Cell doors were never opened when food was distributed. Several were militaristically aloof and looked down upon those they considered to be the mere political element. I do remember that Schacht, like most of the others, steadfastly maintained his innocence, never admitting to guilt in any form. [219][220] The German public took the early releases as confirmation of what they saw as the illegitimacy of the trials. Many of the prisoners never accepted the fact that they were no longer on top of the world. 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. The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II.. [2] They were indicted for: [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. Soldiers in tank stand guard in front of the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg where the International Military Tribunal . Once the IMT established the criminality of aggressive war, war . Nikitchenko, the Soviet member, took place on October 18, 1945, in Berlin. 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. For example, Baldur von Schirach, former head of the Hitler Youth, was known only as Number 1. He was a physical fitness fanatic who threw his cell window open in mid-winter and splashed toilet water over his bare chest and then did pushups, before meals, after meals, most any time, over and over. Still others displayed docile and taciturn mannerisms and personalities. [108][109], On 12 December, Shawcross gave the opening speech for the British. But Woods, an almost charmingly hapless man with a checkered. Prestianni and another guard handcuffed Streicher and walked him silently to the gallows chamber, where they rapped on the door with their truncheons. 1 They were convened under the authority of Control Council Law No.. His daily diary notes culminated in a book after his release. In addition to this brass pot I have three skeleton keys to the cells that held the Nazi war criminals, as well as a pair of wooden spoons used by them. Only Speer stood in the courtroom showing some remorse and, in an act of contrition, admitted his guilt and knowledge of the camps. I have a brass pot, called an aspersorium, obtained by my father. [228] The most controversial charge was crimes against peace. [188] The Office of Chief Counsel for War Crimes identified 2,500 major war criminals, of whom 177 were tried. [84][85] The American prosecution drew on reports of the Office of Strategic Services and information provided by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the American Jewish Committee. The judgement argued that aggressive war had already been illegal, even if no one had been punished for it, and therefore the German leaders could not count on immunity from prosecution. [79] Initially, the Americans had planned to try fourteen organizations and their leaders, but this was narrowed to six: the Reich Cabinet, the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, the Gestapo, the SA, the SS and the SD, and the General Staff and High Command of the Wehrmacht. jkeller, Aug 11, 2010 #16. macrusk Proud Daughter of a Canadian WWII Veteran. My dad was a guard at the trials he had a Picture of himself standing behind the prisoners he died at 86 in 2015 the picture is gone and he never wanted to talk about he was a sgt and received a purple heart. Other Units at Nuremberg were The US Constabulary, the 793rd MP . 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. Koch was later tried at Buchenwald and sentenced to life imprisonment. Another, Hermann Goring, opted to commit . Second, it rejected the argument that the trial and adjudication were ex post facto. Some of these camps, such as Treblinka, were death camps, intended to kill every prisoner that passed through their gates. Ambassador-Plenipotentiary 193536. Courtesy Emily Aho Around Memorial Day of 2000, Emily Aho took her then 75-year-old father, Emilio "Leo". Prestianni said of von Neurath, He looked like the movie version of a Prussian general with his mop of white hair and erect bearing. Series of military trials at the end of World War II, This article is about the series of international trials. [145], Despite the fact that the charter did not recognize a tu quoque defense, such arguments were repeatedly raised during the trial. list of guards at nuremberg trialsdelpark homes sutton list of guards at nuremberg trials. 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. [65], Some of the most prominent NazisAdolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbelshad committed suicide and therefore could not be tried. The guards at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials The guards at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials Accession Number 72-850 7.25x9.5 inches Black & White Printer-Friendly Version Order This Image Keywords Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946 Soldiers HST Keywords Nurnberg Trials; Germany - Nurnberg 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. The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy. The IMT focused on the crime of aggressionplotting and waging aggressive war, which the verdict declared "the supreme international crime" because "it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole". He often went for hours without speaking to anyone. Twelve further trials were conducted by the United States against lower-level perpetrators, which focused more on the Holocaust. They were