Bragging of his ability to mass murder millions of Jews, Frank never admitted to his brutal inhumanity during the war crimes trial but was sentenced nonetheless to hang. [165] The official interpretation of the IMT held that all of the charges had a solid basis in customary international law,[166] which was elaborated in the verdict. Prestianni guarded Streicher many times. Johann Georg Richert was found guilty and was executed in Minsk, Byelorussia. list of guards at nuremberg trialsdelpark homes sutton list of guards at nuremberg trials. The Federal Research Division (FRD) is a fee-based research and analysis unit within the Library of Congress that produces world-renowned and nonpartisan products to support research-informed policy- and decision-making. [228][24] The charge of crimes against humanity, the charge of conspiracy, and imposing criminal penalties on individuals for breaches of international law were also novel but attracted little criticism. [146][147] Defense lawyer Alfred Seidl[de] repeatedly tried to disclose the secret protocols of the GermanSoviet pact. Boy I wish I asked more questions of the trials. [27] Especially the United States wanted to avoid countenancing any rule that would give an international court jurisdiction over a government's treatment of its own citizens. U.S. veteran Gerald M. Boe, the guard for Hermann Gring during the Nuremberg Trials, shares his memories of that time. [175][176], Four organizations were ruled to be criminal: the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, the SS, the Gestapo, and the SD, although some lower ranks and subgroups were excluded. Their trial was held before an International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg, Germany. Minister of Foreign Affairs 193845. The first of the trials was the Major War Crimes Trial, in which 22 high-ranking Nazis stood trial in the Palace of Justice. [214] By then, the Americans were hoping to use the offer of pardon to convicted war criminals in order to bind West Germany to the Western Bloc. [30] Article 7 prevented the defendants from claiming immunity for their actions under the act of state doctrine,[31] and the plea of acting under superior orders was left for the judges to decide. My final wish is that Germany should recover her unity and that, for the sake of peace, there should be an understanding between East and West. [151], In order to appease concerns about fair process, the defendants were allowed a free hand with their witnesses and a great deal of irrelevant testimony was heard. This page was last edited on 8 October 2022, at 21:33. I played checkers with him on a number of occasions, Prestianni revealed. [101] He described the fact that the defeated Nazis received a trial as "one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason". Seven others, over time, were reduced by lengthy prison sentences to hollow, shuffling shadows of their former selves. He was physically one tough guy, Prestianni offered. They wanted to run the whole show. [106][107] The Americans summoned Einsatzgruppen commander Otto Ohlendorf, who testified about the murder of 80,000 people by those under his command, and SS general Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, who admitted that German anti-partisan warfare was little more than a cover for the mass murder of Jews. On occasion, guards assigned to courtroom duty asked for reassignment as they became emotionally and physically sickened by the film evidence of war crimes that was presented. [181] All three acquittals (Papen, Schacht, and Fritzsche) were based on a deadlock between the judges; these acquittals surprised observers. Proposals for how to punish the defeated Nazi leaders ranged from a . Outside the cellblock complex, a small courtyard with a few scraggly pear trees allowed each prisoner the opportunity to walk for 20 minutes each day. [132][169] Through a compromise among the judges, the charge of conspiracy was narrowed to a conspiracy to wage aggressive war. [87][149] United States admiral Chester Nimitz testified that the United States had used the same methods of submarine warfare that the German admirals were accused of; Dnitz's counsel successfully argued that this meant that such actions could not be crimes. Recently one of our readers in the US contacted us with a photo of a pair of sunglasses that were in a box in his grandfather's garage. Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (December 1946 - April 1949) [95][96] As Jackson made clear, the purpose of the trial was not just to convict the defendants but also to assemble irrefutable evidence of Nazi crimes, establish individual responsibility and the crime of aggression in international law, offer a history lesson to the defeated Germans, delegitimize the traditional German elite,[97] and allow the Allies to distance themselves from appeasement. He was able to get to get the Hitler peoples autographs. [71][72] The military leaders were Hermann Gring, Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, Erich Raeder, and Karl Dnitz. [32] The trial was held under modified common law. Again, without a word being spoken, the door was slammed shut. Dads birthday. I did nothing to be here, he stated. Expressed repentance. Twelve further trials were conducted by the United States against lower-level perpetrators, which focused more on the Holocaust. Dnitz, who was named successor to Hitler during the waning days of the war and served 10 years in prison, remained aloof. Other prisoners shuffled past him without even glancing in his direction or outwardly acknowledging that he existed. [22][23] War crimes already existed in international law as criminal violations of the laws and customs of war. She kept a scrapbook which had photos of her group and many signatures of court officials and army officers commending them for their service. I sure would like to find out more about his service. This brass pot held the holy water that an attending priest sprinkled on the condemned immediately before their execution. Movement was extremely restricted and closely monitored, even for the guards. Let me have that again, please. Most of the time the prison was dank, uncomfortably cold, and forbidding, especially during the winter months. Koch ordered skin emblazoned with tattoos to be stripped from the cadavers of prisoners and made into lampshades. 56 high-ranking SS and other police officers, including 24 leaders of the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) and key officials in Heinrich Himmler's . A huge crowd of soldiers stands at . That was until he took his own life by biting down on a cyanide capsule a few hours before he was scheduled to be hanged., Prestianni remembered vividly the night of the executions and Grings suicide. The Wiener Holocaust Library's holdings on war crime trials largely pertain to those crimes committed by the Nazis and their allies during the Second World War. He promoted an intentionalist view of the Nazi state and its overall conspiracy to commit all of the crimes mentioned in the indictment. "[1][163] The judges did not attempt to define aggression[164] and decided not to mention the retroactivity of the charges in the verdict. On Wednesday, January 31 1951, a curious bit of revelry took place in Landsberg prison as 10 war criminals condemned to death by the Nuremberg military tribunals learned they would live after all. Conversation between guards was extremely limited or nonexistent. On October 1, 1946, the verdicts on 22 of the original 24 defendants were handed down for the Nrnberg trials. [233] In 1950, the International Law Commission drafted the Nuremberg principles to codify international criminal law, although the Cold War prevented the adoption of these principles until the 1990s. The whole focus was on keeping the prisoners under surveillance through the opening in the cell doors, Prestianni said. [38], In early 1946, there were a thousand employees from the four countries' delegations in Nuremberg, of which about two-thirds were from the United States. [158][136] In contrast to the opening prosecution statements, all eight closing statements highlighted the Holocaust; and the French and British prosecutors made this the main charge, as opposed to that of aggression. Ambassador-Plenipotentiary 193536. They just never admitted to it. Ten of those men would be hung 16 days later. In one report i read, it mentioned that "K" Company of the 26th Inf., 1st Div. The defendants included some of the most famous Nazis, including Hermann Gring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Wilhelm Keitel. It was in my family until the early 2000s. In July 1945 the 98 th set up operations in a hospital in Munich, and several months later Col. Burton C. Andrus, prison commandant at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, requested Gerecke's service. Prestianni said that during his guard duties he tried to adhere to his fathers advice. These visits usually were brief, and participants were separated by a screen. She was given the nickname "Bloody Brigette" by the camp . Kaltenbrunner had perpetrated extreme barbarism in the extermination of Jews through the planning and execution of the Final Solution. Omissions? His daily diary notes culminated in a book after his release. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded many countries across Europe, inflicting 27 million deaths in the Soviet Union alone. 