And look at you. Benjamin Ferencz: And I've got-- I've got his reports of how many he killed. Judge: How do you plead to this indictment, guilty or not guilty? [77] Gring, the most famous surviving Nazi, headlined the trial. Seven defendants (Hess, Funk, Raeder, Dnitz, Schirach, Speer, and Neurath) were sent to Spandau Prison to serve their sentences. Until the end of the negotiations, it was not clear that any trial would be held at all, due to acrimonious disputes over fundamental matters; the American delegation threatened to walk out. [26], The final version of the charter only gave the court the ability to punish those crimes against humanity that had been committed "in connection with any crimes within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal". [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. [132][169] Through a compromise among the judges, the charge of conspiracy was narrowed to a conspiracy to wage aggressive war. Benjamin Ferencz: You oughta get some more friends. [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. The speech was favorably received by the prosecution, the tribunal, the audience, historians, and even the defendants. Lesley Stahl: Had you prosecuted trials before? Exhibit 179, from Kiev in 1941: "The city's Jews were ordered to present themselves about 34,000 reported, including women and children. At this stage of the project, users will be able to explore digital surrogates of trial records, including transcripts of the court hearings in English, French, German and Russian; case files; trial briefs; evidentiary exhibits filed by the prosecution and the defense; opening and closing statements; final pleas; procedural rules, orders, judgments, dissenting opinions and sentences. By exploring previous international or domestic trials, tribunals, and commissions, people from policymakers to human rights activists can see what was successful in previous investigations or prosecutions, where there were failures, and how such defeats can be avoided in the future. A Supreme Court justice led the American team of prosecutors. He never stops pushing his message and he's donating his life savings to a Genocide Prevention Initiative at the Holocaust Museum. [2] German aggression was accompanied by immense brutality in occupied areas and the systematic murder of millions of Jews in the Holocaust. Defendants in the dock at the Nuremberg trials. Nearly 75 years ago, the Nuremberg Trial came to a close when on Oct. 1, 1946, a group of convicted Nazi leaders was sentenced by the International Military Tribunal (IMT) for crimes against peace . Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Channette Alexander), (Image credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Courtesy Randy Cole), Stanford Center for Human Rights and International Justice, is an expanded repository of digital records, A better, faster tool for saving water on farms. Lesley Stahl: Did you meet a lot of people who perpetrated war crimes who would otherwise in your opinion have been just a normal, upstanding citizen? Benjamin Ferencz: A father who, his son told me the story. [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. [55], The work of drafting the indictment was divided up by the national delegations. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. [123] The next week, the Soviet prosecution suddenly produced former field marshal Friedrich von Paulus, captured after the Battle of Stalingrad, as a witness and questioned him about the preparations for the invasion of the Soviet Union. To tell somebody a man can become a woman, a woman can become a man, and a man can marry a man, they would have said, "You're crazy." People get discouraged. Without simultaneous translation the trial cannot happen. [38], In early 1946, there were a thousand employees from the four countries' delegations in Nuremberg, of which about two-thirds were from the United States. It's never been done before. [36][35] On 8 August, the Nuremberg Charter was signed in London. [65], Some of the most prominent NazisAdolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbelshad committed suicide and therefore could not be tried. Benjamin Ferencz: Yes. The verdicts against ex-SS guards and . [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. [181] All three acquittals (Papen, Schacht, and Fritzsche) were based on a deadlock between the judges; these acquittals surprised observers. And the father had routinely saved a piece of his bread for his son, and he kept it under his arm at He kept it under his arm at night so the other inmates wouldn't steal it, you know. Lesley Stahl: We've had Rwanda, we've had Bosnia. But SLS scholars argue that Native people profoundly shaped the conversation. [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. On Thursday, Florida Gov. For the subsequent trials held by the United States, see, "International Military Tribunal" redirects here. Stanford Libraries is working with the Registry of the International Court of Justice to build a complete digital corpus of this historic archive. The Rome Statute establishing a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), which had been proposed in 1953, was finally agreed to in 1998. [180][172] On 16 October, ten were hanged, with Gring committing suicide the day before. Judges deliberate at the trials of Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg, Germany, Jan. 1, 1945. [52][46] The Soviet personnel's lack of knowledge of English, lack of interpreters, and unfamiliarity with diplomacy and international institutions also limited their influence. . [222] By the late 1950s, the West German consensus on release began to erode, due to greater openness in political culture and new revelations of Nazi criminality, including the first trials of Nazi perpetrators in West German courts. Boy, I felt if I'd had a bayonet I woulda jumped over the thing, and put a bayonet right through one ear, and let it come out the other. [90][91] The bringing of conspiracy charges also slowed the trial, as the same evidence ended up being read out multiple times, when it was relevant to both substantive and conspiracy charges. He said, "OK. The New Nuremberg Trials 2021: Update from Dr. Reiner Fue. [89] Because of the loose evidentiary rules, photographs, charts, maps, and films played an important role in making incredible crimes believable. