Between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946, the International Military Tribunal (IMT) tried 21 of the most important surviving leaders of Nazi Germany in the political, military, and economic spheres, as well as six German organizations. [223], The International Military Tribunal, and the drafters of its charter, invented international criminal law essentially from nothing. The trial started in November 1945. [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. [231], The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Trial) borrowed many of its ideas from the IMT, including all four charges. His name was Raymond J Arsenault. The authority of the International Military Tribunal to conduct these trials stemmed from the London Agreement of August 8, 1945. Speer managed to distinguish himself from other defendants, giving the impression of apologizing, although without assuming personal guilt or naming any victims other than the German people. [146][147] Defense lawyer Alfred Seidl[de] repeatedly tried to disclose the secret protocols of the GermanSoviet pact. [121], On 8 February, the Soviet prosecution opened its case with a speech by Rudenko that covered all four prosecution charges, highlighting both aggressive war and the devastation of Eastern Europe[122] and listing many crimes committed by the German occupiers against the Soviet people. [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. False accusations of rape, abuse, or other misconduct by guards were commonplace. Upon arriving in the European Theater, Prestianni, a replacement, found himself in the U.S. 1st Infantry Division. He always was respectful, always the consummate gentleman. Speer was convicted and served 20 years in prison. His face had an animal look to it, Prestianni stated. Former Nazi leaders were indicted and tried as war criminals for their conduct by the International Military Tribunal. On October 1, 1946, the verdicts on 22 of the original 24 defendants were handed down for the Nrnberg trials. Prestianni did not recall any such instances. [68] Most of the defendants had surrendered to the United States or United Kingdom. [74], Although the list of defendants was finalized on 29 August,[75] as late as October, Jackson demanded changes and expansion of the defendants list, but this was rejected. . The tribunal consisted of a member plus an alternate selected by each of the four signatory countries. Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (December 1946 - April 1949) [1] The defendants included some of the most famous Nazis, including Hermann Gring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Wilhelm Keitel. He was a rather low key person at Nuremberg who caused the guards no problems at all, said Prestianni. Beginning on November 20, 1945, all sessions of the tribunal were held in Nrnberg under the presidency of Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence (later Baron Trevethin and Oaksey), the British member. An avid reader, he availed himself of a well-stocked library with a steady supply of books. Other prisoners were outspoken in their condemnation of Hess as a traitor to the Fatherland when he flew to England in May 1941, ostensibly to arrange a peace between Hitlers Germany and Great Britain. Hess, former deputy fhrer of the Nazi party and Hitlers private secretary during the early years of the National Socialist movement, was sentenced to life imprisonment and served every day of it to the age of 92 when he died in 1987 under mysterious circumstances in Berlins Spandau Prison. Three of the defendants were acquitted. [86] Overall, the prosecution called 37 witnesses compared to the defense's 83, not including 19 defendants who testified on their own behalf. My Dad was murdered, hanged, when I was 5 years old in 1965. Those men who liberated the camps of the Holocau. I could never beat him in checkers. Guards were under strict orders never to respond to verbal abuse by prisoners, no matter how hateful it might be. [124] Paulus incriminated his former associates, pointing to Keitel, Jodl, and Gring as the defendants most responsible for the 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. After Ley hanged himself, this strict suicide watch was instituted, Prestianni explained. He, like the others, was always bumming cigarettes or cans of Prince Albert tobacco for his pipe. By creating an Aryan nation, the world would look up to and envy Germany for its racial purity.. American chow was prepared for the guards and other Army personnel. (Robert Ley committed suicide while in prison, and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbachs mental and physical condition prevented his being tried.) He thought a mature, Lutheran, German-speaking chaplain who had worked in prisons . In one report i read, it mentioned that "K" Company of the 26th Inf., 1st Div. 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. Expressed repentance. [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. All of those with whom I came in contact spoke flawless English, he remembered. They [the prisoners] were to always be considered innocent until proven guilty. The Nrnberg trials were a series of trials held in Nrnberg, Germany, in 1945 and 1946 following the end of World War II. Prestianni said of von Neurath, He looked like the movie version of a Prussian general with his mop of white hair and erect bearing. He looked like a gaunt corpse, like a ghost. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded many countries across Europe, inflicting 27 million deaths in the Soviet Union alone. The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials tried major war criminals, but of lower ranks than those tried in the first trial. They even accused guards of watching them undress. Streicher had published Der Sturmer, a widely read newspaper filled with pornography, ethnic hate, and anti-Jewish cartoons to enflame the German population. [6][7] Trainin's ideas were reprinted in the West and widely adopted. These parapets included watchtowers at the four corners equipped with telephones to contact or summon supervising sergeants or lieutenants, who were constantly on call to resolve problems that might develop. Popular radio commentator; head of the news division of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry. I would have kept my distance from them.. It was always a battle of authority. [87] In France, some verdicts were met with outrage from the media and especially from organizations for deportees and resistance fighters, as they were perceived as too lenient. These women prisoners constantly did anything they could to get a guard in trouble or disciplined.. [37] Nineteen states ratified the charter and were admitted as observers. [224][225][226] During the two decades after the trial, opinions were predominantly negative. 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. The requested reassignments were generally granted.. [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. He remained bombastic and arrogant right up to the end, all the while looking upon the other prisoners as inferior beings., Ribbentrop, another of Prestiannis checker opponents, was vainglorious, almost constantly given to pompous bragging and considered stupid by the other prisoners. He was strictly military during the three months I observed him. He was the popular picture court room scene the second on the left of the door. Home; Services; New Patient Center. Hitler's friend, favorite architect, and Minister of Armaments from 1942 until the end of the war. 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. Some of these camps, such as Treblinka, were death camps, intended to kill every prisoner that passed through their gates. The second-level tier housed high-ranking SS (Schutzstaffel) officers and many of the infamous doctors who had conducted ghastly medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners. The tribunal responded that such acts had been regarded as criminal prior to World War II. The defendants at Nuremberg. Posted September 22, 2014. To some, he was demeaned as the foreigner., I didnt like his looks at all. Goring had been given a list of approved lawyers by the US authorities, but rejected every name on it. Other than that, Hess had no social interaction with the other prisoners. One of the new USA light tanks (M24) on guard outside the courthouse at Nuremberg. He greeted me in the morning and that was about it. Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to death (Gring, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Jodl, Seyss-Inquart, and Bormann). Frick, one of Hitlers closest advisers during the early years of the Nazi regime, was one of those hanged. Some were convicted of historys most barbaric crimes against humanity. [132][169] Through a compromise among the judges, the charge of conspiracy was narrowed to a conspiracy to wage aggressive war. The film, compiled from footage of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, shocked both the defendants and the judges, who adjourned the trial. Surviving members of the company marked the 56th anniversary of its founding , which took place, according to Toronto's Tommy Tomson, on December 26, 1946. Frick was rather taciturn, not given to talking. He had been instrumental in establishing a totalitarian state. Does anyone know where I can read about the nuremberg trials from the guards perspective? [36][35] On 8 August, the Nuremberg Charter was signed in London. Their trial was held before an International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg, Germany. Considered by some as the most intelligent and talented prisoner, he was the quintessential gentleman. What were the verdicts of Nrnberg trials? He reportedly carried a whip during liaisons with numerous women. Prestianni played checkers and chess with four of the prisoners and argued politics with others. Number 5 was Albert Speer, Hitlers personal architect and confidant. On November 20, 1945, several months after the end of World War II, a series of military tribunals began in the German city of Nuremberg. [141] The defendants tried to blame their crimes on Hitler, who was mentioned 1,200 times during the trialmore than the top five defendants combined. [232] On 11 December 1946, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution affirming "the principles of international law recognized by the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and the judgment of the Tribunal". Guards were randomly assigned to prisoners, and the assignments were generally not known by the guards until the duty roster was posted or announced each morning during roll call. 