1 They were convened under the authority of Control Council Law No.. How long did it take you to learn what you are doing? he often asked. Ribbentrop, Prestianni related, was a man without humor. [43] The United States prosecution believed that Nazism was the product of a German deviation from Western history (the Sonderweg thesis) and sought to correct this deviation with a trial that would serve both retributive and educational purposes. [62] Vyshinsky demanded extensive corrections to the crimes-against-peace charges, especially regarding the role of the GermanSoviet pact in starting World War II. The first session, under the presidency of Gen. I.T. [241][242], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}492716N 110254E / 49.45444N 11.04833E / 49.45444; 11.04833. The International Military Tribunal set up by the . All sessions of the tribunal were held in Nrnberg, Germany, under the presidency of Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence. Through these openings, aluminum food trays could be placed within reach of the prisoners. The International Military Tribunal (IMT) delivered its judgment against the Nazi leaders on September 30 and October 1, 1946. [17] On 8 May, Germany surrendered unconditionally. Keitel was one of ten defendants hanged in the Palace of Justice in the early morning hours of October 16, 1946. [215] Early releases of those convicted by the Nuremberg Military Tribunals began in 1949;[216] and in 1951, High Commissioner John J. McCloy overturned most of the sentences. Hildegard Lchert (AKA "Bloody Brigette" or "Beast") Hildegard Lchert was conscripted to join the Nazi women in 1942, at the age of 22. Despite this precaution, such limited, semiamicable relationships did exist. I believe her rank was a corporal. FRD provides custom research services to federal agencies, the District of Columbia government, and authorized federal contractors. Soviet prosecutors in Nrnberg, Germany brought out Friedrich Paulus and Erich Buschenhagen by surprise as witnesses in the war crimes trials. [67] Former Nazis were allowed to serve as counsel[45] and by mid-November all defendants had lawyers. My father Gordon Fitzgerald also spent several months as a guard there. The Nuremberg Trials ended on October 1, 1946. Upon arriving in the European Theater, Prestianni, a replacement, found himself in the U.S. 1st Infantry Division. These once powerful leaders of Nazi Germany were the accused of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. [89] Because of the loose evidentiary rules, photographs, charts, maps, and films played an important role in making incredible crimes believable. Several were militaristically aloof and looked down upon those they considered to be the mere political element. My father, Jack J. At the time, I saw these men only as individual prisoners, guilty of unknown crimes. [94] All defendants pleaded not guilty. If anyone knows how I can verify that he was a guard, please let me know. [139] Some defendants denied their involvement in, or knowledge of, certain crimes,[140] even resorting to implausible lies. He was sent to Nuremburg and stood guard at the Judges quarters. All the prisoners smoked pipes, and they all tried to wheedle cigarettes from us.. [52][46] The Soviet personnel's lack of knowledge of English, lack of interpreters, and unfamiliarity with diplomacy and international institutions also limited their influence. Nikitchenko, the Soviet member, took place on October 18, 1945, in Berlin. Once the IMT established the criminality of aggressive war, war . Because of the tragic manner in which my father died, we did not often speak of the trials. He was the popular picture court room scene the second on the left of the door. Postal Service. Guards were under strict orders never to respond to verbal abuse by prisoners, no matter how hateful it might be. Four were sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years: Karl Dnitz, Baldur von Schirach, Albert Speer, and Konstantin von Neurath. . When I once asked him why he had done what he was convicted of doing, he replied that he only did what the Fatherland [Germany] instructed him to do. Despite being accused of the same crimes, Sauckel was sentenced to death, while Speer was given a prison sentence because the judges considered that he could reform. During watch on one bitter cold night, Prestianni contracted pneumonia and collapsed, unconscious. The tribunal responded that such acts had been regarded as criminal prior to World War II. 23rd September 2021 at 5:18pm. [33], The negotiators decided that the tribunal's permanent seat would be in Berlin, while the trial would be held at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg. [36][35] On 8 August, the Nuremberg Charter was signed in London. [46] The British chief prosecutor was Hartley Shawcross, assisted by David Maxwell Fyfe, who had been the attorney general in Churchill's government. Gring was one of the surviving leaders of the Third Reich and the highest-ranking Nazi to be tried at the Nuremberg Trials where he was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death. Those men who liberated the camps of the Holocau. Prestianni also favorably related to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the notorious chief of Germanys security police and a behind-the-scenes prime mover at the January 1942 Wannsee Conference where the proposed extermination of Jewry in central Europe was discussed by top Nazis. [224][225][226] During the two decades after the trial, opinions were predominantly negative. But, he gave us no