He did mention seeing the prisoners in their cells. They just never admitted to it. On 1 October 1946, 12 death sentences were passed down by the judges of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on some of the most high-ranking and influential members of Nazi Germany. [210] As the Cold War began, the rapidly changing political environment began to affect the effectiveness of the trials. These compelling first-person accounts of the Nuremberg trials were recorded by professional historians who interviewed 11 Americans participants, including prosecutors, journalists, security guards, and even the architect who designed the courtroom. [32] The trial was held under modified common law. The night Gring pulled that off on October 16, 1946, now that was quite a night, he recalled. Three were sentenced to life imprisonment. Uncover the topics related to the Nuremberg trials. At the time, I saw these men only as individual prisoners, guilty of unknown crimes. [88], The charter allowed the admissibility of any evidence deemed to have probative value, including depositions. No favoritism was shown nor was a selection offered. For added security outside the prison, three American Sherman tanks, manned by MPs, were positioned at the front, side, and rear entries to the prison. [230] The selectivity in trying Germans but not the Allies has garnered the most persistent criticism. Friedrich Jeckeln was found guilty and was executed in Riga, Latvia. His remembrance of duty at Nuremberg remains vivid. Immediately following the end of the IMT, the American military government held twelve more war crimes trials in Nuremberg. He was another of Prestiannis favorite checker-playing opponents. Answer (1 of 5): None of the footage I have seen of the trials revealed anyone but American MPs. He was not tall at all and didnt really stand out in any way from the others, Prestianni said. [115], From 17 January to 7 February 1946, France presented its charges and supporting evidence. In some cases, this arrogance lingered into their years of incarceration. He was a man of some stature with flowing white hair, but he would still never be noticed much in a crowd. My mother gave the journal to my oldest brother who died in 1998. Gring enjoyed baiting his guards. He told multiple stories of his time there. Nazi, Alfred Rosenberg, lies dead on a casket following his execution after the Nuremberg Trials. Jodl, one of 10 prisoners hanged, was another who never admitted to any personal guilt. 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. They wanted to run the whole show. 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 [14][15] The exact form that retribution would take was left unresolved at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. These once powerful leaders of Nazi Germany were the accused of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. He was totally indifferent to the world around him and to world affairs. Whenever these female prisoners, most of whom were former concentration camp guards, created a problem, we merely, as instructed, called the sergeant-of-the-guard to resolve the situation. My father was a guard in the courtroom (Palace of Justice) at the Nuremberg trials in 1946. The verdict was drafted by British alternate judge Norman Birkett. Came back to the States in Jun 46. Goring had been given a list of approved lawyers by the US authorities, but rejected every name on it. [161][162], The International Military Tribunal agreed with the prosecution that aggression was the gravest charge against the accused, stating in its judgement that because war in general is evil, "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole. [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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Updates? He promoted an intentionalist view of the Nazi state and its overall conspiracy to commit all of the crimes mentioned in the indictment. [231], The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Trial) borrowed many of its ideas from the IMT, including all four charges. List of defendants at the International Military Tribunal, William L. Shierer "The Rise and Fall of the third reich", Nuremberg-chapter of part IV. Most certainly. After trial, incarcerated at. Several were militaristically aloof and looked down upon those they considered to be the mere political element. 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. [58], The charge of conspiracy was spearheaded by the United States prosecution and was less popular with the other Allies. Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (December 1946 - April 1949) One was sentenced in absentia. [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. [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. [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. Gring was the acknowledged leader among the prisoners. Before his execution, he aligned himself with Jodl and, to a lesser extent, Raeder and Dnitz, the military clique. [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. [110] Unlike Jackson, he attempted to minimize the novelty of the aggression charges. If one inadvertently looked up at her, she arbitrarily ordered the prisoner shot. But the Nuremberg Trials showed contempt for the only-obeying-orders position, and we hold it in contempt too.". His name was Raymond J Arsenault. He, like the others, was always bumming cigarettes or cans of Prince Albert tobacco for his pipe. Neurath, Konstantin von. "[1][163] The judges did not attempt to define aggression[164] and decided not to mention the retroactivity of the charges in the verdict. Omissions? Number 5 was Albert Speer, Hitlers personal architect and confidant. Nuremberg, Germany, November 1945. Usually these are prosecution chargeslike crimes against humanityor a defense response. The Nuremberg Trials After the war, the top surviving German leaders were tried for Nazi Germany's crimes, including the crimes of the Holocaust. Frick was rather taciturn, not given to talking. I inherited all of it. I have a brass pot, called an aspersorium, obtained by my father. 