told they would be part of history. Frick, one of Hitlers closest advisers during the early years of the Nazi regime, was one of those hanged. He was able to get to get the Hitler peoples autographs. star wars fanfiction terran alliance; when a girl says i'll keep that in mind; hillsborough disaster who was to blame; how to get into stanford with a low gpa [67] Also prosecuted were leaders of the German economy, such as Gustav Krupp (of the conglomerate Krupp AG), former Reichsbank president Hjalmar Schacht, and economic planners Albert Speer and Walther Funk, along with Speer's subordinate and head of the forced labor program, Fritz Sauckel. Although controversial at the time for their use of ex post facto law, the trials' innovation of holding individuals responsible for violations of international law established international criminal law. He was quiet by nature and spent much of his time writing his memoirs. [39] Besides legal professionals, there were many social-science researchers, psychologists, translators and interpreters, and graphic designers, the latter to make the many charts used during the trial. He was the popular picture court room scene the second on the left of the door. Had I known just who these prisoners were at the time and what they had been accused and convicted of having done, I probably would not have had such a close relationship with them. Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Law Library. During the months of imprisonment, the brisk gait of some of the prisoners gradually evolved into defeatist, head-bowed shuffling as acceptance of their fate gradually wore them down and eroded their will. The Nuernberg trial records include transcripts of proceedings . -. Alfred Rosenberg, Joachim von Ribbentrop and others were condemned on 16th October, 1946. I tried to treat each prisoner without rancor.. During the Nuremberg Trial, American guards maintain constant surveillance over the major Nazi war criminals in the prisonattached to the Palace of Justice. [130] The defense presented evidence of Soviet responsibility,[131] and Katyn was not mentioned in the verdict. [173] The war crimes and crimes-against-humanity charges held up the best, with only two defendants who were charged being acquitted on those charges. Examine the Nrnberg (Nuremberg) trials of formerleaders of Nazi Germany for war crimes, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/Nurnberg-trials, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Holocaust Encyclopedia - The Nuremberg Trials, Famous Trials - Nuremberg Trials (1945-49), Nuremberg Trials - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Nuremberg trials - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Konstantin von Neurath at the Nrnberg trials, Ernst Kaltenbrunner at the Nrnberg trials. Number 5 was Albert Speer, Hitlers personal architect and confidant. Despite this precaution, such limited, semiamicable relationships did exist. She was released after four years and eventually committed suicide in a Bavarian prison. I tried to judge them myself, not by what others said of them. The Nazis constructed 20 main concentration camps in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Estonia, and Lithuania. I sure would like to find out more about his service. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The 3rd Battalion of the 26th Infantry Reg., "Blue Spaders," of the 1st Infantry Division were chosen to secure the historic Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Jackson. In July 2020, Dey was found guilty and given a two . Those men who liberated the camps of the Holocau. [92], The International Military Tribunal began trial on 20 November 1945,[93] after postponement requests from the Soviet prosecution, who wanted more time to prepare its case, were rejected. Eighteen-inch rectangular holes were cut from the heavy, oaken cell doors, slightly below eye level. Omissions? These sketches were given to guards who requested them and to prison officials. The trial started in November 1945. Others subjected inmates to horrific experiments and torture. [41][42], The United States' chief prosecutor was Supreme Court justice Robert H. Nazi, Alfred Rosenberg, lies dead on a casket following his execution after the Nuremberg 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. We were given strict orders to have no contact whatsoever with these women, no conversation, no nothing and to stay well away from them, noted Prestianni. 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. [67] Former Nazis were allowed to serve as counsel[45] and by mid-November all defendants had lawyers. The authority of the International Military Tribunal to conduct these trials stemmed from the London Agreement of August 8, 1945. Stahmer fought hard for his clie. [146][148] Six defendants were charged with the German invasion of Norway, and their lawyers argued that this invasion was undertaken to prevent a British invasion; a cover-up prevented the defense from capitalizing on this argument. . events, and resources, Michael Prestianni: Guarding the War Criminals at Nuremberg. Speer was a favorite of the guards. [134] The second film included footage of the liberation of Majdanek and the liberation of Auschwitz and was considered even more disturbing than the American concentration camp film. The Nuremberg Trials were 13 trials held in Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II. The