Nuremberg trials (briefly). The Nuremberg Trials, its significance for history and the entire world community

Humanity has long learned to judge individual villains, criminal groups, bandits and illegal armed groups. The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg became the first experience in history of condemning crimes of a national scale - the ruling regime, its punitive institutions, senior political and military figures.

On August 8, 1945, three months after the Victory over Nazi Germany, the governments of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France entered into an agreement to organize the trial of the main war criminals. This decision evoked an approving response throughout the world: it was necessary to give a harsh lesson to the authors and executors of cannibalistic plans for world domination, mass terror and murder, ominous ideas of racial superiority, genocide, monstrous destruction, and the plunder of vast territories. Subsequently, 19 more states officially joined the agreement, and the Tribunal began to rightfully be called the Court of Peoples.

The process began on November 20, 1945 and lasted almost 11 months. 24 war criminals who were members of the top leadership of Nazi Germany appeared before the Tribunal. This has never happened before in history. Also, for the first time, the issue of recognizing as criminal a number of political and state institutions - the leadership of the fascist NSDAP party, its assault (SA) and security (SS) detachments, the security service (SD), the secret state police (Gestapo), the government cabinet, the High Command and the General Staff.

The trial was not a quick reprisal against a defeated enemy. Indictment on German was handed to the defendants 30 days before the start of the trial, and then they were given copies of all documentary evidence. Procedural guarantees gave the accused the right to defend themselves in person or with the help of a lawyer from among German lawyers, to request the summons of witnesses, to provide evidence in their defense, to give explanations, to question witnesses, etc.

Hundreds of witnesses were questioned in the courtroom and in the field, and thousands of documents were reviewed. The evidence also included books, articles and public speeches of Nazi leaders, photographs, documentaries, and newsreels. The reliability and credibility of this base was beyond doubt.

All 403 sessions of the Tribunal were open. About 60 thousand passes were issued to the courtroom. The work of the Tribunal was widely covered by the press, and there was a live radio broadcast.

“Immediately after the war, people were skeptical about the Nuremberg trials (meaning the Germans),” the deputy chairman of the Bavarian Supreme Court, Mr. Ewald Berschmidt, told me in the summer of 2005, giving an interview to the film crew who were then working on the film “Nuremberg Alarm.” - It was still a trial of the victors over the vanquished. The Germans expected revenge, but not necessarily the triumph of justice. However, the lessons of the process turned out to be different. The judges carefully considered all the circumstances of the case, they sought the truth. The perpetrators were sentenced to death. Whose guilt was less received different punishments. Some were even acquitted. Nuremberg trial became a precedent for international law. His main lesson was equality before the law for everyone - both generals and politicians.”

September 30 - October 1, 1946 The Court of Peoples rendered its verdict. The accused were found guilty of grave crimes against peace and humanity. Twelve of them were sentenced to death by hanging by the tribunal. Others faced life sentences or long sentences in prison. Three were acquitted.

The main links of the state-political machine, brought by the fascists to a diabolical ideal, were declared criminal. However, the government, the High Command, the General Staff and the assault troops (SA), contrary to the opinion of Soviet representatives, were not recognized as such. A member of the International Military Tribunal from the USSR, I. T. Nikitchenko, did not agree with this withdrawal (except for the SA), as well as the acquittal of the three accused. He also assessed Hess' life sentence as lenient. The Soviet judge outlined his objections in a Dissenting Opinion. It was read out in court and forms part of the verdict.

Yes, there were serious disagreements among the judges of the Tribunal on certain issues. However, they cannot be compared with the confrontation of views on the same events and persons, which will unfold in the future.

But first, about the main thing. The Nuremberg trials acquired world-historical significance as the first and to this day the largest legal act of the United Nations. United in their rejection of violence against people and the state, the peoples of the world have proven that they can successfully resist universal evil and administer fair justice.

The bitter experience of World War II forced everyone to take a fresh look at many of the problems facing humanity and understand that every person on Earth is responsible for the present and the future. The fact that the Nuremberg trials took place suggests that state leaders do not dare ignore the firmly expressed will of the people and stoop to double standards.

It seemed that all countries had bright prospects for collective and peaceful solutions to problems for a bright future without wars and violence.

But, unfortunately, humanity too quickly forgets the lessons of the past. Soon after Winston Churchill's famous Fulton speech, despite convincing collective action at Nuremberg, the victorious powers were divided into military-political blocs, and the work of the United Nations was complicated by political confrontation. The shadow of the Cold War fell over the world for many decades.

Under these conditions, forces have intensified, wanting to revise the results of the Second World War, to downgrade and even eliminate the dominant role of Soviet Union in the defeat of fascism, put an equal sign between Germany, the aggressor country, and the USSR, which waged a just war and, at the cost of enormous sacrifices, saved the world from the horrors of Nazism. 26 million 600 thousand of our compatriots died in this bloody massacre. And more than half of them - 15 million 400 thousand - were civilians.

The main prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials from the USSR, Roman Rudenko, speaks at the Palace of Justice. November 20, 1945, Germany.

A lot of publications, films, television programs, distorting historical reality. In the “works” of former brave Nazis and numerous other authors, the leaders of the Third Reich are whitewashed, or even glorified, and Soviet military leaders are denigrated - without regard to the truth and the actual course of events. In their version, the Nuremberg trials and the prosecution of war criminals in general are just an act of revenge by the victors on the vanquished. In this case, a typical technique is used - to show famous fascists at an everyday level: look, these are the most ordinary and even nice people, and not executioners and sadists at all.

For example, Reichsführer SS Himmler, the chief of the most sinister punitive agencies, appears as a gentle nature, a supporter of animal protection, a loving father of the family, who hates obscenity towards women.

