The statute of the Nuremberg Tribunal was formulated to ensure a fair trial of war criminals of Nazi Germany. It was a huge process in its scale and significance that was conducted by the USSR, Great Britain, the USA and France over the main Nazi figures. The core was followed by twelve additional processes.
Next, we consider in more detail the main provisions of the Charter of the tribunal, its area of jurisdiction and exclusive competence, formation, significance. The main process that took place in the fall of 1945 will also be highlighted, as well as a brief summary of the consideration of subsequent cases.
International Military Tribunal: concept, jurisdiction
The International (Nuremberg) Military Tribunal is a judicial body that is involved in the prosecution, conduct of business, and sentencing of the main war criminals of European countries who fought on the side of Nazi Germany during the war. The basis of the Nuremberg Tribunal is the agreement that was concluded on August 8, 1945 in London, the capital of Great Britain, between the governments of the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain and France. The tribunal itself was located in Berlin, and the trial took place in Nuremberg, a German city located in the north of central Bavaria.
The exclusive competence of the Nuremberg Tribunal was a requirement of the time. The jurisdiction extended to such crimes:
- Crimes against the world. This includes planning, preparing, waging a war that violates international peace agreements or assurances, participating in any conspiracy, general plan, which involved the implementation of any of the above actions.
- War crimes. That is a violation of the laws of war. This item includes torture, slavery, torture, labor or other conscription imposed on the civilian population of the occupied territory, military persons, hostages. They also judge for looting private or public property, senseless destruction of infrastructure, ruin, which is not justified by military necessity.
- Crimes against humanity. These include murders, exile, enslavement, extermination and other cruel acts committed against civilians, political, racial, religious or other persecution in order to further the commission of any crime within the jurisdiction of the tribunal. It does not matter whether such actions are criminally punishable under the domestic law of the country in which they were committed or not.
These crimes committed by the leaders of Nazi Germany are the exclusive competence of the Nuremberg Tribunal. This composition of criminal acts is enshrined in the sixth article of the Charter. A more detailed consideration of the provisions will be presented below.
Crimes against humanity, peace, military affairs were considered in a composition of eight people. The trial was conducted by one judge and a deputy from each of the parties to the agreement signed in London on August 8, 1945.
London Conference on August 8, 1945: Adoption of the Charter
The London Conference is a meeting of the leaders of the four victorious states in the war, which took place in London from June 26 to August 8, 1945. The USSR side was represented at the conference by the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court I. T. Nikitchenko and Professor A. N. Trainin, a forensic scientist and an internationalist. The official minutes of the meeting were not drawn up. The conference was held behind closed doors.
On the last day of the conference, an Agreement was signed between the leaders of the USSR, Great Britain, France and the USA on the prosecution and judicial punishment of the main criminals of the Axis countries, that is, the Third Reich, Italy and the Japanese Empire. The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg was empowered to judge and punish people who committed criminal acts against the world order and humanity. The agreement was signed: by the USSR - I.T. Nikitchenko and A.N. Trainin, from the USA - Robert H. Jackson, member of the Supreme Court, from France - Robert Falco, member of the Supreme Court, from the United Kingdom - Chancellor William Allen Jowitt.
At the same time, the charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal was adopted, which determines the procedure for its organization, jurisdiction and general principles of work, guarantees for defendants during the process, as well as law. These issues will be discussed in detail below.
Charter of a military tribunal in Nuremberg: history of compilation
The statute of the Nuremberg Tribunal was an annex to the Agreement adopted at the London Conference on August 8, 1945. Usually the document is called the London or Nuremberg Charter. The document was developed on the basis of the Moscow Declaration adopted at the 1943 conference in Moscow by the foreign ministers of the USSR, Great Britain and the USA. The declaration determined the conditions under which the states will cooperate. Important topics were the disarmament of German forces and the trial of war criminals. The document provided for the occupation of Germany by the allied forces until the complete destruction of the Nazi regime.
The text of the Charter of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal was drawn up immediately after the surrender of Germany, May 8, 1945, in London. Compiled by Robert Falco, Jonah Nikitchenko and Robert Jackson. The text was published on August 8, 1945. As mentioned earlier, the agreement between the USSR, Great Britain, the USA and France on the criminal prosecution and sentencing of the main war criminals of the Axis countries was officially signed at the London Conference in early August 1945. Subsequently, the Charter was ratified by 19 other members of the anti-Hitler coalition.
