[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. [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. [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. These were the intellectuals; the ramrod-stiff military officers; the cunning politicians; the world's most vicious, depraved, notorious mass murderers; an architect; a filthy-minded and sex-obsessed anti-Semitic newspaper publisher; a gentle writer of poetry; the bombastic bullies; an unrepentant, ghost-like figure; the subservient military When he failed to respond to the periodic shouted challenges from the sergeant-of-the-guard, Prestianni was taken to a hospital in Nuremberg where he remained for two weeks before returning to duty. [59] The conspiracy charge was used to charge the top Nazi leaders, as well as bureaucrats who had never killed anyone or perhaps even directly ordered killing. The first session, under the presidency of Gen. I.T. [214] By then, the Americans were hoping to use the offer of pardon to convicted war criminals in order to bind West Germany to the Western Bloc. I have been searching for evidence that my Dad was a guard, so that the stories I have been told since I was a child could be documented. Waffen-SS Soldiers Guarded the Nuremberg Trials Mark Felton Productions 1.82M subscribers Subscribe 81K 4.3M views 2 years ago Unbelievable but true - an entire unit of former Waffen-SS. [99] According to historian Kim Christian Priemel, the conspiracy charge "invited apologetic interpretations: narratives of absolute, totalitarian dictatorship, run by society's lunatic fringe, of which the Germans had been the first victims rather than agents, collaborators, and fellow travellers". [22][23] War crimes already existed in international law as criminal violations of the laws and customs of war. [71][72] The military leaders were Hermann Gring, Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, Erich Raeder, and Karl Dnitz. [37] Nineteen states ratified the charter and were admitted as observers. The film, compiled from footage of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, shocked both the defendants and the judges, who adjourned the trial. After trial, incarcerated at. [87] Over the course of the trial, Western judges allowed the defendants additional leeway to denounce the Soviet Union, which was ultimately revealed to be a co-conspirator in the outbreak of World War II. Three others were acquitted. Dnitz, who was named successor to Hitler during the waning days of the war and served 10 years in prison, remained aloof. [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. [119] Unlike the British and American prosecution strategy, which focused on using German documents to make their case, the French prosecutors took the perspective of the victims, submitting postwar police reports and calling eleven witnesses. The crew (left to right) Private (1st Class) Carl E McCray (Salem, Va.) and Sergeant E Wilson (Texas.)'. Former field marshal Keitel, another prisoner who was eventually executed, gradually alienated himself from the other prisoners. "[1][163] The judges did not attempt to define aggression[164] and decided not to mention the retroactivity of the charges in the verdict. [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. [157] Over the course of the trial, crimes against humanity and especially against Jews (who were mentioned as victims of Nazi atrocities far more than any other group) came to upstage the aggressive war charge. my father david c bergeron was a 1st LT with the guards at the war trials. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Ribbentrop was held in low esteem by others close to Hitler due to his perceived ineptness in many areas. [6][7] Trainin's ideas were reprinted in the West and widely adopted. Prestianni, the guard contingent, and supervisors under the command of Colonel B.C. [145], Despite the fact that the charter did not recognize a tu quoque defense, such arguments were repeatedly raised during the trial. Speer was a favorite of the guards. 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. [16] On 2 May, at the San Francisco Conference, the United States' new president Harry S. Truman announced the formation of an international military tribunal. [138], From March to July 1946, the defense presented its counterarguments. I have searched photos of the trials to see if I could find my dad. [200] The case law of the trials fleshed out the skeleton provided by the Nuremberg charter and the IMT verdict. Nrnberg trials, Nrnberg also spelled Nuremberg, series of trials held in Nrnberg, Germany, in 194546, in which former Nazi leaders were indicted and tried as war criminals by the International Military Tribunal. 