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Produced by Shari Finkelstein and Nieves Zuberbhler. Benjamin Ferencz: He's not a savage. [50][51] Because the Soviet Union expected a show trial, its appointees were familiar with this form. Taylor told Ferencz adding another trial was impossible. [44] As the numerically strongest delegation, it would take on the bulk of the prosecutorial effort. [159] During the closing statements, most defendants disappointed the judges by their lies and denial. Proposals for how to punish the defeated Nazi leaders ranged from a show trial (the Soviet Union) to summary executions (the United Kingdom). And I said, "Sure." Episode 9 - To Stay the Hand of Vengeance. And you know what keeps me going? [188] The Office of Chief Counsel for War Crimes identified 2,500 major war criminals, of whom 177 were tried. The Nuremberg trials were a series of indictments and criminal procedures against Nazi war criminals that were held from 20 November 1945 to 1 October 1946 at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany. So you do it.". [129] The Soviet prosecution also attempted to fabricate German responsibility for the Katyn massacre, which had in fact been committed by the Soviet Union. The United States and the United Kingdom refused to endorse this proposal, citing the failure of war crimes prosecutions after World War I. Exhibit 84, from Einsatzgruppen D in March of 1942: Total number executed so far: 91,678. 2023 jewish telegraphic agency all rights reserved. Part of an artillery battalion, he landed on the beach at Normandy and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. The father had died just as we were entering the camp. (Image credit: National Archives of the Netherlands / ANP, CC0). [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. [100], On 21 November, Jackson gave the opening speech for the prosecution. Lesley Stahl: What turns a man into a savage beast like that? Published Jul 14, 2021. [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. But he isn't content just being a part of 20th-century history -- he believes he has something important to offer the world right now. [17] On May 8, Germany surrendered unconditionally. Between November 20, 1945, and October 1, 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. Streicher was executed in 1946 by hanging along with nine other Nazis, including Hans Frank, the highest-ranking Nazi officer in occupied Poland. Ralf Bosen. [177] In the latter case, the Wehrmacht leadership was not considered an organization within the meaning of the charter;[177][178] but this verdict was later misrepresented as an acquittal of the criminality of the Wehrmacht, forming one of the foundations of the clean Wehrmacht myth. Benjamin Ferencz: I was so young. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded many countries . So he finished at Harvard then enlisted as a private in the Army. [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. (Image credit: U.S. This footage came to light years later. In 1946, verdicts were handed down in the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. [206], Many Germans at the time of the trials focused on finding food and shelter; few followed the trial closely. Just put 'em in the ditch. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [46] The British chief prosecutor was Hartley Shawcross, assisted by David Maxwell Fyfe, who had been the attorney general in Churchill's government. Institutional rivalries hampered the search. [207][208] In a 1946 poll, 78 percent of Germans assessed the trial as fair, but four years later that had fallen to 38 percent, with 30 percent considering it unfair. Fact-checked by: Myth Detector. [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. This was Case #1 of the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings . [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. Other generals were tried in the High Command Trial for plotting wars of aggression, issuing criminal orders, deporting civilians, using slave labor, and looting in the Soviet Union. That's insane. Fullmich and his team present the faulty PCR test and the order for doctors to label any comorbidity death as a Covid death as fraud. And that's just the beginning. He's an intelligent, patriotic human being. [68] Most of the defendants had surrendered to the United States or United Kingdom. He's a patriotic human being acting in the interest of his country, in his mind. At the Nuremberg Trials, the doctors and nurses stood trial, and they hung. Stanford, California 94305. If you are a doctor or a nurse, . The Nuremberg trials were a series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949 to try those accused of Nazi war crimes. [124] Paulus incriminated his former associates, pointing to