The main provisions of the Statute of the Nuremberg Tribunal
Part I of the Charter concerns the organization of an international military tribunal. It is stated that it was created for a fair trial and punishment of war criminals (Art. 1). The composition of the tribunal is established in the amount of four judges and their deputies, with each of the parties appointing one judge and one deputy (art. 2). A judge can only be replaced by his deputy, and not one of the accused, defense attorneys, or prosecutors can divert the tribunal, nor its members, nor his deputies (Article 3). In addition, it was envisaged the possibility of establishing additional courts if necessary (Article 7).
Part II of the Charter deals with jurisdiction and general principles of work. Particularly noteworthy in this part is an article that reveals what actions entail responsibility. Art. 6 of the Statute of the Nuremberg Tribunal describes what is meant by the concepts by which the main criminals of Nazi Germany were accused. It is indicated that the position of the defendants as the head of state or official is not considered as a basis for mitigation of punishment or release from liability (Article 7). The fact that the convict acted by order of the government or command also does not exempt from liability, but can mitigate the punishment (Article 8). The tribunal has the right to examine the cases of persons convicted of crimes against peace even in the absence of the accused themselves at the hearing (Article 12).
Part III relates to the War Crimes Committee, and IV defines guarantees for defendants and establishes a fair trial (art. 16). Parts V (Articles 17–25) contain the rights of the tribunal, VI deals with the sentencing procedure, and VII includes costs. In the last two parts of the Charter, Art. 27, which gives the tribunal the right to sentence the defendant to death if this decision is recognized as fair. As for the costs, they were covered by the parties from the funds of the German Control Council.
Nuremberg Principles of International Law
The principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal were formulated in 1950 by a special Commission on behalf of the UN to further create the Criminal Code of international importance. Members of the commission summarized the activities of the Nuremberg Tribunal and formulated the main principles that were expressed in the decision of the judges. Subsequently, these provisions were recognized by the international community. There are seven principles in total:
- Any person who has committed a criminal offense bears responsibility for him and is liable to fair punishment.
- If some action according to the domestic law of the country is not a crime, but according to international law, then the person is still liable.
- Heads of state and members of governments are not exempted from liability.
- Persons who acted on the orders of the government or command are not exempt from liability if the choice was actually possible.
- Each accused has the right to legal review of the case based on facts and principles of law.
- Crimes against peace, military, against humanity are punished as international legal.
- Participation in the above acts is equivalent to an international legal crime.
The main process against the leaders of the Nazi regime
The first meeting of the Nuremberg tribunal for the affairs of the chief leaders of the regime took place on November 20, 1945. From the USSR, the Nazis were judged by: I. Nikitchenko (Major General of Justice) and A. Volchkov (Colonel of Justice) as an assistant. The defendants received defenders in the person of German lawyers, the security of the meeting and the escort of the persons under investigation into the cells were carried out by the US Army.
The venue for the tribunal was the Bavarian city of Nuremberg. This decision was symbolic. It was here that the terrifying racial legislative acts of Nazi Germany were signed, in this place the Nazis liked to hold party congresses, and the Palace of Justice was relatively little damaged by bombs dropped by the Allied aircraft, accommodated a sufficient number of people and was connected to the cells where the defendants were kept by an underground passage.
There were 23 war criminals in the dock (among them were F. Sauckel, the head of deportations from the occupied territory, G. Fritsche, the head of one of the departments of the Ministry of Propaganda, G.V. Goering, the Reichsmarshal, the head of the air force, R. Hess, Hitler's deputy , I. von Ribbentropp, Minister of Foreign Affairs, A. Rosenberg, one of the main ideological leaders, and others) and Martin Bormann, accused in absentia. There were no at the meetings of Adolf Hitler, chief SS man G. Himmler, propaganda minister J. Goebbels, who committed suicide, fearing responsibility for the crimes committed.
The defendants were charged with crimes against the world order, starting a war, pursuing a policy of anti-Semitism and racism, murders and cruel treatment of prisoners of war. Especially carefully examined the Nuremberg Tribunal crimes against children, who often became victims of the Nazis. The heaviest points were backed up by significant evidence. Dozens of witnesses to violent crimes spoke. Unexpected for those in the dock was the speech of Friedrich Paulus, who was captured in Stalingrad. It was he who was developing the plan, code-named Barbarossa.
