With an indictment issued on October 18, 1945, against 24 war criminals and seven organizations*, what was the most significant trial in world history began. Nuremberg, a Bavarian city that was once “one of Europe’s most important trading hubs,” became the hub of a diabolical menace that threatened the very existence of humanity. In the years prior to World War II, Nuremberg was the marshaling place for Nazi propaganda, the site of annual rallies and the means by which Nazi ideals could be spread. Thus, in a symbolic gesture, the Allies chose the location that had once been the rallying place for Nazi propaganda to be the place that marked the “death of Nazi Germany.”

The trials were held before the International Military Tribunal (IMF), a court established by agreement on August 8, 1945, for the specific purpose of prosecuting and punishing war criminals. The agreement was signed by the Governments of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, the French Republic, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. According to the Charter, each of the four signatories would choose a representative and one alternate to be present at all sessions. Additionally, each signatory would appoint a chief prosecutor to investigate, collect, and produce necessary evidence; prepare the indictment; conduct preliminary examinations of both witnesses and defendants; and undertake prosecutorial duties at trial. On October 18, 1945, the prosecutors and the IMF completed and took the first necessary steps toward justice: the rendering of the indictment.

The indictment, filed against war criminals and organizations, consisted of four counts:

Count One outlined the Common Plan set out by the Nazi Party to abolish the Treaty of Versailles, regain territories lost by Germany after World War I, and acquire additional territories in Europe and elsewhere, and alleged a conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The Common Plan was to be carried out by seizing “totalitarian control over Germany.”
Count Two alleged Crimes Against Peace. These crimes related to the participation in the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression.
Count Three, War Crimes, charged defendants with “the practice of ‘total war’” including the murder and ill treatment of civilians and prisoners of war, the conscription of civilian labor, plunder of private and public property, and the “Germanization of occupied territories.”
Count Four detailed the atrocities and inhumane acts committed against civilian populations and in furtherance of the Common Plan set out in Count One.

The indictment would not be read in court until November 20, 1945. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and Heinrich Himmler never stood trial for their crimes. All three committed suicide as the war drew to a close.

Look for more posts about these historic trials in the coming weeks as the 80th anniversary of their beginning approaches.

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