Who was this “tender” nature really? Here are Himmler’s words spoken publicly: “...How the Russians feel, how the Czechs feel, I don’t care at all. Whether other peoples live in prosperity or die out of hunger, I am interested only insofar as we can use them as slaves for our culture, otherwise I don’t care at all. Whether 10 thousand Russian women will die from exhaustion during the construction of an anti-tank ditch or not, I am interested only insofar as this ditch must be built for Germany...”

This is more like the truth. This is the truth itself. The revelations fully correspond to the image of the creator of the SS - the most perfect and sophisticated repressive organization, the creator of the concentration camp system that horrifies people to this day.

There are warm colors even for Hitler. In the fantastic volume of “Hitler studies”, he is both a brave warrior of the First World War and an artistic nature - an artist, an expert on architecture, and a modest vegetarian, and an exemplary statesman. There is a point of view that if the Fuhrer German people ceased his activities in 1939, without starting the war, he would have gone down in history as the greatest politician in Germany, Europe, and the world!

But is there a force capable of freeing Hitler from responsibility for the aggressive, bloodiest and cruelest world massacre he unleashed? Of course, the positive role of the UN in the cause of post-war peace and cooperation is present, and it is absolutely indisputable. But there is no doubt that this role could have been much more significant.

Fortunately, a global clash did not take place, but military blocs often teetered on the brink. There was no end to local conflicts. Small wars broke out with considerable casualties, and terrorist regimes arose and were established in some countries.

The end of the confrontation between blocs and the emergence in the 1990s. the unipolar world order did not add resources to the United Nations. Some political scientists even express, to put it mildly, a very controversial opinion that the UN in its current form is an outdated organization that corresponds to the realities of the Second World War, but not to today’s requirements.

We have to admit that the relapses of the past are echoing more and more often in many countries these days. We live in a turbulent and unstable world, becoming more fragile and vulnerable every year. The contradictions between developed and other countries are becoming more acute. Deep cracks have appeared along the borders of cultures and civilizations.

A new, large-scale evil has emerged - terrorism, which has quickly grown into an independent global force. It has many things in common with fascism, in particular, a deliberate disregard for international and domestic law, a complete disregard for morality and the value of human life. Unexpected, unpredictable attacks, cynicism and cruelty, mass casualties sow fear and horror in countries that seemed well protected from any threat.

In its most dangerous, international form, this phenomenon is directed against the entire civilization. Already today it poses a serious threat to the development of mankind. We need a new, firm, fair word in the fight against this evil, similar to what the International Military Tribunal said to German fascism 65 years ago.

The successful experience of countering aggression and terror during the Second World War is relevant to this day. Many approaches are applicable one to another, others need rethinking and development. However, you can draw your own conclusions. Time is a harsh judge. It is absolute. Being not determined by the actions of people, it does not forgive disrespectful attitude towards the verdicts that it has already rendered once, be it a specific person or entire nations and states. Unfortunately, the hands on its dial never show humanity the vector of movement, but, inexorably counting down the moments, time willingly writes fatal letters to those who try to become familiar with it.

Yes, sometimes the not so uncompromising mother history placed the implementation of the decisions of the Nuremberg Tribunal on the very weak shoulders of politicians. Therefore, it is not surprising that the brown hydra of fascism has again raised its head in many countries of the world, and the shamanistic apologists of terrorism are recruiting more and more proselytes into their ranks every day.

The activities of the International Military Tribunal are often called the “Nuremberg epilogue”. In relation to the executed leaders of the Third Reich and dissolved criminal organizations, this metaphor is completely justified. But evil, as we see, turned out to be more tenacious than many imagined then, in 1945-1946, in the euphoria of the Great Victory. No one today can claim that freedom and democracy have been established in the world completely and irrevocably.

In this regard, the question arises: how much and what efforts are required to make concrete conclusions from the experience of the Nuremberg trials that would be translated into good deeds and become a prologue to the creation of a world order without wars and violence, based on real non-interference in the internal affairs of other states and peoples, as well as respect for individual rights...

A.G. Zvyagintsev,

preface to the book “The Main Process of Humanity.
Report from the past. Addressing the Future"

A series of films dedicated to the Nuremberg trials:

Transfer from English language

Statement International Association prosecutors on occasion
70th anniversary of the creation of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the work of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, established to try the main war criminals of the European Axis countries, the first meeting of which took place on November 20, 1945.

As a result coordinated work teams of prosecutors from the four allied powers - the Soviet Union, Great Britain, the United States and France - charged 24 Nazi leaders, eighteen of whom were convicted on October 1, 1946, in accordance with the Charter.

The Nuremberg trials were a unique event in history. For the first time, state leaders were convicted of crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The "Court of Nations", as the Nuremberg Tribunal was called, severely condemned the Nazi regime, its institutions, officials and their practices and for many years determined the vector of political and legal development.

The work of the International Military Tribunal and the Nuremberg principles formulated at that time gave impetus to the development of international humanitarian and criminal law and contributed to the creation of other mechanisms of international criminal justice.

The Nuremberg principles remain in demand in the modern globalized world, full of contradictions and conflicts that impede the provision of peace and stability.

The International Association of Prosecutors supports resolution A /RES /69/160 of December 18, 2014 of the UN General Assembly “Combating the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to the escalation of modern forms racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”, in which, in particular, calls on states accept in accordance with international standards in the field of human rights, more effective measures to combat manifestations of Nazism and extremist movements that pose a real threat to democratic values.

The International Association of Prosecutors calls on its members and other prosecutors around the world to take an active part in organizing and conducting national and international events dedicated to the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the creation of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.