Prominent figures of Nazi Germany with German clarity recorded all their crimes, resorting to the help of stenographers and keeping diaries. They did this, feeling themselves to be absolute winners, not counting at all that these documents would become the strongest evidence in the charge. The Nuremberg tribunal condemned not only the main ideologists, military and political figures, but also criminalized all organizations that complied with the instructions of the Nazis, that is, the Gestapo, SS, SD and the like.
The defendants were given the hope that after Churchill’s Fulton speech, relations between the USSR and Great Britain, the USA were very strained, this could bury the trial. But the day was really black for the Nazi leaders when the former commandant of the Auschwitz death camp spoke before the judges and deputies. The executioner said that two and a half million prisoners were destroyed in the camp. He almost proudly talked about the fact that in each of the cells two thousand people were killed at once, while in another camp only two hundred unfortunate people could be exterminated at a time. The executioner was hanged by a court verdict in Poland in April 1947.
Court decision in the case of leaders of Nazi Germany
The sentence began to be announced on September 30, 1945, but the list of charges was so long that it took a whole day. It all ended only on the first of October. During the announcement of the verdict, the defendants tried to pretend that they did not care, but in fact, excitement was visible. Rudolf Hess frantically painted something on scraps of paper, Hermann Goering tried to smile stiffly, Alfred Rosenberg cringed, Julius Streicher crossed his arms defiantly, and Hans Frank just shook his head.
The decision of the Nuremberg Tribunal was as follows:
- 12 people were sentenced to death, of whom Bormann was convicted in absentia, Jodl was posthumously acquitted of the revision in 1953, and Goering committed suicide a few hours before the execution;
- 3 people were sentenced to life imprisonment: Funk, Raeder, Hess;
- to 20 years in prison: Speer, Schirach;
- to 15 years of imprisonment: Neurath;
- to 10 years of imprisonment: Doenitz;
- three people were acquitted: Papen (German ambassador to Austria and Turkey), Fritsche (head of the press and broadcasting), Schacht (Minister of Economics, who held this post before the war).
Subsequent (Small) Nuremberg trials
After the main process, the top leaders of the Third Reich conducted another twelve subsequent ones, later called minor. The main difference was that the cases were conducted exclusively by American judges. The investigation involved Nazi doctors, judges, generals of the southeastern front, persons guilty of racial crimes, the German military command. Alfried Krupp, Friedrich Flick, IG Farben (German industrialists), Erhard Milch (Field Marshal of the Luftwaffe) were separately condemned. In total, twelve trials brought 183 accused of various crimes. 24 people were sentenced to death (eleven of them were pardoned), twenty were sentenced to life imprisonment, 98 were sentenced to various terms, 35 were acquitted. The remaining accused were not sentenced for various reasons. Some of them were declared insane, others died before the trial. In 1951, many of the convicts were released under an amnesty; some of the convicts reduced their sentences.
Nuremberg International Tribunal and Bandera (OUN / UPA)
Personally, Stepan Bandera and the OUN / UPA condemned the Nuremberg Tribunals, but they did not appear before the International Military Court. There is no official conviction for them. The decision of the Nuremberg Tribunal for Bandera did not sound, but this does not mean that their crimes are not classified as those committed against peace or humanity, the military.
None of the materials of the tribunal mention the recognition of Stepan Bandera as a war criminal, although, according to the principles of international law, he is precisely that. Not a single mention of Bandera in the 42 tones of the case can be directly construed against him.
Some researchers prefer to make reference to the materials of the interrogation of E. Stolze, who during the conversation mentioned the order of Bandera to organize demonstrations in Ukraine during the German attack on the USSR in order to break the rear of the army and convince the public about the possible collapse of the rear. According to the results of the case, the organization of Erwin Stolze was not recognized as criminal, so cooperation with him cannot be interpreted as a crime for which the person is responsible before the Nuremberg Tribunal.
The Importance of the Nuremberg Trials and Tribunal for World History
The Nuremberg Military Tribunal and its significance in history is a topic for a separate article, since the process created a precedent for the trial of senior officials and refuted the principle "Kings are only subject to God." The principles that were enshrined in the Charter are recognized by the United Nations as generally accepted for international law.Often the Nuremberg trials are called the “court of history”, as it had a very significant impact on the final victory over Nazism in the minds and hearts of people. The atmosphere of the strictest law was observed, there was no case that the crimes of the defendants were mitigated at some stage of the conduct of the case. Until now, the Nuremberg trials have been the benchmark for conducting an international war crimes case.