The Nuremberg Trials were held in the aftermath of World War II to bring the main architects of the Nazi regime to justice. The trials were held in Nuremberg due to its symbolic value as a historic Nazi stronghold. The trials resulted in the sentencing of 12 leading members of the Nazi regime to death and established volumes of case materials that would be used as precedent in future cases. The trials were administered by Britain, France, Russia, and the United States, and were criticized for being justice for war victors.
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of international criminal trials held in the German city of Nuremberg in the aftermath of World War II. During the trials, the Allied forces hoped to bring the main architects of the Nazi regime to justice by trying people involved at various levels of the Nazi war machine. Unfortunately, some of those most responsible, including Adolf Hitler, were conspicuously absent; in Hitler’s case, because he committed suicide in the last days of the war. Numerous other prominent Nazis evaded capture by fleeing to other countries, and some of these fugitives were indicted decades later after being exposed, while others were indicted and sentenced in absentia.
As early as 1943, the Allied Powers had agreed that after the war some sort of tribunal should be organized to bring the Nazis to justice. The driving force behind the Nuremberg Trials was the desire to address the heinous war crimes committed by the Nazis, which went far beyond the norm expected in warfare, and one of the end results of the Nuremberg Trials was a radical reform of international crime justice system. Trials have also played an important role in drafting documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The city of Nuremberg was chosen as the location of the trial for several reasons. First, the Nuremberg Palace of Justice was one of the few intact structures large enough to hold trials, and Americans wanted to see trials conducted in their sector of occupied Germany. Nuremberg also had symbolic value, as a historic Nazi stronghold, and this too made it an attractive choice.
The trials opened in 1945, with the cases of 22 leading members of the Nazi regime, 12 of whom were sentenced to death. In the first year of the Nuremberg Trials, the position was filled by people like Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess and Albert Speer. Until 1949, minor Nazis were brought to justice in the Nuremberg Trials, establishing volumes of case materials that would be used as precedent in future cases of a similar nature.
Britain, France, Russia, and the United States administered the Nuremberg Trials; the equivalent for Japanese war crimes was the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, held in Tokyo, Japan. Some people criticized the legality of the Nuremberg Trials, arguing that they were little more than justice for war victors, as Allied troops were not brought to justice for their own war crimes. Others argued that Allied troops did not display the level of barbarism displayed by the Nazis and that bringing the Nazis to justice for their acts was an important act that had to take place before Europe could be rebuilt.
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