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. Each watch was of two hours duration, standing almost motionless looking in the cell door openings. All female prisoners were segregated on a third tier. [34][35] Located in the American occupation zone, Nuremberg was a symbolic location as the site of Nazi rallies. The first of the trials was the Major War Crimes Trial, in which 22 high-ranking Nazis stood trial in the Palace of Justice. SS members were generally frowned upon and can't imagine them having anything to do with the trials except sit in the dock. Text Size:thredup ambassador program how to dress more masculine for a woman. [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. By special arrangement with a guard or prison official, he gave his handwritten notes to be mimeographed and returned to him. Throughout the trial, he steadfastly maintained his innocence, saying they had arrested and charged the wrong person. [172] All 22 defendants were charged with crimes against peace, and 12 were convicted. Andrus, a strict disciplinarian, were constantly reminded that the prisoners should be treated with civility and objectivity at all times. A. Number 2 was given to Karl Dnitz, former grand admiral of the German Navy. [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. He told multiple stories of his time there. [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. He used to tell me he always did what he thought was right for the Fatherland but that just too much came to light during the trial.. [46] The British chief prosecutor was Hartley Shawcross, assisted by David Maxwell Fyfe, who had been the attorney general in Churchill's government. 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. In the prison cellblock, each single-occupant cell had two parallel heating pipes beneath a single, heavily scratched, plastic-covered window, the top half of which could be tilted open for limited ventilation. My father Ed Rossi was also a guard at the Nuremberg trials. The two men were deep in the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany, venue for the Nuremberg War Crimes trials of Germany's Nazi leaders. Nuremberg Trials Nuremberg Trials after WWII Nuremberg Trials post Second World War Categories: General news, War and unrest, Government and politics, Military and defense, Social affairs; Location: Germany Display: All Displaying 1 - 124 of 124 Results < Prev | 1 | Next > 4508300110 4508301118 4508310176 4508310168 451007142 490414058 490414049 [88], The charter allowed the admissibility of any evidence deemed to have probative value, including depositions. Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. Speer was a favorite of the guards. I inherited all of it. Speer spent much of his time drawing exquisite pencil sketches ranging from landscapes to magnificent buildings to quaint German villages. [40] Each state appointed a prosecution team and two judges, one being an alternate. [73] Also on trial were propagandists Julius Streicher and Hans Fritzsche; Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy who had flown to Britain in 1941; Hans Frank, governor-general of the General Governorate of Poland; Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach; Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands; and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the leader of Himmler's Reich Main Security Office. [17] On 8 May, Germany surrendered unconditionally. My father was a guard in the courtroom (Palace of Justice) at the Nuremberg trials in 1946. Per newspaper accounts of the scene, when the inmates heard the news they "shouted with joy" and "chattering excitedly, hastily shed the red . my father david c bergeron was a 1st LT with the guards at the war trials. [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. [95] None of the defendants tried to assert that the Nazis' crimes had not occurred; instead, they attempted to divert blame from their own actions. Courtesy Emily Aho Around Memorial Day of 2000, Emily Aho took her then 75-year-old father, Emilio "Leo". I only patrolled there once. Three were sentenced to life imprisonment. [135] The Soviet Union also called two Holocaust survivors as witnesses, Samuel Rajzmana Treblinka survivorand poet Abraham Sutzkever, who eloquently described the murder of tens of thousands of Jews from Vilna, although their testimony did not directly incriminate any of the defendants. Prompt medical attention was readily available to all prisoners. Three others were acquitted. The defendants' lawyers jointly appealed to the court, claiming it did not have jurisdiction against the accused; but this motion was rejected. Efficiency Report for Henry F. Gerecke, 7/1/1945, NAID 6016856. [85] The prosecution examined 110,000 captured German documents[40] and entered 4,600 into evidence,[87] along with 30 kilometres (19mi) of film and 25,000 photographs. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [12] The United States insisted on a fair trial as a means of reforming Germany. His initial assignment was as a guard at the Nuremberg prison. 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. He guarded Goehring. Hildegard Lchert (AKA "Bloody Brigette" or "Beast") Hildegard Lchert was conscripted to join the Nazi women in 1942, at the age of 22. 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. 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. 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. Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi Germanys foreign minister beginning in 1938, was amiable, Prestianni said. [169][170] The judges did not agree that the conspiracy extended to anyone who participated in the affairs of the Nazi government, only taking being present at the high-level meetings discussing war plans in 1937 and 1939 as evidence of belonging to the conspiracy. This is evidenced by the change of the guards uniforms back and forth from the heavier, darker, winter uniform to the lighter colored summer uniform. Ribbentrop, Prestianni related, was a man without humor. Most certainly. Prestianni never served in the trial courtroom, only in the cellblock. 