Narrator: The charges were crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity and conspiracy to commit those crimes. The Holocaust, in which Nazi Germany and its collaborators murdered 6 million European Jews, was not the main focus of the trial. While it covered a wide range of Nazi crimes, considerable evidence was presented about the Nazi efforts to murder the Jewish people. Much of what we know now about the Holocaust first came to light at the Nuremberg trials, including how many Jews were killed. The destruction of the Warsaw ghetto and the mass murder operations at the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center.
Narrator: Tens of thousands of documents created by the Nazi regime itself were presented at the trial as evidence, as well as photographs and film footage. They also included some eyewitness testimonies from other Nazi officials and survivors of Nazi camps. The defendants did not deny the authenticity of the evidence and most admitted the crimes did occur. However, they denied personal responsibility for the crimes by claiming they had simply followed orders. The court rejected this defense. The judges handed down their decisions in October of 1946.
Judge John J. Parker: The truth remains that war crimes were committed on a large scale, never before seen in the history of war. They were perpetrated in all the countries occupied by Germany.
Narrator: 12 defendants were sentenced to death. Seven were sentenced to prison terms ranging from ten years to life. The final three were acquitted. Additional trials were held in following years by the United States and other countries, charging hundreds of thousands of other Nazi perpetrators and their collaborators. Many others were never tried. Some fled Germany to live abroad, including thousands who came to the United States. The trials also had a purpose beyond bringing the Nazi officials to justice. They helped to establish the principle that crimes against humanity should not go unpunished.
Justice Robert H. Jackson: The wrongs which we seek to 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.