(Published November 20, 2015 on the website of the International Association of Prosecutors www. iap-association. org ).

Statement

Coordinating Council of Prosecutors General

member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States

on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the verdict of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, established to try the main war criminals of Nazi Germany.

On August 8, 1945, an Agreement was signed in London between the governments of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France on the prosecution and punishment of the main war criminals of the European Axis countries, an integral part of which was the Charter of the International Military Tribunal. The first meeting of the Nuremberg Tribunal took place on November 20, 1945.

As a result of the coordinated work of prosecutors from the Soviet Union, Great Britain, the USA and France, on October 1, 1946, the majority of the accused were found guilty.

Soviet representatives, including employees of the USSR Prosecutor's Office, actively participated in the development of the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal, the preparation of the indictment and at all stages of the process.

The Nuremberg trials became the first experience in history of an international court condemning crimes of a national scale - the criminal acts of the ruling regime of Nazi Germany, its punitive institutions, and a number of senior political and military figures. He also gave a proper assessment of the criminal activities of Nazi collaborators.

The work of the International Military Tribunal serves not only as a shining example of the triumph of international justice, but also as a reminder of the inevitability of responsibility for crimes against peace and humanity.

The “Court of Nations,” as the Nuremberg Tribunal was called, had a significant impact on the subsequent political and legal development of mankind.

The principles he formulated gave impetus to the development of international humanitarian and criminal law, contributed to the creation of other mechanisms of international criminal justice and remain in demand in the modern globalized world, full of contradictions and conflicts.

Attempts made in some countries to revise the results of the Second World War, dismantling monuments to Soviet soldiers, criminal prosecution of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, rehabilitation and glorification of Nazi accomplices lead to the erosion of historical memory and pose a real threat of repetition of crimes against peace and humanity.

Coordination Council of Prosecutors General of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States:

Supports UN General Assembly resolution 70/139 of December 17, 2015 “Combating the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to the escalation of contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”, which, in particular, expresses concern regarding the glorification in any form of the Nazi movement and neo-Nazism, including through the construction of monuments, memorials and public demonstrations, noting that such practices insult the memory of the countless victims of the Second World War and harm negative impact on children and young people, and calls on States to strengthen their capacity to combat racist and xenophobic crimes, fulfill their responsibility to bring perpetrators of such crimes to justice and combat impunity;

Considers the study of historical heritage Nuremberg trials.

(Published on September 7, 2016 on the website of the Coordination Council of Prosecutors General of the CIS member states www. ksgp-cis. ru ).

The Nuremberg trials were a trial of former leaders of Hitler's Nazi state. The trial took place for almost a year in the building of the International Tribunal in Nuremberg.

How did the Nuremberg trials begin?

The history of the Nuremberg Trials follows from the history of World War II. In November 1943, representatives of three allied states - the USSR, Great Britain and the USA - signed a protocol that stipulated the responsibility of the Nazis for the crimes committed.

The final agreement on holding an international tribunal was reached after the war, during the London conference in June-August 1945. The document contained the agreement of the 23 participants in the London conference. The UN Assembly determined the principles of the tribunal's charter. At the end of August 1945, a list of 24 persons subject to international justice was published. The list included Nazi ideologues, politicians and military personnel.

Some features of the process were known even before it began. So, due to the fact that the Allies had decided in advance about the guilt of the German side, there was no question of the presumption of innocence. The whole question boiled down to determining what exactly was the guilt of a particular person and the degree of his guilt in Hitler’s crimes.

On August 2, 1945, the grounds for establishing a trial in the city of Nuremberg were officially laid out in Potsdam.

Participants in the Nuremberg Trials

The London Agreement stipulated that each Allied country had the right to appoint its own judge and accuser to the Tribunal. The members of the Tribunal included such prominent experts in criminal law as:

• I.T. Nikitchenko – representative of the USSR, deputy. Chairman of the Supreme Court of the country.
• F. Biddle, former US Attorney General.
• Chief English Judge Geoffrey Lawrence.
• Professor Henri Donnedier de Vabre, representative of the French side.

Among the main prosecutors were specialists such as the chief prosecutor of the Ukrainian SSR, Roman Rudenko, and Robert Jackson, one of the main initiators and leaders of the process.

Hitler himself was not included in the Nuremberg trials due to his established death. For the same reason, charges were not brought against his closest supporters Goebbels and Himmler. Other Nazi subordinates, whose death was not reliably established and documented, for example, Bormann, were accused in absentia. Due to incompetence, Gustav Krupp, one of the sponsors of Nazism, was also not subject to trial.

Video about the history of the Nuremberg trials

Among the defendants were Nazi ideologists (Rosenberg, Streicher), Nazi military officers, and politicians. There are many photos of the Nuremberg trials, from which you can familiarize yourself in detail with all the participants.

The essence of the charges in the Nuremberg trials

Numerous accusations were brought against Nazism. They can be classified into four main groups:

• Aggressive plans and actions. This included very specific operations, such as the invasion of the territory of Czechoslovakia, Poland, the USSR, etc., fighting against the USA in 1936-1941, as well as conducting aggressive military operations against a number of countries.
• Crimes committed against the whole world. According to the indictment, the defendants, in conspiracy with other persons, took direct part in the preparation and conduct of aggressive military operations that violated international agreements, obligations, agreements.
• War crimes. This group included numerous violations of the rights of citizens living in occupied lands, killings of prisoners of war, destruction settlements in the occupied territories without military or other necessity, forced Germanization. In addition, the transfer of civilians to forced labor in Germany was charged.
• Crimes against humanity. IN this group included accusations that the Nazis used any methods to destroy opponents of their system. This also includes crimes committed against certain groups of people, such as Jews.