Keitel, Jodl, and Gring as the defendants most responsible for the war. Ferencz had stumbled upon reports sent back to headquarters by secret SS units called Einsatzgruppen, or action groups. Nazi . [85] After the American prosecution flooded the trial with untranslated evidence, the judges insisted that all of the evidence be read into the record, which slowed the trial. A team of over 1,000 lawyers and over 10,000 medical experts lead by Dr. Reiner Fullmich have begun legal proceedings over the CDC, WHO, the Davos Group for crimes against humanity. It was also a way to indirectly charge crimes committed before the beginning of World War II, which the charter placed outside the court's jurisdiction. People receiving the COVID-19 vaccines at this point are not taking part in a medical experiment, because the vaccines already have gone through clinical trials and have received emergency . By early 1946, Western prosecutors were uneasy about the Katyn charge, although they never publicly rejected it for fear of casting the entire proceedings into question. He was proud of that. [212], The German churches, both Catholic and Protestant, were vociferous proponents of amnesty,[213] which had cross-party support in West Germany, which was established in 1949. Twelve defendants received a death sentence, seven were sentenced to prison terms of varying lengths, and three were acquitted. His equivocations, standing in sharp contrast to his genocidal editorial line reflected in slogans like Germany will live as long as it sees the Jews as the mortal enemy of mankind, are now available online for the first time along with hundreds of additional hours of audio and video recordings from the trials of 24 Nazis that ended 1946, nearly 75 years ago. Some people say I'm crazy. I said, "Look. Watching Ben Ferencz during his daily swim, his gym workout and his morning push-up regimen is to realize he isn't just the sunniest man we've ever met -- he may also be the fittest. Lesley Stahl: Ben? But the trials were already underway, and prosecution staff was stretched thin. Fish contaminated with "forever chemicals" found in nearly every state, CBS News Poll: How GOP primary race could be Trump v. Trump fatigue, Missing teens may be among 7 found dead in Oklahoma, authorities say, Gordon Lightfoot, "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" singer, dies at age 84, Bob Lee died from three stab wounds, medical examiner says, At least 6 dead after dust storm causes massive pile-up on Illinois highway, Oklahoma governor signs gender-affirming care ban for kids, U.S. tracking high-altitude balloon first spotted off Hawaii, What the last Nuremberg prosecutor alive wants the world to know. [76] Of the 24 men indicted, Martin Bormann was tried in absentia, as the Allies were unaware of his death; Krupp was too ill to stand trial; and Robert Ley committed suicide. Benjamin Ferencz: Going on right this minute, yes. You know? He says he's grateful for the life he's lived in this country, and it's his turn to give back. Eventually, the online database will include digital versions of film, audio recordings and photographs that will also include links and annotations. I hear it here for the first time." [34][35] Located in the American occupation zone, Nuremberg was a symbolic location as the site of Nazi rallies. And you shouldn't-- you know-- be despairing because it's never happened before. [13] Planners in the United States Department of War were drawing up plans for an international tribunal in late 1944 and early 1945. [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. Ferencz had immigrated to the U.S. as a baby, the son of poor Jewish parents from a small town in Romania. [224][225][226] During the two decades after the trial, opinions were predominantly negative. But they were real. Testimony is ultimately human narratives, and it means a lot to help keep those voices alive through time and space so that we can learn from history and hopefully better understand the implications of atrocities carried out in different cultural and historical contexts, said Penelope Van Tuyl, associate director of the Center for Human Rights and International Justice, who has also contributed to the preservation efforts and development of the Virtual Tribunals exhibit platform. And that's how 27-year-old Ben Ferencz became the chief prosecutor of 22 Einsatzgruppen commanders at trial number 9 at Nuremberg. Benjamin Ferencz: Same thing, not guilty. Benjamin Ferencz: Well, don't say that. The Nuremberg trials after World War II were historic -- the first international war crimes tribunals ever held. [20][21] The offenses that would be prosecuted were crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. [167] The judges were aware that both the Allies and the Axis had planned or committed acts of aggression, writing the verdict carefully to avoid discrediting either the Allied governments or the tribunal. [16] On May 2, at the San Francisco Conference, the United States' new president Harry S. Truman announced the formation of an international military tribunal. Streicher, editor in chief of the Der Sturmer anti-Semitic weekly, claimed that hed always viewed German Jews as legitimate compatriots and long supported Zionism. President Harry Truman asked Robert Jackson, an associate justice of the Supreme Court, to serve as the chief American prosecutor . If they tell me they want war instead of peace, I don't say they're naive, I say they're stupid. The indictment lodged against them contained four counts: (1) crimes against peace (i.e., the planning, initiating, and waging