When the world needed a way to bring Nazi war criminals to justice, they turned to the Nuremburg Trials. 13 trials were held between 1945 and 1949. The ones on trial were major German officers and industrialists for causing one of the largest disturbances to world peace that mankind has ever seen. Although Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had committed suicide before the Trials took place, there were still many people to be punished for crimes against humanity. Firstly, when Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany in 1933, he decided to base his leadership on his hatred for Jewish people. Over the next ten years, a genocide took place in Europe in which over 6 million Jews had died. In addition, this also included 4 to 6 million non-Jewish people
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At first, Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union proposed the idea of executing 50000 to 100000 German officers. In addition, British leader Winston Churchill thought that they should be executed without a trial. However, Americans declared that it would be better if they held a criminal trial. This is because with a criminal trial, they would keep records of all the sentences in case people find the trials controversial. Although this method would help avoid controversy, along with the trials came many legal and procedural …show more content…
For example, the execution of Henry Wirz, for his maltreatment of Union Prisoners of War during the American Civil War. However, unlike that trial, the Nuremburg Trials contained a tribunal with judges from America, Russia, and Great Britain. Since each of these countries had their own legal practices, it made the trials much more complicated. After some time, the Allies eventually declared the laws and procedures for the trials on August 8, 1945 using the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT). The IMT included three categories: war crimes, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity. Now that the Allies had come to a conclusion on how to run the trials, they were ready to
At first, Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union proposed the idea of executing 50000 to 100000 German officers. In addition, British leader Winston Churchill thought that they should be executed without a trial. However, Americans declared that it would be better if they held a criminal trial. This is because with a criminal trial, they would keep records of all the sentences in case people find the trials controversial. Although this method would help avoid controversy, along with the trials came many legal and procedural …show more content…
For example, the execution of Henry Wirz, for his maltreatment of Union Prisoners of War during the American Civil War. However, unlike that trial, the Nuremburg Trials contained a tribunal with judges from America, Russia, and Great Britain. Since each of these countries had their own legal practices, it made the trials much more complicated. After some time, the Allies eventually declared the laws and procedures for the trials on August 8, 1945 using the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT). The IMT included three categories: war crimes, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity. Now that the Allies had come to a conclusion on how to run the trials, they were ready to