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. Emilio DiPalma (right) stands on guard at the Nuremberg Trials in 1945. April 22, 2020. [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. The Estonian Guard Co. 4221 was formed to answer the need to guard the Nuremberg courthouse and the prison where accused Nazi War Criminals were held. Other Units at Nuremberg were The US Constabulary, the 793rd MP . Joined: Oct 14, 2007 Messages: 2,804 [146] The Nuremberg Laws were compared to discriminatory laws in the United States. [138], From March to July 1946, the defense presented its counterarguments. Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to death by hanging. [144] Most defendants argued their own insignificance within the Nazi system, but Gring took the opposite approach, presenting himself as Hitler's loyalist and expecting that while he would be executed, the German people would eventually appreciate his loyalty. After 216 court sessions, on October 1, 1946, the verdict on 22 of the original 24 defendants was handed down. He was able to get to get the Hitler peoples autographs. One was sentenced in absentia. Proposals for how to punish the defeated Nazi leaders ranged from a show trial (the Soviet Union) to summary executions (the United Kingdom). Guards were, on occasion, somewhat lenient and allowed some prisoners, based on previous friendships and compatible personalities, to walk in pairs. [77] Gring, the most famous surviving Nazi, headlined the trial. ;"God protect Germany. [83] The American and British prosecutors focused on documentary evidence and affidavits rather than testimony from survivors, as the latter was considered less reliable and more liable to accusations of bias, but at the expense of reducing public interest in the proceedings. Adam Weishaupt, Abraham: The World's First Psychopath. I look forward to hearing from him. An enduring mystery of the 1946 Nuremberg trials was apparently solved yesterday when an American former prison guard claimed it was he who, as an unwitting accomplice, passed to Hermann. Michael Prestianni served as a guard at Nuremberg as high-ranking Nazis stood trial for their lives. After two years he was released and promptly reestablished himself in a successful career as a financial consultant for developing nations. He didnt really talk to me very much. [100], On 21 November, Jackson gave the opening speech for the prosecution. Uncover the topics related to the Nuremberg trials. The most frequently offered scenario, after intensive investigations, has been that the capsule was retrieved from Grings luggage in a storage room and was given to him by an American, Lieutenant Jack Tex Wheelis. The International Military Tribunal (IMT) delivered its judgment against the Nazi leaders on September 30 and October 1, 1946. The most infamous of the female prisoners during Prestiannis tour of duty was Ilse Koch, known to guards as the Bitch of Buchenwald. With her husband, Karl Koch, the camp commander, Ilse often rode a horse through the camp compound, whipping prisoners. [41][42], The United States' chief prosecutor was Supreme Court justice Robert H. How long did it take you to learn what you are doing? he often asked. 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. Kaltenbrunner had perpetrated extreme barbarism in the extermination of Jews through the planning and execution of the Final Solution. 125. Again, without a word being spoken, the door was slammed shut. And when he spoke, it was to lash out violently at anyone close to him at the time, even the guards.. [28] The charter limited the jurisdiction of the court to Germany's actions because the Allies did not want to answer to an international court for their own actions;[29] only Germans could be tried. He considered himself the senior member of the prison military fraternity., Former president of the Reichsbank Hjalmar Schacht was one of three war crimes defendants who were found innocent of all charges against them. 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 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. There was a constant, steady flow of rules and regulations, many of them meaningless, while others tended to be more punitive, he said. [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. [143] Although a few defense lawyers inverted the arguments of the prosecution to assert that the Germans' authoritarian mindset and obedience to the state exonerated them from any personal guilt, most rejected such arguments. we went to Germany with and my younger brother was born there, dad remained un the Army until 1960, when he retired after 32 years service. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. [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". [160] On 2 September, the court recessed; and the judges retreated into seclusion to decide the verdict and sentences, which had been under discussion since June. Patrolling the wall was cold, cold, cold, Prestianni remembered. 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. The verdict was drafted by British alternate judge Norman Birkett. An accomplished horseman, Streicher continued to wear high leather boots and riding britches during his confinement. Michael R. Prestianni of Framingham, Massachusetts, who later survived months of combat in Korea. William L Shierer "the Rise and Fall of the third Reich", part IV, Nuremberg-chapter, the United States committed the same breach, Last and Near-Last Words of the Famous, Infamous and Those In-Between, "The International Military Tribunal for Germany", The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_defendants_at_the_International_Military_Tribunal&oldid=1114903079, Successor to Hess as Nazi Party Secretary. 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. No favoritism was shown nor was a selection offered. [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.

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