The date of the Nuremberg trials was set in August 1945. It began on November 20 of the same year at 10:00 am and lasted a little less than a year, until October 1, 1946.

If we talk about the essence of the Nuremberg trials briefly, then during the process, more than 400 court hearings were held under the chairmanship of the English judge D. Lawrence. The court was presented with many documents and evidence. Some of them were shown publicly for the first time.

Among such documents, which constitute the secrets of the Nuremberg trials, are additions to the famous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, shown to the court by A. Seidl, who was Hess’s lawyer.

Other interesting facts The Nuremberg trials - the suicide of Robert Ley, committed after the indictment, but before the start of the trial, as well as the strange death of one of the Soviet prosecutors, Nikolai Zori.

The Nuremberg trials took place against the backdrop of a worsening international situation. After Churchill's speech at Fulton, the accused could expect that in the light possible war the process will lose meaning, and someone may need their experience in combat operations against the USSR. The accused, in particular Goering, tried to drag out the process as much as possible.

Before the end of the trial, the Soviet prosecutor showed a film about German concentration camps, shot by Soviet military cameramen.

Results of the Nuremberg Trials

The results of the Nuremberg trials were quite predictable. 12 people were sentenced to death. Two managed to avoid the death penalty: Bormann was sentenced in absentia due to the lack of evidence of his death, Goering committed suicide a few hours before the execution of the sentence.

Hess, Raeder and Funk were sentenced to life imprisonment. Of these, Rudolf Hess served his entire life sentence, outliving almost all Nazi leaders.

Several other Nazi leaders were sentenced to long prison sentences. Three - the famous diplomat von Papen, the propaganda representative Hans Fritzsche and the economist Hjalmar Schacht - were acquitted. They were subsequently charged in connection with other crimes by various denazification courts and were sentenced to prison terms.

Video about the secrets of the Nuremberg trials

The significance of the Nuremberg trials for the world community

The main significance of the Nuremberg trials lies in the recognition of aggression as the largest international crime. It is believed that the Nuremberg trials were a major stage in the defeat of Nazism.

The German press has repeatedly expressed doubts that these prosecutors and judges can be impartial participants in the process. For example, the Soviet prosecutor Roman Rudenko in 1937-38 was a prosecutor and a member of the “troika” in the Donetsk region.

Doubts were also expressed about the legality of bringing charges of “crimes against humanity.” According to German lawyers, similar charges can be brought against participants in the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The consequences of the process are still felt today. In 1950, the Nuremberg principles were developed, which later formed the basis of the International Criminal Court. There are seven principles:

1. A person who has committed an action recognized by world law as a crime must be held accountable.
2. If internal criminal law If any country does not provide punishment for this crime, this does not relieve the accused from responsibility before an international court.
3. If the crime was committed when the accused was the head of state or a major official, this also does not exempt him from responsibility.
4. If the offender acted on the orders of his immediate superiors, this also does not exempt him from responsibility, provided there was a conscious choice.
5. All those accused of international crimes can count on a fair and impartial consideration of their case, taking into account all the necessary facts.

International legal crimes, according to the Nuremberg principles, include crimes of which officials of the Hitler regime were accused - crimes against peace, humanity, and also those committed during the war, but not justified by military necessity.

The Nuremberg principles are also reflected in the domestic criminal codes of a number of countries. In particular, in the Criminal Code of Russia such crimes are reflected in Art. 353-359.

The main significance of the Nuremberg trials was the creation of an international tribunal over representatives of a single state and the recognition that the world community can also pass sentences for a number of crimes. The trial against fascism won the Nuremberg trials.

Do you think the decisions of the Nuremberg trials were fair? And what do you think about this process in general? Share your opinion on

Held in Nuremberg (Germany) from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946 at the International Military Tribunal, which was created by the London Agreement of August 8, 1945 between the governments of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France (19 more states joined it).

The role of the USSR at the beginning of the process.

The main initiative to create the International Military Tribunal belonged to the Soviet Union. Back on October 30, 1943, the Moscow Declaration on the responsibility of the Nazis for the atrocities committed, signed by the USSR, USA and Great Britain, was adopted. The declaration contained a warning that German soldiers and officers and members Nazi Party those responsible for the atrocities, murders and executions committed in the countries they temporarily occupied will be sent back to those countries to be tried for their crimes. Big role The Extraordinary State Commission, created on November 2, 1942 in the USSR, played a role in collecting documentary data, checking and systematizing all materials about the atrocities of Nazi criminals and material damage. The commission published 27 reports of atrocities committed on Soviet and Polish territory, and collected over 250 thousand protocols for interviewing witnesses, which were useful during the Nuremberg trials.

Creation of the tribunal.

The London Agreement of 1945 provided that the main war criminals would be punished by a joint decision of the allied governments, for which the International Military Tribunal was created, whose activities were regulated by the charter adopted on December 20, 1945. Involvement in international criminal liability individuals was first put into practice within the framework of Nuremberg. Prior to this, the principle was in effect that only states, as the only subjects of international law, could bear international responsibility. The verdict of the international military tribunal stated: “Crimes against international law are committed by people, not by abstract categories, and only by punishing individuals who commit such crimes can the provisions of international law be respected.” The Charter of the International Military Tribunal reflected a special classification of crimes against humanity:

1) Crimes against peace - planning, preparing, unleashing or waging aggressive war or war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances or participation in in general terms or conspiracy to carry out any of the above acts;

2) War crimes - violation of the laws and customs of war; killing, torturing or enslaving or for other purposes the civilian population of the occupied territories; killing or torturing prisoners of war or persons at sea; murder of hostages, robbery of public or private property; wanton destruction of cities or villages; devastation not justified by military necessity, etc.