Nuremberg Trials: Complete Tribunal Proceedings (V. 4): Trial Proceedings From 17th December 1945 to 8th January 1946 by International Military Tribunal (shelved 1 time as nuremberg-trial) avg rating 0.0 0 ratings published Want to Read Rate this book 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars These were the intellectuals; the ramrod-stiff military officers; the cunning politicians; the worlds most vicious, depraved, notorious mass murderers; an architect; a filthy-minded and sex-obsessed anti-Semitic newspaper publisher; a gentle writer of poetry; the bombastic bullies; an unrepentant, ghost-like figure; the subservient military lackeys; and even their self-appointed leader, a bloated, drug-addicted former war hero. The tribunal consisted of a member plus an alternate selected by each of the four signatory countries. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [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. [194] Luftwaffe general Erhard Milch was tried for using slave labor and deporting civilians. 125. He guarded the prisoners in their cells and also stood guard in the court room. [9] The prosecutors attempted to substitute his son in the indictment, but the judges rejected this due to proximity to trial. Answer (1 of 5): None of the footage I have seen of the trials revealed anyone but American MPs. He looked like a gaunt corpse, like a ghost. The SA, the Reich Cabinet, and the General Staff and High Command were not ruled to be criminal organizations. Dads birthday. These visits usually were brief, and participants were separated by a screen. [36][35] On 8 August, the Nuremberg Charter was signed in London. [6][7] Trainin's ideas were reprinted in the West and widely adopted. All of those with whom I came in contact spoke flawless English, he remembered. Later. He was strictly military during the three months I observed him. In this capacity, he was ultimately responsible for the use of slave laborers from the occupied territories in armaments production. Corrections? While on duty, guards carried no weapons, only wooden truncheons. Let me have that again, please. He could never understand why he had been tried for war crimes. On the night he was to be hanged, Streicher gave Prestianni a signed, handwritten note after supper. [2] German aggression was accompanied by immense brutality in occupied areas and the systematic murder of millions of Jews in the Holocaust. [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. Like the Nazis, he was afraid (rightly) that his "God" would kill him if he refused. Nrnberg trials, Nrnberg also spelled Nuremberg, series of trials held in Nrnberg, Germany, in 194546, in which former Nazi leaders were indicted and tried as war criminals by the International Military Tribunal. He has little or no memory of the six remaining defendants, Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach, Labor Front head Robert Ley, Minister of Economics Walther Funk, Plenipotentiary for Labor Deployment Fritz Sauckel, propagandist Hans Fritzsche, or Artur Seys-Inquart, the administrator of the occupied Netherlands. One of the new USA light tanks (M24) on guard outside the courthouse at Nuremberg. They had a profound affect on my dad, who always said, I would never want to be killed by hanging. Yet, the constables who allegedly murdered my Dad did just that. , That used to shut him up but usually only for a few minutes, and then he would start up again with the jokes. [56][57] After this division of formulating the charges, the British and American delegations decided to work jointly in drafting the charges of conspiracy to wage aggressive war. The door was opened just enough to allow Streicher to enter. Hans Frank, known as the Slayer of Poles, was small, outwardly arrogant, and had a cruel face, Prestianni revealed. The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials tried major war criminals, but of lower ranks than those tried in the first trial. Home; Services; New Patient Center. Following the Second World War, many concentration camps such as Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz were liberated. [60] Conspiracy charges were especially central to the cases against propagandists and industrialists; the former were charged with providing the ideological justification for war and other crimes, while the latter were accused of economic mobilization without which no war would have been possible. The requested reassignments were generally granted.. [13] Planners in the United States Department of War were drawing up plans for an international tribunal in late 1944 and early 1945. [86] Overall, the prosecution called 37 witnesses compared to the defense's 83, not including 19 defendants who testified on their own behalf. [3] War losses in the Soviet Union alone included 27 million dead, mostly civilians, which was .