Legacy of Nuremberg
Anne K.W. Richardson
HHRC/Bates College
August, 2005
Nuremberg Trials
• The International Military Tribunal of 1946,
convened by the U.S., British, French and
Soviets, which convicted the major Nazi
leaders who survived World War II
AND
• Twelve cases tried by U.S. military
tribunals at Nuremberg from1946-9 of
groups of doctors, lawyers, industrialists,
Einsatzgruppen and more.
Legacy
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International Law
Human Rights & Genocide Conventions
Code of Medical Ethics
Enforcement Mechanisms & Tribunals
Models of Bringing Individual Perpetrators to Justice
Deportations to Home Countries for Justice
Vocabulary: War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity,
Genocide, Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Timeline
• 11/30/43: Moscow
Declaration signed by
U.S., U.K., Soviet Union
and China.
• 2/4-11/45: Yalta
agreement signed
by Roosevelt, Churchill
and Stalin
• 4/12/45: Truman
becomes President
• 4/12/45: Dachau
liberated by U.S.
•
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photographs/displayimage.php?pointer=3855
Timeline continued
• 4/30/45: Adolf Hitler
commits suicide.
• 5/2/45: Supreme Court
Justice Robert
Jackson appointed as
chief U,S,
prosecutor in the
Nuremberg War
Crimes Trial.
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photographs/displayimage.php?pointer=11270
Timeline continued
• 5/8/45: Germany surrenders
unconditionally to Allies.
• 7/7/45: Jackson visits
Nuremberg & recommends it
as trial site.
• 8/2/45: Potsdam Protocol
• 8/8/45: London Agreement
• 10/6/45: 4 powers issue
joint statement of indictment
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photographs/displayimage.php?pointer=2693
Timeline continued
• 10/14/45: Sir Geoffrey
Lawrence (UK) elected
President of the IMT
• 10/18-19/45: 24 men and
7 organizations are
indicted, charged with the
systematic murder of
millions of people
• 11/20/45: Nuremberg
Trials begin. All
defendants plead “not
guilty.”
•
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photographs/displayimage.php?pointer=11274
Timeline continued
• 10/1/46: Verdicts handed
down.
• 10/13/46: All appeals
rejected.
• 10/15/46: Goering
commits suicide.
• 10/16/46: Ten war
criminals are hanged.
• 10/25/46: 12 more trials
of 199 officials begin.
Nuremberg Charges
• The Common Plan or Conspiracy
– Crimes Against Peace
– War Crimes
– Crimes Against Humanity
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photographs/display
image.php?pointer=3918
Bergen Belsen
The wrongs which we seek to condemn and
punish have been so calculated, so
malignant, and so devastating, that
civilization cannot tolerate their being
ignored, because it cannot survive their
being repeated. …
Justice Jackson
from his opening statement
Why Trials?
The Trial which is now about to begin is unique in the
history of the jurisprudence of the world and it is of
supreme importance to millions of people
all over the globe.
Sir Geoffrey Lawrence, President, Opening Remarks
• Create precedents in international law
• Create moral precedents
• Collate historical record
Procedural Innovations
• International Tribunal
• Individuals Tried
States do not commit crimes; individuals do
• No Immunity for Heads of State, etc.
Substantive Innovations
• Established Crimes Against Humanity as a
charge: mass crimes – murder, torture,
(rape)
• Established Crime of Genocide
Shortcomings
• First time
• Ad hoc – for a particular purpose
– Need a permanent tribunal to be effective, not
subject to political whims and current politics
– ICC 6/98
• Not all sides were investigated
– Victors’ justice
Defense
• Restrospective Law-making
• Superior Orders
So …
• Nuremberg Trials closed the circle …
– International Law prevailed
– Message sent
Legacy: Genocide Convention
• 1933: Raphael Lemkin begins to write about
mass murder as a crime under international law
• 1943: Coins the word: “genocide.”
– Greek –genos (family, tribe or race)
– Latin
-cide (killing)
• 1946: Genocide recognized by UN as crime in
international law
• 1948: Genocide Convention adopted by UN.
Rape eventually added as an act of genocide
Genocide Convention
• Article I:
The Contracting Parties confirm that
genocide, whether committed in time of
peace or in time of war, is a crime under
international law which they undertake to
prevent and to punish.
Legacy: Genocide
• 4 decades before the U.S. ratifies the
Genocide Convention
• 50 years before anyone is convicted of
genocide
• 97 countries ratify the convention before
the U.S.
Sen. William Proxmire
D-Wisconsin
• 1967 Began campaign
• 1985 Bitburg Cemetery Visit
• 2/11/86 Genocide Convention Ratified by
U.S.
19 years
3,211 speeches
Legacy: Human Rights
• Adoption by UN of Declaration of Human Rights follows the
Genocide Convention in 1948 on the next day.
• Article 1.
• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards
one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
• Article 2.
• Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour,
sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, property, birth or other status.
Legacy: Nuremberg Code of
Medical Ethics
• Code of Ethics:
– Informed Consent mandatory and exercised
freely
– Experiments must avoid physical and mental
suffering
– Experiments must be avoided if death or
disabling injury a possibility
Never Again?
Genocides Continue
Armenia
East Timor
Sudan
Europe
Uganda
??
Indonesia
Iraq
??
Burundi
Yugoslavia
Bangladesh
Rwanda
Uganda
Cambodia
War Crimes Continue
Srebrenica
Rwanda
Abu Grahib
Genocides are Planned: Rwanda
•
•
TO: BARIL/DPKO/UNATIONS NEW YORK
FROM: DALLAIRE/UNAMIR/KIGALI
• 11 January 1994
• “Belgian troops were to be provoked and if Belgians
soldiers restored to force a number of them were to be
killed and thus guarantee Belgian withdrawal from
Rwanda.”
• “Since UNAMIR mandate he has been ordered to
register all Tutsi in Kigali. He suspects it is for their
extermination. Example he gave was that in 20 minutes
his personnel could kill up to 1000 Tutsis.”
• Genocide began April 6th, 1994
The “G” Word
• Ghost of Mogadishu
• Genocide = Obligation to Act
• Public is silent
– “no recognizable national interest in taking a
role” Washington Post, 4/17/94
– “Rwanda: Is the world just too tired to help?”
Ted Koppel, Nightline 5/4/94
– “The phones aren’t ringing” – NSA Anthony
Lake
Eventually …
• War Crimes Trials occur
– Accountability
– Documentaion and trials demonstrate
meticulous planning
– Essential to truth-telling and reconciliation
Not On My Watch
…
The Legacy cont.
• CNN.com Friday, March 18, 2005 Posted:
6:25 AM EST (1125 GMT)
• Dutch Iraq war crimes case opens
•
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/03/18/dutch.saddam/index.html
• London Times World News April 02, 2005
• Darfur genocide trials to reach world court
after US 'climbdown'
From James Bone in New York
•
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1550709,00.html
The Legacy cont.
• British troops charged with war crimes
By Simon Freeman, Times Online, 7/20/05
•
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1701404,00.html
• War-crimes trials gear up in Iraq
Hussein and others may be tried in next
few weeks in cases that will ripple
around the world.
By Faye Bowers | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
2/23/05
•
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0223/p03s01-wogi.html
Finally …
• Intervention and Trials are beginning to
make a difference …
– Eyes are trained on Washington and Europe
– Perpetrators realize the prospect of
accountability
“Hotel Rwanda”