3) Crimes against humanity - murder, extermination, enslavement, exile and other cruelties committed against civilians, before or during the war, or persecution on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the tribunal , regardless of whether these actions were a violation of the internal law of the country where they were committed or not.

The tribunal was formed from representatives of four states that signed the London Agreement, each state appointed a member of the tribunal and his deputy: from the USSR - I.T. Nikitchenko and A.F. Volchkov: from the USA - Francis Biddle and John J. Parker; from Great Britain - Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence (members of the tribunal elected him as presiding officer) and Norman Briquette; from France - Henri Donnedier de Vabre and Robert Falco. The prosecution was organized on the same basis. The main prosecutors were appointed: from the USSR - R.A. Rudenko; from the USA - Robert H. Jackson; from Great Britain - Hartley Shawcross; from France - Francois de Menton (from January 1946 - Auguste Champetier de Ribes). The prosecution was supported (presented evidence, interrogated witnesses and defendants, gave conclusions) by deputies and assistants to the main prosecutors (from the USSR - Yu.V. Pokrovsky, N.D. Zorya, M.Yu. Raginsky, L.N. Smirnov and L.R. .Sheinin). The Tribunal met in the building of the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg.

Criminals appearing before the tribunal.

24 war criminals who were part of the leadership of the Third Reich were put on trial: - Reichsmarschall, Commander-in-Chief air force Hitler's Germany, Commissioner for the Four-Year Plan, Hitler's closest assistant since 1922, organizer and leader of the assault troops (SA), one of the organizers of the Reichstag fire and the Nazi seizure of power; - Hitler's deputy in the fascist party, minister without portfolio, member of the Privy Council, member of the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Empire; Joachim von Ribbentrop - fascist party commissioner for foreign policy, then ambassador to England and foreign minister; Robert Ley is one of the prominent leaders of the fascist party, the leader of the so-called “labor front”; Wilhelm Keitel - Field Marshal, Chief of Staff of the German Armed Forces (OKW); Ernst Kaltenbrunner - SS Obergruppenführer, head of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) and head of the Security Police, Himmler's closest assistant; Alfred Rosenberg - Hitler's deputy for "spiritual and ideological" training of members of the Nazi Party, Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories; Hans Frank - Reichsleiter of the Nazi Party legal issues and President of the German Academy of Law, then Reich Minister of Justice, Governor General of Poland; Wilhelm Frick - Imperial Minister of the Interior, Protector of Bohemia and Moravia; Julius Streicher - one of the organizers of the fascist party, Gauleiter of Franconia (1925-1940), organizer of Jewish pogroms in Nuremberg, publisher of the daily anti-Semitic newspaper "Der Sturmer", "ideologist" of anti-Semitism; Walter Funk - Deputy Reich Minister of Propaganda, then Reich Minister of Economics, President of the Reichsbank and Plenipotentiary General for War Economics, member of the Council of Ministers for Reich Defense and member of the Central Planning Committee; Hjalmar Schacht - Hitler's main adviser on economics and finance; Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach - the largest industrial magnate, director and co-owner of Krupp factories, organizer of the rearmament of the German army; Karl Doenitz - Grand Admiral, Commander of the Submarine Fleet, then Commander-in-Chief naval forces Germany and Hitler's successor as head of state; Erich Raeder - Grand Admiral, former commander in chief German Navy (1935-1943), Admiral Inspector of the Navy; Baldur von Schirach - organizer and leader of Hitler's youth organization "Hitler Youth", Gauleiter of the Nazi Party and Imperial Governor of Vienna; Fritz Sauckel - SS Obergruppenführer, General Commissioner for the Use of Labor; Alfred Jodl - Colonel General, Chief of Staff - Operational Leadership of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces; Franz von Papen - the largest international spy and saboteur, the leader of German espionage in the United States during the First World War, one of the organizers of the Nazi seizure of power, was envoy in Vienna and ambassador to Turkey; Seyss-Inquart - a prominent leader of the fascist party, imperial governor of Austria, deputy governor-general of Poland, imperial commissioner for the occupied Netherlands; Albert Speer - a close friend of Hitler, Reich Minister of Arms and Munitions, one of the leaders of the central planning committee; Constantin von Neurath - Reich Minister without Portfolio, Chairman of the Privy Council of Ministers and Member of the Reich Defense Council, Protector of Bohemia and Moravia; Hans Fritsche - Goebbels' closest collaborator, head of the internal press department of the Ministry of Propaganda, then head of the radio broadcasting department; Martin Bormann, head of the party chancellery, secretary and closest adviser to Hitler, went into hiding and was tried in absentia.

Progress of the process.

During the Nuremberg trials, 403 court hearings were held, at which the defendants (with the exception of Hess and Frick) testified, 116 witnesses were questioned, and over 5 thousand documentary evidence was examined. The Russian text of the transcript of the trial amounted to 39 volumes, or 20,228 pages. All court hearings were held openly; everything said at trial was transcribed, and the transcripts were handed over to prosecutors and defense attorneys the next day. 249 correspondents of newspapers, magazines and other media accredited by the tribunal mass media covered the progress of the process. More than 60 thousand passes were issued to the public.

The process was conducted simultaneously in four languages, incl. in German. The defendants enjoyed ample opportunities for legal defense and had lawyers of their choice (some even had two). Prosecutors provided the defense with copies of evidentiary documents in German, assisted lawyers in finding and obtaining documents, and in delivering witnesses. During the trial, an atmosphere of strict observance of the law was created; there was not a single fact of violation of the rights of the defendants provided for by the Charter. Much of the evidence presented to the Tribunal by the Prosecution was documentary evidence captured by the Allied armies from German army headquarters, government buildings, concentration camps and other places. Some of the documents were supposed to be destroyed, but were discovered in salt mines, buried in the ground, hidden behind false walls and in other places. Thus, the accusation against the defendants is based largely on documents compiled by them, the authenticity of which was not disputed, except in one or two cases.