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}17th of the prewar population. Gerald lives in MN. [172] All 22 defendants were charged with crimes against peace, and 12 were convicted. He was released in 1966. [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. On October 1, 1946, the International Military Tribunal handed down its verdicts in the trials of 22 Nazi leaders - eleven were given the death penalty, three were acquitted, three were given life imprisonment and four were given imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years. Schacht had been imprisoned in July 1944, under suspicion of being part of an assassination conspiracy against Hitler. [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. Some were convicted of historys most barbaric crimes against humanity. [117] The French prosecutors, more than their British or American counterparts, emphasized the guilt of the German people;[118] they barely mentioned the charge of aggressive war and instead focused on forced labor, economic plunder, massacres, and Germanization. Because of the tragic manner in which my father died, we did not often speak of the trials. These citations refer to documents at "The International Military Tribunal for Germany". He was proud of his physique, saying he was strong like Germany.. A further 12. My dad, Frederick M. Bencriscutto, was in the field artillery in the 1st Infantry Division during WWII. American guards ate in separate, enlisted mess halls and slept in segregated, barracks-like rooms, six to a room. Emilio "Leo" DiPalma, a World War II veteran and a guard for some of the most notorious Nazi prisoners during the Nuremberg trials, died Wednesday along with several other veterans who. Gring was the acknowledged leader among the prisoners. Only Speer occasionally tried to befriend him or penetrate his deep solitude with a few words of encouragement. New Patient Forms; Streicher, for reasons never made known, was photographed clothed and then naked and again in death. Seven others, including Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler 's former deputy, were given prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life. Goehring gave my Dad a notebook that he had drawn in. Wells, was military policeman and a Provost Sergeant in charge of a special confinement unit whose responsibilities included providing security for the war crimes trials in Nrnberg. Mark Felton Productions. He was another of Prestiannis favorite checker-playing opponents. Postal Service. Seven defendants (Hess, Funk, Raeder, Dnitz, Schirach, Speer, and Neurath) were sent to Spandau Prison to serve their sentences. He recently passed in January of 2020 at the age of 91. The defendants' lawyers jointly appealed to the court, claiming it did not have jurisdiction against the accused; but this motion was rejected. When Hess exercised or sat on a bench in the courtyard it was always alone, a single, disheveled old man staring at the courtyard bricks. By special arrangement with a guard or prison official, he gave his handwritten notes to be mimeographed and returned to him. Former field marshal Keitel, another prisoner who was eventually executed, gradually alienated himself from the other prisoners. This wasnt authorized, but it was done on occasion, Prestianni smiled. But, he gave us no problem and I found him engaging to talk to and an excellent checkers player.. Ten of them Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Alfred Rosenberg, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Keitel, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart were hanged on October 16, 1946. [4], In early 1942, representatives of eight governments-in-exile in the United Kingdom issued a declaration on Punishment for War Crimes, which demanded an international court to try the Axis crimes committed in occupied countries. Each prisoners cell was equipped with a simple, bench-like bed against one wall adjacent to the cell door, a primitive commode, a wooden table to hold the few allowed pictures and other personal items, and a chair too rickety to support the weight of a standing man. Johann Georg Richert was found guilty and was executed in Minsk, Byelorussia. [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. [203], In all, 249 journalists were accredited to cover the IMT[40] and 61,854 visitor tickets were issued. Ten condemned Nazi ringleaders died on the gallows in the Nuernberg jail early today but Herman Goering, Adolf . Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to death (Gring, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Jodl, Seyss-Inquart, and Bormann). Does anyone know where I can read about the nuremberg trials from the guards perspective? [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 tribunal responded that such acts had been regarded as criminal prior to World War II. Streicher, sentenced to death, was perhaps the most despised prisoner of all due to his complete obsession with sex. However, fraternization did occur on a regular basis and, for the most part, went unpunished by the prison administration. The trial, which had lasted nearly 10. [138], From March to July 1946, the defense presented its counterarguments. [114], In mid-December the Americans switched to presenting the case against the indicted organizations, while in January both the British and Americans presented evidence against individual defendants. To some, he was demeaned as the foreigner., I didnt like his looks at all. I would like any information that would lead me to a more detailed understanding of what my father did while part of this undertaking. [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. Hitler's friend, favorite architect, and Minister of Armaments from 1942 until the end of the war. [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. He was totally indifferent to the world around him and to world affairs. The purpose of the armored reinforcement was to prevent any possibility of attack by groups of still-fanatic Nazis.