World War II – Holocaust & Nuremberg Trials
The Holocaust
The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of Jews by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945.
The Jews were singled out because their religion was very different from those of other Europeans. The idea of
anti-Semitism started in 312 A.D. when Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Holy Roman
Empire. Jews were blamed for many things, including the crucifixion of Christ. Roman leaders went so far as to create
anti-Jewish laws, which gave them fewer rights than Christians. As money became more important in the world many
Jews turned to money lending as a profession. This profession was condemned by the church because they thought it
did not represent an honest day’s work. Many rumors were spread about the Jews, including that they had lepers poison
the wells of Europe, and spread the Black Plague. Jews were even forced to wear a badge that distinguished them from
others such as a yellow star. Anti-Semitism eventually died down, but did not completely end, before Hitler brought it to
the forefront again in 1933. Hitler may have hated Jews because he was raised by his parents to do so, or because he
resented the Jews that lived wealthy lifestyles while he and his family were living in poverty. Jews had continued to
handle money as their profession, and when economic problems reached Germany Hitler blamed them for the
problems. In his book, Mein Kampf, Hitler stated that the Jews were an inferior race, and were trying to pollute the
superior Aryan race.
The First Solution was Hitler’s creation of the Nuremberg Laws on September 15, 1935. They were created to
free Jews from the ties of German citizenship. They also explained who the Nazis considered Jews. Kristallnacht was a 2
day period (November 9 & 10, 1938) where Nazis destroyed Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues. This is when
Jews had to start wearing a yellow Star of David on their clothes so that they could be easily identified. This event
signaled the beginning of the Holocaust.
Hitler next began a deportation program in order to remove all Jews from Germany. He also arrested many,
telling them that they could be freed only if they would leave Germany. Very few of the Jews that were arrested agreed
to leave. Many Jews that had not been arrested did try to leave. In May of 1939, 937 German refugees sailed to Cuba,
with the intention of getting off the ship once landing. At the last minute the Cuban government changed their mind,
and did not allow this to happen. The refugees then sailed for America, but were not allowed to disembark the ship here
either. Finally several European countries agreed to split the passengers up among their countries.
The Second Solution was Hitler’s next plan to place all remaining Jews into ghettos such as Warsaw, Poland.
Jews were then given ration cards that allowed them to consume only 270 calories a day, whereas the average person
eats around 2,000 calories each day. The Jews in Warsaw revolted in the spring of 1943, but this revolt was quickly
crushed by the Nazis. The Warsaw Jews were immediately sent to the death camps.
The Final Solution actually began with Hitler’s T4 Program. In the T4 Program euthanasia was used to
“mercifully” end the lives of the elderly, critically ill, and those with mental disabilities. Most of Hitler’s first “patients”
were Jews, but there were also gypsies, criminals, and carriers of diseases. The total extermination of the 11,000,000
Jews of Europe was developed on January 20, 1942 at the Wannsee Conference. Hitler began using death squads to
round up as many Jews as possible. They would then be forced to dig a huge hole before the death squad shot them all
in the head, causing their body to fall into the freshly dug mass grave. SS Chief Himmler felt that this used too much
ammunition, so he developed the “S-Truck.” This was a covered truck that held 40-50 people. The exhaust from the
truck’s tailpipe went straight into the vehicle, and after a short drive the occupants would die. The next plan
implemented the use of concentration and death camps. Jews were piled into train cars, where many died because of
disease. There were six major death camps located mostly in Eastern Europe. After arriving at the camps, about 10% of
the Jews would be selected to be workers, and the rest would be told they would have the chance to shower. Once in
the “showers” the doors would lock shut, and the lights would go out. A lethal gas would then be pumped into the room
through the shower heads and kill the prisoners. The dead bodies would then be taken to crematoriums and disposed
of. The largest death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, killed 12,000 prisoners each day. Sometimes doctors, such as Dr. Josef
Mengele, would conduct medical experiments on the prisoners to satisfy his own curiosities.
As the Allies liberated the camps, which was postponed because President Roosevelt wanted to win the war,
they saw the atrocities that had been committed. At some places the bodies were dug up out of mass graves so that
Germans could see what the Nazi leaders had done.
The Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of 13 trials in Nuremberg, Germany between 1945 and 1949. Their purpose
was to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. The defendants, who included Nazi Party leaders, military officers, lawyers,
and doctors, were indicted on charges such as crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. The Nuremberg Trials
officially ended the Holocaust, and are regarded as a milestone toward the establishment of a permanent international
court.
After the war was over Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill discussed executing high-ranking Nazis, but were
persuaded by the American government that a criminal trial would be more effective. There were many difficulties to
overcome in setting up the Nuremberg Trials. First, there was no precedent for an international trial of war criminals.
France, Britain, the Soviet Union, and the U.S. finally set the laws and procedures for the trials with the London Charter
of the International Military Tribune. They also established three categories of crimes: crimes against peace, war crimes,
and crimes against humanity. By choosing to hold the trials in Nuremberg they symbolically marked the end of Hitler’s
government.
The best-known trial was the Trial of Major War Criminals between November 20, 1945 and October 1, 1946.
Twenty-four individuals were indicted, but Hitler and his top two associates, Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels,
committed suicide before they could be brought to trial. The most common defense was that the crimes defined in the
London Charter were created after the crimes had been committed. In the end all but three defendants were found
guilty. Sentences ranged from 10 years in prison to execution.
Twelve additional trials were held between December 1946 and April 1949. While the original trial was
conducted before an international group, the following trials were held before the U.S. military courts. This change was
made because there were growing differences between the four countries running the trials. In the Doctors Trial,
twenty-three defendants were accused of crimes against humanity, including medical experiments on prisoners of war.
The Judges Trial resulted in the conviction of sixteen lawyers and judges for furthering the Nazi plan for racial purity. Of
the 185 people indicted at the subsequent Nuremberg Trials 12 received death sentences, 8 were given life in prison,
and 77 received prison terms of varying length.
The Nuremberg Trials were controversial even among those who wanted the major criminals punished. Harlan
Stone, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, said they were “sanctimonious fraud” and a “high-grade lynching party.”
Most observers, however, considered the Trials a step forward for international law. The findings at Nuremberg led to
the United Nations Genocide Convention, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Geneva Convention on the
Laws and Customs of War.