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. When Hess exercised or sat on a bench in the courtyard it was always alone, a single, disheveled old man staring at the courtyard bricks. Where the convicted were housed on the ground floor, lower-tier cellblock, the main corridor was 60 meters (195 feet) long, lined by 16 cells on each side, and constantly patrolled by 1st Division guards. A. April 22, 2020. They were put under guard at a hotel and taken to court with armed MPs to trial each day. Twelve sets of trials, involving over a hundred defendants and several different courts, took place in Nuremberg from 1945 to 1949. [211] The educational purpose of the Nuremberg Military Tribunals was a failure, in part because of the resistance to war crimes trials in German society, but also because of the United States Army's refusal to publish the trial record in German for fear it would undermine the fight against communism. Streicher had published Der Sturmer, a widely read newspaper filled with pornography, ethnic hate, and anti-Jewish cartoons to enflame the German population. They, as a group, had no problem with their guilt. [65], Some of the most prominent NazisAdolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbelshad committed suicide and therefore could not be tried. First, it rejected the contention that only a state, and not individuals, could be found guilty of war crimes; the tribunal held that crimes of international law are committed by men and that only by punishing individuals who commit such crimes can the provisions of international law be enforced. Before and during the war crimes trial, they were to be considered still innocent, Andrus drummed into the military personnel under his command. Through these openings, aluminum food trays could be placed within reach of the prisoners. Stahmer fought hard for his clie. I tried to judge them myself, not by what others said of them. The British worked on putting together the aggressive war charge; the French and Soviet delegations were assigned the task of covering crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on the Western Front and the Eastern Front, respectively. But the Nuremberg Trials showed contempt for the only-obeying-orders position, and we hold it in contempt too.". [36][35] On 8 August, the Nuremberg Charter was signed in London. But Woods, an almost charmingly hapless man with a checkered. [50][51] Because the Soviet Union expected a show trial, its appointees were familiar with this form. [80][81] The aim was to have these organizations declared criminal, so that their members could be tried expeditiously for membership in a criminal organization. He didnt really talk to me very much. tags: abraham , abrahamism , child-sacrifice , christianity , god , isaac , nazi . He died about five years ago and I wished I would have asked questions. During his three-month tour of duty at Nuremberg prison, Prestianni was assigned to 16 different prisoners. Of course he was amongst other guards to his left and right. Three were sentenced to life imprisonment. The food, prepared in an American-staffed kitchen, offered identical German menus for each prisoner. You can contact me via email at [email protected]. He greeted me in the morning and that was about it. [13] Planners in the United States Department of War were drawing up plans for an international tribunal in late 1944 and early 1945. [152] The defendants' witnesses sometimes managed to exculpate them, but other witnessesincluding Rudolf Hss, the former commandant of Auschwitz, and Hans Bernd Gisevius, a member of the German resistanceeffectively incriminated the defendants. [190][191] Also on trial were industrialistsin the Flick trial, the IG Farben trial, and the Krupp trialfor using forced labor, looting property from Nazi victims, and funding SS atrocities. By far the most attention--not surprisingly, given the figures involved--has focused on the first Nuremberg trial of twenty-one major war criminals. Soviet prosecutors in Nrnberg, Germany brought out Friedrich Paulus and Erich Buschenhagen by surprise as witnesses in the war crimes trials. [228] The most controversial charge was crimes against peace. [104] On 29 November, the prosecution was unprepared to continue presenting on the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and instead screened Nazi Concentration and Prison Camps. [236][237], The trials were the first use of simultaneous interpretation, which stimulated technical advances in translation methods. Guards, for the most part, were not allowed to talk to each other or to prisoners while on security duty. The Nuremberg Trials were 13 trials held in Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Joachim von Ribbentrop's body after his execution. 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. [94] All defendants pleaded not guilty. Where they lived. I never really got to know him very well during the few months before he was released, commented Prestianni, but at one time he tried to teach me an intricate German card game, but I never could catch on to it. 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. As well as the tank three Military Policemen can be seen on duty. Other than that, Hess had no social interaction with the other prisoners. Most of the time the prison was dank, uncomfortably cold, and forbidding, especially during the winter months. Other absent and dead men including Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, Adolf Eichmann, and Bormann were also blamed. [67] Also prosecuted were leaders of the German economy, such as Gustav Krupp (of the conglomerate Krupp AG), former Reichsbank president Hjalmar Schacht, and economic planners Albert Speer and Walther Funk, along with Speer's subordinate and head of the forced labor program, Fritz Sauckel. 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. [197] The trials heard 1,300 witnesses, entered more than 30,000 documents into evidence, and generated 132,855 pages of transcripts, with the judgements themselves totaling 3,828 pages. It was an appointment that, when coupled with his Baltic origin, brought him into sharp conflict with most of those in Hitlers entourage. [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. 