Sentence.

On October 1, 1946, the verdict of the International Military Tribunal was announced. Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Kalterbrunner, Streicher, Jodl, Sauckel, Seyss-Inquart and Bormann (in absentia) were sentenced to death by hanging; to life imprisonment - Hess, Funk and Raeder; to imprisonment for 20 years - Schirach and Speer, 15 years - Neurath and 10 years - Doenitz. Schacht, Papen and Fritsche were acquitted. Ley, having received a copy of the indictment, committed suicide in his prison cell; Krupp was declared terminally ill, and therefore the case against him was suspended and subsequently terminated due to his death. Member of the tribunal from the USSR I.T. Nikitchenko expressed a dissenting opinion on the verdict regarding the defendants Schacht, Papen, Fritsche and Hess and the accused organizations (the tribunal did not recognize the government cabinet of Nazi Germany, the general staff and the high command of the German armed forces as criminal organizations).

A number of convicts filed petitions: Goering, Hess, Ribbentrop, Sauckel, Jodl, Keitel, Seyss-Inquart, Funk, Doenitz and Neurath for pardon; Raeder - on replacing life imprisonment with the death penalty; Goering, Jodl and Keitel - about replacing hanging with shooting if the request for clemency is not granted. After the Control Council for Germany rejected requests for clemency, the death penalty was carried out on the night of October 16, 1946. The bodies of those executed and Goering, who committed suicide an hour before the execution, were photographed and then burned, and their ashes scattered to the wind.

The Tribunal recognized the leadership of the NSDAP as criminal organizations (limiting the circle of officials and party organizations adjacent to the political leadership), the state secret police (Gestapo), the security service (SD, with the exception of persons performing purely clerical, stenographic, economic, technical work), security detachments of the German National Socialist Party SS (general SS, SS troops, “Totenkopf” formations and SS men of any kind of police services).

War criminals continued to be prosecuted after the Nuremberg trials as they were discovered; statutes of limitations do not apply to them. The Convention on the Inapplicability of Statutes to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity was adopted by the UN General Assembly on November 26, 1968.

Having convicted the main Nazi criminals, the International Military Tribunal recognized aggression as the gravest crime of an international character. The Nuremberg trials are sometimes called the "Trial of History" because they had a significant impact on the final defeat of Nazism. It exposed the misanthropic essence of fascism, its plans for the physical extermination of tens of millions of people, the destruction of entire peoples and states. During the trial, the monstrous atrocities of the Nazis in concentration camps, in which over 12 million people were exterminated, including civilian population.

Goering in the dock at the Nuremberg trials

On October 1, 1946, the verdict of the International Military Tribunal was announced in Nuremberg, condemning the main war criminals. It is often called the “Court of History”. It was not only one of the largest trials in human history, but also a major milestone in the development of international law. The Nuremberg trials legally secured the final defeat of fascism.

In the dock:

For the first time, the criminals who made the entire state criminal were found and suffered severe punishment. The initial list of accused included:

1. Hermann Wilhelm Goering (German: Hermann Wilhelm Göring), Reichsmarshal, Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force
2. Rudolf Hess (German: Rudolf Heß), Hitler's deputy for leadership of the Nazi Party.
3. Joachim von Ribbentrop (German: Ullrich Friedrich Willy Joachim von Ribbentrop), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany.
4. Robert Ley (German: Robert Ley), head of the Labor Front
5. Wilhelm Keitel (German: Wilhelm Keitel), Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces.
6. Ernst Kaltenbrunner (German: Ernst Kaltenbrunner), head of the RSHA.
7. Alfred Rosenberg (German: Alfred Rosenberg), one of the main ideologists of Nazism, Reich Minister for Eastern Territories.
8. Hans Frank (German: Dr. Hans Frank), head of the occupied Polish lands.
9. Wilhelm Frick (German: Wilhelm Frick), Reich Minister of the Interior.
10. Julius Streicher (German: Julius Streicher), Gauleiter, editor-in-chief anti-Semitic newspaper "Stormtrooper" (German: Der Stürmer - Der Sturmer).
11. Hjalmar Schacht, Reich Minister of Economics before the war.
12. Walter Funk (German: Walther Funk), Minister of Economics after Schacht.
13. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (German: Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach), head of the Friedrich Krupp concern.
14. Karl Doenitz (German: Karl Dönitz), admiral of the fleet of the Third Reich.
15. Erich Raeder (German: Erich Raeder), Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.
16. Baldur von Schirach (German: Baldur Benedikt von Schirach), head of the Hitler Youth, Gauleiter of Vienna.
17. Fritz Sauckel (German: Fritz Sauckel), head of forced deportations to the Reich of labor from occupied territories.
18. Alfred Jodl (German: Alfred Jodl), Chief of Staff of the OKW Operations Command
19. Franz von Papen (German: Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen), Chancellor of Germany before Hitler, then ambassador to Austria and Turkey.
20. Arthur Seyß-Inquart (German: Dr. Arthur Seyß-Inquart), Chancellor of Austria, then Imperial Commissioner of occupied Holland.
21. Albert Speer (German: Albert Speer), Reich Minister of Armaments.
22. Konstantin von Neurath (German: Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath), in the first years of Hitler's reign, Minister of Foreign Affairs, then governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
23. Hans Fritzsche (German: Hans Fritzsche), head of the press and broadcasting department at the Ministry of Propaganda.