problem and I found him engaging to talk to and an excellent checkers player.. They [the prisoners] were to always be considered innocent until proven guilty. He died about five years ago and I wished I would have asked questions. [194] Luftwaffe general Erhard Milch was tried for using slave labor and deporting civilians. The Nrnberg trials began on November 20, 1945. The 24 accused were, with respect to each charge, either indicted but not convicted (I), indicted and found guilty (G), or not charged (), as listed below by defendant, charge, and eventual outcome: Gustav was selected for indictment in error, instead of his son Alfried, who ran Krupp during most of the war. Minister of Foreign Affairs 193238, succeeded by Ribbentrop. Tags International Military TribunalNurembergGermanywar crimes trialstrials National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD Raeder was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released for poor health on September 26, 1955. One of the new USA light tanks (M24) on guard outside the courthouse at Nuremberg. Prestianni said of von Neurath, He looked like the movie version of a Prussian general with his mop of white hair and erect bearing. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Adam Weishaupt, Abraham: The World's First Psychopath. Courtesy Emily Aho Around Memorial Day of 2000, Emily Aho took her then 75-year-old father, Emilio "Leo". [195][196], These trials emphasized the crimes committed during the Holocaust. [210] As the Cold War began, the rapidly changing political environment began to affect the effectiveness of the trials. [168], The judgment found that there was a premeditated conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, the goals of the conspiracy being "the disruption of the European order as it had existed since the Treaty of Versailles" and "the creation of a Greater Germany beyond the frontiers of 1914". I inherited all of it. Goehring gave my Dad a notebook that he had drawn in. [64] The division of labor, and the haste with which the indictment was prepared, resulted in duplication, imprecise language, and lack of attribution of specific charges to individual defendants. The purpose of the armored reinforcement was to prevent any possibility of attack by groups of still-fanatic Nazis. [208][209] Many Germans lumped criminal trials with denazification, internment, and confrontation with the concentration camps, as illegitimate victor's justice and the imposition of collective guilt. The material which the Library possesses on this topic can be loosely divided into the following sections: Nuremberg Trial. The defendants at Nuremberg. If he is American it will be easier to find some kind of information about him. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The tribunal was given the authority to find any individual guilty of the commission of war crimes (counts 13 listed above) and to declare any group or organization to be criminal in character. He was short but very powerfully built. On 1 October 1946, 12 death sentences were passed down by the judges of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on some of the most high-ranking and influential members of Nazi Germany. Frick, one of Hitlers closest advisers during the early years of the Nazi regime, was one of those hanged. The Nrnberg trials were a series of trials held in Nrnberg, Germany, in 1945 and 1946 following the end of World War II. [222] By the late 1950s, the West German consensus on release began to erode, due to greater openness in political culture and new revelations of Nazi criminality, including the first trials of Nazi perpetrators in West German courts. Trial issues are criminal activities or subjects at issue in a trial that are addressed by a document. Two of the six were acquitted, two given prison terms and two sentenced to death. Even before this decision, around 1,000 former Latvian Legion soldiers had served as guards at the Nuremberg trials, guarding Nazi war criminals. Whenever these female prisoners, most of whom were former concentration camp guards, created a problem, we merely, as instructed, called the sergeant-of-the-guard to resolve the situation. They merely brushed the guilt away with self-serving claims that they were following orders from superiors or perhaps even from Hitler himself in an atmosphere where failure to do so often meant banishment to a concentration camp, Gestapo torture, or even a summary execution. ;"God protect Germany. [120] Ultimately, the French prosecution was unable to convince the court that Germanization was a crime against humanity, and incidents such as the German annexation of AlsaceLorraine went unmentioned in the final verdict. After one of those accused, Robert Ley, former director of the nations Labor Front, hanged himself from a drain pipe with a torn towel, prisoners were kept under constant visual surveillance by guards, and while sleeping were forced to do so with their faces and hands exposed above their blankets at