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. My mother gave the journal to my oldest brother who died in 1998. [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. Prestianni guarded Streicher many times. [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. He, like the others, was always bumming cigarettes or cans of Prince Albert tobacco for his pipe. [55], The work of drafting the indictment was divided up by the national delegations. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The Nuernberg trial records include transcripts of proceedings . [110] Unlike Jackson, he attempted to minimize the novelty of the aggression charges. After Ley hanged himself, this strict suicide watch was instituted, Prestianni explained. [98] Jackson maintained that while the United States did "not seek to convict the whole German people of crime", neither did the trial "serve to absolve the whole German people except 21 men in the dock". Seven others, over time, were reduced by lengthy prison sentences to hollow, shuffling shadows of their former selves. Like the Nazis, he was afraid (rightly) that his "God" would kill him if he refused. Three of the defendants were acquitted: Hjalmar Schacht, Franz von Papen, and Hans Fritzsche. 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. Upon arriving in the European Theater, Prestianni, a replacement, found himself in the U.S. 1st Infantry Division. [108][109], On 12 December, Shawcross gave the opening speech for the British. The Federal Research Division (FRD) is a fee-based research and analysis unit within the Library of Congress that produces world-renowned and nonpartisan products to support research-informed policy- and decision-making. [89] Because of the loose evidentiary rules, photographs, charts, maps, and films played an important role in making incredible crimes believable. Usually these are prosecution chargeslike crimes against humanityor a defense response. The requested reassignments were generally granted.. Nuremberg, Germany, November 1945. 08-12-2007, 10:07 PM. The tribunal consisted of a member plus an alternate selected by each of the four signatory countries. She was released after four years and eventually committed suicide in a Bavarian prison. [172] All 22 defendants were charged with crimes against peace, and 12 were convicted. My father was a guard in the courtroom (Palace of Justice) at the Nuremberg trials in 1946. He said that he had the pleasure of meeting the judge known as the Hanging Judge. [195][196], These trials emphasized the crimes committed during the Holocaust. [4], In early 1942, representatives of eight governments-in-exile in the United Kingdom issued a declaration on Punishment for War Crimes, which demanded an international court to try the Axis crimes committed in occupied countries. Sixteen of these captives were guarded by Pfc. [69][37], The defendants, who were largely unrepentant,[70] included former cabinet ministers: Franz von Papen (who had brought Hitler to power); Joachim von Ribbentrop (foreign minister), Wilhelm Frick (interior minister), and Alfred Rosenberg, minister for the occupied eastern territories. How Gring obtained the lethal capsule has never been firmly established. I do remember that Schacht, like most of the others, steadfastly maintained his innocence, never admitting to guilt in any form. The trial started in November 1945. Hitler's friend, favorite architect, and Minister of Armaments from 1942 until the end of the war. How long did it take you to learn what you are doing? he often asked. It was the last thing Streicher was known to have written. He was found innocent and released but sentenced in 1949 by a German court to nine years in prison. Give me information about your Dad and I will help you research about your fathers deployment to Germany. Also represented were some leaders of the German economy, such as Gustav Krupp (of the conglomerate Krupp AG) and former Reichsbank president Hjalmar Schacht.[2]. Besides Speer, Ribbentrop, Kaltenbrunner, and Jodl, Prestianni also guarded Luftwaffe Reichsmarshal Hermann Gring, Grand Admiral Dnitz, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Reich financier Hjalmar Schacht, Governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Konstantin von Neurath, Nazi philosopher Alfred Rosenberg, virulent anti-Semite Julius Streicher, diplomat Franz von Papen, Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick, Grand Admiral Raeder, Hess, and Hans Frank, the governor general of occupied Poland. The International Military Tribunal (IMT) delivered its judgment against the Nazi leaders on September 30 and October 1, 1946. An anti-Semite to the end, and proclaiming that his death was a victory for world Jewry, Streichers final shouted words as he dropped through the trap door to his death were, This is the Purim Festival for 1946. It was difficult and tiring duty. Popular radio commentator; head of the news division of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry. The Nrnberg trials began on November 20, 1945. The first, held by an international tribunal (American, British, French, and Russian), was the "War. Hess was eccentric. 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. [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. The British government was still opposed, unable to see the benefit of such a trial and preferring summary execution of Nazi leaders.