Twenty-fourth - Martin Bormann (German: Martin Bormann), head of the party chancellery, was accused in absentia. Groups or organizations to which the defendants belonged were also charged.

The investigation and the essence of the accusation

Shortly after the end of the war, the victorious countries of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France, during the London Conference, approved the Agreement on the establishment of the International Military Tribunal and its Charter, the principles of which were approved by the UN General Assembly as generally recognized in the fight against crimes against humanity. On August 29, 1945, a list of major war criminals was published, including 24 prominent Nazis. The charges brought against them included the following:

Nazi Party Plans

• -Use of Nazi control for aggression against foreign countries.
• -Aggressive actions against Austria and Czechoslovakia.
• -Attack on Poland.
• -Aggressive war against the whole world (1939-1941).
• -German invasion of the territory of the USSR in violation of the non-aggression pact of August 23, 1939.
• -Collaboration with Italy and Japan and aggressive war against the United States (November 1936 - December 1941).

Crimes against peace

"All of the defendants and various other persons, for a number of years prior to May 8, 1945, participated in the planning, preparation, initiation and conduct of aggressive wars, which were also wars in violation of international treaties, agreements and obligations."

War crimes

• -Killings and ill-treatment of civilians in occupied territories and on the high seas.

• -Removal of the civilian population of the occupied territories into slavery and for other purposes.
• -Killings and cruel treatment of prisoners of war and military personnel of countries with which Germany was at war, as well as persons sailing on the high seas.
• -Aimless destruction of large and small cities and villages, devastation not justified by military necessity.
• -Germanization of the occupied territories.

Crimes against humanity

• -The defendants pursued a policy of persecution, repression and extermination of the enemies of the Nazi government. The Nazis imprisoned people without trial, subjected them to persecution, humiliation, enslavement, torture, and killed them.

On October 18, 1945, the indictment was received by the International Military Tribunal and a month before the start of the trial, it was handed to each of the accused in German. On November 25, 1945, after reading the indictment, Robert Ley committed suicide, and Gustav Krupp was recognized medical commission terminally ill, and the case against him was dropped pending trial.

The remaining accused were brought to trial.

Court

In accordance with the London Agreement, the International Military Tribunal was formed on a parity basis from representatives of four countries. The British representative, Lord J. Lawrence, was appointed chief judge. From other countries, members of the tribunal were approved:

• - from the USSR: Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union, Major General of Justice I. T. Nikitchenko.
• -from the USA: former Attorney General of the country F. Biddle.
• -from France: professor of criminal law A. Donnedier de Vabre.

Each of the 4 countries sent its main prosecutors, their deputies and assistants to the trial:

• - from the USSR: Prosecutor General of the Ukrainian SSR R. A. Rudenko.
• - from the USA: member of the federal Supreme Court Robert Jackson.
• -from UK: Hartley Shawcross
• -from France: François de Menton, who was absent during the first days of the trial and was replaced by Charles Dubost, and then Champentier de Ribes was appointed instead of de Menton.

The trial lasted ten months in Nuremberg. A total of 216 court hearings were held. Each side presented evidence of crimes committed by Nazi criminals.

Due to the unprecedented gravity of the crimes committed by the defendants, doubts arose whether democratic norms of legal proceedings would be observed in relation to them. For example, representatives of the prosecution from England and the USA proposed not to give the defendants last word. However, the French and Soviet sides insisted on the opposite.

The trial was tense not only because of the unusual nature of the tribunal itself and the charges brought against the defendants.

The post-war aggravation of relations between the USSR and the West after Churchill’s famous Fulton speech also had an effect, and the defendants, sensing the current political situation, skillfully played for time and hoped to escape their well-deserved punishment. In such difficult situation The tough and professional actions of the Soviet prosecution played a key role. The film about concentration camps, shot by front-line cameramen, finally turned the tide of the process. The terrible pictures of Majdanek, Sachsenhausen, Auschwitz completely removed the doubts of the tribunal.

Court verdict

The International Military Tribunal sentenced:

• -To death by hanging: Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Seyss-Inquart, Bormann (in absentia), Jodl (was posthumously acquitted during a review of the case by a Munich court in 1953).
• -To life imprisonment: Hess, Funk, Raeder.
• - To 20 years in prison: Schirach, Speer.
• -To 15 years in prison: Neurata.
• -To 10 years in prison: Denitsa.
• -Acquitted: Fritsche, Papen, Schacht.

The Soviet side protested in connection with the acquittal of Papen, Fritsche, Schacht and the non-application of the death penalty to Hess.
The Tribunal found the SS, SD, SA, Gestapo and the leadership of the Nazi Party criminal. The decision to recognize the Supreme Command and the General Staff as criminal was not made, which caused disagreement from a member of the tribunal from the USSR.

Most of the convicts filed petitions for clemency; Raeder - on replacing life imprisonment with the death penalty; Goering, Jodl and Keitel - about replacing hanging with shooting if the request for clemency is not granted. All of these requests were rejected.
The death penalty was carried out on the night of October 16, 1946 in the Nuremberg prison building. Goering poisoned himself in prison shortly before his execution.

The sentence was carried out "by at will"American Sergeant John Wood.

Sentenced to life imprisonment, Funk and Raeder were pardoned in 1957. After Speer and Schirach were released in 1966, only Hess remained in prison. The right-wing forces of Germany repeatedly demanded to pardon him, but the victorious powers refused to commute the sentence. On August 17, 1987, Hess was found hanged in his cell.