all times. [123] The next week, the Soviet prosecution suddenly produced former field marshal Friedrich von Paulus, captured after the Battle of Stalingrad, as a witness and questioned him about the preparations for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Ten condemned Nazi ringleaders died on the gallows in the Nuernberg jail early today but Herman Goering, Adolf . [99] Nevertheless, defense lawyers (although not most of the defendants) often argued that the prosecution was trying to promote German collective guilt and forcefully countered this as a strawman argument. View full size Courtesy, U.S. Army The Military Tribunal proceedings in Nuremberg, Germany, Herman Goering sits between two guards, the left one being Andrew Wendland of Bay City. [200] The case law of the trials fleshed out the skeleton provided by the Nuremberg charter and the IMT verdict. When he failed to respond to the periodic shouted challenges from the sergeant-of-the-guard, Prestianni was taken to a hospital in Nuremberg where he remained for two weeks before returning to duty. However, some Russian guards who had perhaps the best reason to want to harshly punish the former German leaders in retaliation for previous atrocities and other crimes committed in the Soviet Union, were friendly and, even in some cases, considerate of the prisoners and American personnel.. Some of these camps, such as Treblinka, were death camps, intended to kill every prisoner that passed through their gates. Epidemic jaundice experiments High . Four were convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years. I need your: However, fraternization did occur on a regular basis and, for the most part, went unpunished by the prison administration. My Dad Arthur Tacopino was a guard at The Nuremberg Trials. [50][51] Because the Soviet Union expected a show trial, its appointees were familiar with this form. [104] On 29 November, the prosecution was unprepared to continue presenting on the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and instead screened Nazi Concentration and Prison Camps. The tribunal consisted of a member plus an alternate selected by each of the four signatory countries. [174] The judges interpreted crimes against humanity narrowly; they determined that crimes against German Jews before 1939 were not under the court's jurisdiction because the prosecution had not proven a connection to aggressive war. [133], Inspired by the films shown by the American prosecution, the Soviet Union commissioned three films for the trial: The German Fascist Destruction of the Cultural Treasures of the Peoples of the USSR, Atrocities Committed by the German Fascist Invaders in the USSR, and The German Fascist Destruction of Soviet Cities, using footage from Soviet filmmakers as well as shots from German newsreels. [238][239] The Palace of Justice houses a museum on the trial and the courtroom became a tourist attraction, drawing 13,138 visitors in 2005. My mothers cousin was a WAC serving in England during WW2. His remembrance of duty at Nuremberg remains vivid. [52] Initially, it was planned that Iona Nikitchenko, who had presided over the Moscow trials, would serve as the chief prosecutor, but he was appointed as a judge and replaced by Roman Rudenko, a show trial prosecutor[53] chosen for his skill as an orator. [231], The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Trial) borrowed many of its ideas from the IMT, including all four charges. [6][7] Trainin's ideas were reprinted in the West and widely adopted. He was largely overlooked in prison, Prestianni said of von Papen. Speer was a favorite of the guards. Many of the worst offenders were not prosecuted, for logistical or financial reasons. 1 Feb 1946. Speer spent much of his time drawing exquisite pencil sketches ranging from landscapes to magnificent buildings to quaint German villages. [55], The work of drafting the indictment was divided up by the national delegations. , That used to shut him up but usually only for a few minutes, and then he would start up again with the jokes. The Nuremberg Trials were 13 trials held in Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II. Today these sketches are highly prized. Later 19 other nations accepted the provisions of this agreement. [5] Soviet jurist Aron Trainin developed the concept of crimes against peace (waging aggressive war) which would later be central to the proceedings at Nuremberg. Considered by some as the most intelligent and talented prisoner, he was the quintessential gentleman. They were individually handcuffed to guards, driven by ambulance to a nearby airfield, and flown to Berlin, where they were processed at Spandau Prison. The same routine was followed for each of the condemned prisoners. Many were resistance fighters or political opponents. Mark Felton Productions. To move from one corridor to another, guards carried different colored passes. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Asked whether the 60-year myth about Streicher struggling for 20 minutes at the end of the hangmans rope was true, Prestianni said guards never witnessed the hanging and he had not heard any such rumors at the time, but guessed it could have happened. Number 4 was assigned to Erich Raeder, the Navys former grand admiral before being replaced by Dnitz. In some cases, this arrogance lingered into their years of incarceration. [8][9] On 1 November 1943, the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States issued the Moscow Declaration to "give full warning" to the Nazi leadership of the Allies' intent to "pursue them to the uttermost ends of the earthin order that justice may be done". The Nazi war criminal, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, after execution at Nuremberg. [221] The IMT defendants required Soviet permission for release; Speer was not successful in obtaining early release, and Hess remained in prison until his death in 1987. If one inadvertently looked up at her, she arbitrarily ordered the prisoner shot. Prestianni never served in the trial courtroom, only in the cellblock. I do remember that Schacht, like most of the others, steadfastly maintained his innocence, never admitting to guilt in any form. The film, compiled from footage of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, shocked both the defendants and the judges, who adjourned the trial. Many of the prisoners never accepted the fact that they were no longer on top of the world. The prisoners were restricted to groups of six to eight, which were strictly segregated from one another. Updates? He never repented for anything he ever did. Hess was eccentric. Answer (1 of 3): Yes, he was a German lawyer named Otto Stahmer from Kiel. [124] Paulus incriminated his former associates, pointing to Keitel, Jodl, and Gring as the defendants most responsible for the war. Had been imprisoned since then. Noticeable dislike existed between the prisoners and most of their Soviet guards. My father Paul Davis Smith served at a guard at Nuremberg though he never really talked much about it so I dont know in what capacity. He served in that capacity for three months, bringing him in daily contact with 16 of the 22 accused war criminals. . With the change of command by rotating countries every month, each of the countries altered the previous countrys rules. Join historians and history buffs alike with our Unlimited Digital Access pass to every military history article ever published (over 3,000 articles) in Sovereigns military history magazines. [61], The problem of translating the indictment and evidence into the three official languages of the tribunal, as well as German, was severe due to the scale of the task and difficulty in recruiting interpreters, especially in the Soviet Union. Three days on and three days off with shifts of four hours on, four hours off each day was the standard work assignment for guards. [13] Planners in the United States Department of War were drawing up plans for an international tribunal in late 1944 and early 1945. [47] Although the chief British judge, Sir Geoffrey Lawrence (Lord Justice of Appeal), was the nominal president of the tribunal, in practice Biddle exercised more authority. The speech was favorably received by the prosecution, the tribunal, the audience, historians, and even the defendants. Guards, for the most part, were not allowed to talk to each other or to prisoners while on security duty. He often went for hours without speaking to anyone. [69][37], The defendants, who were largely unrepentant,[70] included former cabinet ministers: Franz von Papen (who had brought Hitler to power); Joachim von Ribbentrop (foreign minister), Wilhelm Frick (interior minister), and Alfred Rosenberg, minister for the occupied eastern territories. He maintained an air of superiority toward Dnitz, considering him still a subordinate officer. The night Gring pulled that off on October 16, 1946, now that was quite a night, he recalled. If an organization was found to be criminal, the prosecution could bring individuals to trial for having been members, and the criminal nature of the group or organization could no longer be questioned. There was a constant, steady flow of rules and regulations, many of them meaningless, while others tended to be more punitive, he said. Among those brought to trial were. Perhaps the most feared group of accused criminals in the annals of history was a potpourri of personalities who had been associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. [146] The Nuremberg Laws were compared to discriminatory laws in the United States. All I can recall is that he was standing to the left in the court room. [87], Initially, it was planned to hold a second international tribunal for German industrialists, but this was never held because of differences between the Allies. The duty roster for guards was revised daily in an attempt to prevent the development of unauthorized relationships with prisoners.
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