of wars of aggression in violation of . Following the end of World War II, trials aimed at holding Nazi war criminals accountable were held in Nuremberg, Germany. [229] Some defenders of the trial argued that the legal principle of nullum crimen sine lege (no crime without law) was not binding in international proceedings. Thanks to a grant from Tad Taube and Taube Philanthropies, now, on the 75th anniversary of the first major international war crimes trial ending, a significant new collection of digital materials will be made available to the public. Benjamin Ferencz: --recall if I'd ever been in a courtroom actually. Ben Ferencz entered into evidence the defendants' own reports of what they'd done. Benjamin Ferencz: When I reached over a million people murdered that way, over a million people, that's more people than you've ever seen in your life, I took a sample. Holocaust Memorial Museum). (November 18, 2021 / JNS) A bipartisan group of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill on Thursday to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the last living prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials.. He promoted an intentionalist view of the Nazi state and its overall conspiracy to commit all of the crimes mentioned in the indictment. [66][67] The prosecutors wanted to try representative leaders of German politics, economy, and military; and the Americans had a list of 70 names at the London Conference. He was carrying out his government's instructions. 1/6. He became the first in his family to go to college, then got a scholarship to Harvard Law School. [204] In the United Kingdom, although a variety of responses were reported, it was difficult to sustain interest in a long trial. Stanford News is a publication of Stanford University Communications. Benjamin Ferencz: They said, "No, you're too short. Toward the end of the war, because of his legal training, he was transferred to a brand new unit in General Patton's Third Army, created to investigate war crimes. This is Ferencz making his opening statement in the Nuremberg courtroom 73 years ago. Without calling a single witness, he entered into evidence the defendants' own reports of what they'd done. The trial of 22 Nazi leaders began on Nov. 20, 1945, and the Tribunal pronounced its judgment on Oct. 1, 1946. Below his face, his motto: "law, not war.". The verdict was drafted by British alternate judge Norman Birkett. But Ferencz knew they were guilty and could prove it. [234][235] Further developments in international criminal law in the aftermath of the trials included the Genocide Convention (1948) and the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949). Streichers paper was a symbol for how Nazi propaganda methodically dehumanized Jews and used mass media to ready non-Jewish Germans to carry out the Holocaust. A high court recently . The claim has circulated widely online, including in this November 24, 2021 article (archived here) published by biotechexpressmag.com titled "Team of 1,000 lawyers and 10,000 Medical Experts Start Nuremberg 2 Trial against World Leaders for Crimes Against Humanity." It opened: (Image credit: National Archives of the Netherlands / ANP, CC0), (Image credit: U.S. [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. It prevents a battery or negligence, and protects the autonomy rights of the patient. The New Nuremberg Trials 2021. So Ferencz has spent the rest of his life trying to deter war and war crimes by establishing an international court like Nuremburg. [49][48] The French government tried to appoint staff who were not tainted by collaboration with the Vichy regime; some appointments were of those who had been in the French resistance. (JTA) At the opening of his trial in Nuremberg, Julius Streicher made several uncharacteristically friendly statements about Jews a people he had devoted his professional life to demonize. [151], In order to appease concerns about fair process, the defendants were allowed a free hand with their witnesses and a great deal of irrelevant testimony was heard. [154] The United States controlled the prison where the defendants and some of the witnesses were held, and tried its best to shut the Soviets out of the proceedings. I've got here mass murder, mass murder on an unparalleled scale." Einsatzgruppen D was the unit of Ferencz's lead defendant Otto Ohlendorf. [189], One set of trials focused on the actions of German professionals: the Doctors' trial focused on human experimentation and euthanasia murders, the Judges' trial on the role of the judiciary in Nazi crimes, and the Ministries trial on the culpability of bureaucrats of German government ministries, especially the Foreign Office. [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. You're not getting very far. [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. [116] In contrast to the other prosecution teams, the French prosecution emphasized how Nazi ideology and pan-Germanism had led to the Nazis' crimes, and delved into the Sonderweg theory of Germany's development in the nineteenth century. A photograph shows doctors and members of the media who were hanged in the aftermath of the Nuremberg trials. A new drama from Radio 4 follows the race to track down and capture war criminals, the struggle . This week, the U.S. [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. [6] The Soviet Union wanted to hold a show trial similar to the 1930s Moscow trials, in order to demonstrate the Nazi leaders' guilt and build a case for war reparations to rebuild the Soviet economy, which had been devastated by the war.