Results and conclusions

The Nuremberg Tribunal, having created a precedent for the jurisdiction of senior government officials by an international court, refuted the medieval principle “Kings are subject to the jurisdiction only of God.” It was with the Nuremberg trials that the history of international criminal law began. The principles enshrined in the Charter of the Tribunal were soon confirmed by decisions of the UN General Assembly as generally recognized principles of international law. Having convicted the main Nazi criminals, the International Military Tribunal recognized aggression as the gravest crime of an international character.

trial of a group of leading Germans. military criminals, held in Nuremberg from November 20. 1945 to 1 Oct. 1946; prepared and carried out established for this purpose (by virtue of the agreement of August 8, 1945 between the governments of Great Britain, the USSR, the USA and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, which was joined by a number of other states) International. military tribunal. Goering, Hess, Ribbentrop, Ley, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Funk, Schacht, Gustav Krupp, Doenitz, Raeder, Schirach, Sauckel, Jodl, Papen, Seys-Inquart, Speer, Neurath, Fritsche and Bormann (Hitler committed suicide in April, Goebbels and Himmler in May 1945). Shortly before the start of the trial, Ley hanged himself, Gustav Krupp was declared terminally ill, and the case against him was suspended; Borman was not found, and he was tried in absentia. According to the accuser. conclusion, the defendants were charged with committing crimes against peace by planning, preparing, unleashing and waging aggressive wars in violation of international laws. treaties, agreements and guarantees, military. crimes and crimes against humanity. The tribunal also considered the issue of recognizing as criminal such organizations of the Hitlerite state as the Imperial Cabinet (Reich Government), the leadership of the Nazi Party, the SS (Nazi “security squads”), CA (assault squads), SD (security service), Gestapo, General Staff, High Command, etc. The accusation was supported by representatives of four states - Great Britain, the USSR, the USA and France. The process lasted approx. 11 months 403 open court hearings were held, at which, in addition to the defendants, 116 prosecution and defense witnesses were questioned. 143 defense witnesses testified by submitting written responses to interrogatories. 30 Sep. - 1 Oct. 1946 The verdict was announced. The Tribunal found the defendants guilty of carrying out a conspiracy to prepare and wage aggressive wars against peace-loving peoples, of violating international law. treaties and agreements, in the commission of pre-planned wars. crimes accompanied by cruelty and terror on a huge scale, in crimes against humanity (destruction of peoples on racial and national grounds). The peoples of the USSR were one of the main targets of these heinous crimes. The tribunal sentenced Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Jodl, Seys-Inquart and Bormann (in absentia) to death by hanging; Hess, Funk and Raeder - to life imprisonment; Schirach and Speer - to 20 years, Neurath - to 15 years and Doenitz - to 10 years in prison. The Tribunal declared the leadership of the National Socialist Party, SS, SD and Gestapo to be criminal organizations. But in connection with the position taken by representatives of England, the USA and France, the tribunal did not make a decision on recognizing the Hitlerite government, the high command and the general staff as criminal organizations (indicating that members of these organizations could be brought to trial individually) and acquitted Fritsche, Papen and Schacht (the acquittal of Schacht was used by the Western powers as a precedent when sentencing the leaders of German monopolies). A member of the tribunal from the USSR expressed disagreement with the tribunal’s decision not to recognize the above-mentioned organizations as criminal, with the acquittal of Shakht, Papen and Fritsche, as well as with the insufficient punishment of Hess. Military prisoners sentenced to death. the criminals (with the exception of Goering, who committed suicide 2.5 hours before execution) were on the night of October 16. 1946 were hanged in the building of the Nuremberg prison, their bodies were burned, and their ashes were scattered on the ground. N. p. - the first international in the history. a trial of a group of criminals who took possession of an entire state and made the state itself an instrument of monstrous crimes. The verdict passed by the International military tribunal, for the first time in legal. practice condemned by the state. figures responsible for the aggression. This was the first international international military trial criminals. Principles of international the rights reflected in this verdict were confirmed in the resolution of the General. UN Assembly of 11 December. 1946. Having exposed the monstrous crimes of the Germans. fascism and militarism, N. p. showed the danger that its revival brings to the peoples of the whole world. Materials N. p. - one of the most important sources history of the 2nd World War. On the basis of these and other materials, Erich Koch (in Poland) and in 1961 Adolf Eichmann (in Israel) were brought to trial and sentenced to death in 1959, one of Adenauer’s closest collaborators was exposed and forced to resign in 1963 Hans Globke (in 1963 convicted in absentia by the Supreme Court of the GDR) and in 1960 min. Producer of Germany Theodor Oberländer. These materials were also used in the trials against the Nazis. criminals who took place in various countries. The fascists brought to trial suffered their well-deserved punishment. criminals in the GDR. However, at the trials that took place in Germany, Fasc. criminals were given unreasonably lenient sentences, which contradicts the principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal. These principles are also contradicted by the refusal of the German authorities to bring tens of thousands of fascists to trial. criminals, many of whom took high positions in the government. apparatus, the Bundeswehr, the police, the courts and the prosecutor's office of the Federal Republic of Germany. These principles are also contradicted by the attempt of the Federal Republic of Germany to amnesty all Nazi criminals (1965) and the subsequent limitation of the statute of limitations for prosecution of Nazis in 1969, which followed its failure. Defense of the principles of N.P. is one of the forms of struggle against the forces of aggression and reaction. Documents: Nuremberg trial of the main war criminals. Sat. materials, vol. 1-7, M., 1957-61; Nuremberg trials... Sat. materials, vol. 1-, M., 1965-. Lit.: Volchkov A.F. and Poltorak A.I., Principles of the Nuremberg verdict and international law, "Soviet state and law", 1957, No. 1; Ivanova I.M., Nuremberg principles in international. law, in the same place, 1960, No. 8; Poltorak A.I., Nuremberg epilogue, M., 1965; his, Nuremberg Trials, M., 1966. A. I. Ioyrysh. Moscow.