It was October 1, 1946 when the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg announced its verdicts on the sentences of Nazi officials accused of war crimes. The idea of establishing a tribunal to try those responsible for war crimes during the devastating World War II had been discussed by the leaders of the United States, the USSR, and the United Kingdom as early as late 1942. October 1943, US President Franklin Roosevelt, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and USSR leader Joseph Stalin signed the Moscow Declaration, according to which those found responsible for war crimes at the time of surrender were to be transferred to countries where the crimes were committed and to be tried according to the laws of the state concerned. The punishment of major war criminals whose crimes could not be confined to any particular geographical location would be decided jointly by the Allied governments.
On August 8, 1945, the political leaders of the USA, the USSR, Britain and France agreed to the establishment of the International Military Tribunal, which would undertake the trial of war criminals on the part of the Axis powers. The four main prosecutors of the International Military Tribunal were Robert H. Jackson (USA), Francois de Menthon (France), Roman A. Rudenko (USSR) and Sir Hartley Shawcross (Britain), who indicted 24 top Nazi officials. Among the accused were Hermann Gehrig, Rudolf Ess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Wilhelm Frick, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Hans Frank, Alfred Rosenberg and Baldur von Schirach.
Nuremberg, a city of symbolic importance for the Nazis, was chosen as the venue for the trials, as it was where the National Socialist Party congress took place every year. The Darkness of Justice in Nuremberg, where the trials were held, had not suffered significant damage during the war, in contrast to other similar buildings in Berlin.
The defendants were called to account for the following charges: a) conspiracy to plan and launch acts of aggression and other crimes against World Peace, b) crimes against peace, c) crimes against humanity and d) war crimes.
On the 1the In October 1946, the Court announced its verdict, almost a year after the trial began. “Lord Lawrence, president of the War Criminal Tribunal, today declared the opening of the meeting shortly after 8.30 a.m.,” said the response of the “Daily” from London on the 1the October, which was included in the next day’s sheet. Continuing, he wrote: “At the beginning of the meeting, the reading of the decisions began by each of the 21 defendants, who were called individually to hear the verdict of the Panel. First, the decision was read by Hermann Gehrig. The testimonies, said the chief judge, regarding Gehrig showed that, after Hitler, he was not the most domineering man in the Nazi regime either. Gehrig was found guilty on all charges. There is no doubt – he added – that this was the driving force in the aggressive wars and second only to Hitler in these actions. He was the designer and the first to put the plans into action. Therefore, Gehrig was found guilty on all counts.”
Regarding Nazi Germany’s foreign minister for years, Joachim von Ribbentrop, the Court ruled that he “played an important part in Hitler’s final plans for the Jewish question and found him responsible for crimes against humanity due to his actions in the occupied countries and in the satellite states of the Axis”.
In total the Court sentenced twelve defendants to death, ten of whom were executed by hanging on October 16, 1946, Gehrig committed suicide on the evening of the 15her October and Martin Borman appears to have been killed during the previous escape attempt. Three defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment and four others to 10 to 20 years in prison.
Column Editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigone-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