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.. Dnitz, who was named successor to Hitler during the waning days of the war and served 10 years in prison, remained aloof. Prominent banker and economist. Others subjected inmates to horrific experiments and torture. Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. Join historians and history buffs alike with our Unlimited Digital Access pass to every military history article ever published (over 3,000 articles) in Sovereigns military history magazines. He held the rank of seargent when he was discharged in 1945. 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. My dad, Frederick M. Bencriscutto, was in the field artillery in the 1st Infantry Division during WWII. [132][169] Through a compromise among the judges, the charge of conspiracy was narrowed to a conspiracy to wage aggressive war. [89] Because of the loose evidentiary rules, photographs, charts, maps, and films played an important role in making incredible crimes believable. When I once asked him why he had done what he was convicted of doing, he replied that he only did what the Fatherland [Germany] instructed him to do. [188] The Office of Chief Counsel for War Crimes identified 2,500 major war criminals, of whom 177 were tried. 1 Feb 1946. Michael Prestianni served as a guard at Nuremberg as high-ranking Nazis stood trial for their lives. On Wednesday, January 31 1951, a curious bit of revelry took place in Landsberg prison as 10 war criminals condemned to death by the Nuremberg military tribunals learned they would live after all. It was always a battle of authority. All the prisoners smoked pipes, and they all tried to wheedle cigarettes from us.. [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. On October 15, 1946, guards and prisoners listened to the pounding of the gallows being constructed. Frick, one of Hitlers closest advisers during the early years of the Nazi regime, was one of those hanged. All war crimes prisoners ate from a single German menu. Martin Bormann was tried and condemned to death in absentia, and Hermann Gring committed suicide before he could be executed. Examine some of the collection's most-accessed trial topics. Each prisoners cell was equipped with a simple, bench-like bed against one wall adjacent to the cell door, a primitive commode, a wooden table to hold the few allowed pictures and other personal items, and a chair too rickety to support the weight of a standing man. Later 19 other nations accepted the provisions of this agreement. [95][96] As Jackson made clear, the purpose of the trial was not just to convict the defendants but also to assemble irrefutable evidence of Nazi crimes, establish individual responsibility and the crime of aggression in international law, offer a history lesson to the defeated Germans, delegitimize the traditional German elite,[97] and allow the Allies to distance themselves from appeasement. Among those brought to trial were. If an organization was found to be criminal, the prosecution could bring individuals to trial for having been members, and the criminal nature of the group or organization could no longer be questioned. The International Military Tribunal set up by the . Courtesy Emily Aho Around Memorial Day of 2000, Emily Aho took her then 75-year-old father, Emilio "Leo". Your Moms birthday and maiden name. Many were resistance fighters or political opponents. 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. After Ley hanged himself, this strict suicide watch was instituted, Prestianni explained. Alfred Rosenberg was considered by Hitler the philosopher of National Socialism. [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. The Nuremberg Trials: Table of Contents | Indictments | Defendants & Verdicts Click Left/Right to Scroll American guards maintain constant surveillance over Nazi war criminals in the Nuremberg prison. The crew (left to right) Private (1st Class) Carl E McCray (Salem, Va.) and Sergeant E Wilson (Texas.)'. He died about five years ago and I wished I would have asked questions. Expressed repentance. Former field marshal Keitel, another prisoner who was eventually executed, gradually alienated himself from the other prisoners. Where they lived. The British government was still opposed, unable to see the benefit of such a trial and preferring summary execution of Nazi leaders. Twelve further trials were conducted by the United States against lower-level perpetrators, which focused more on the Holocaust. Noticeable dislike existed between the prisoners and most of their Soviet guards. Attitudes toward certain prisoners were determined by the prisoners themselves, their demeanor in captivity, and their personality traits and attitudes toward their American, British, or French guards. [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 guards at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials The guards at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials Accession Number 72-850 7.25x9.5 inches Black & White Printer-Friendly Version Order This Image Keywords Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946 Soldiers HST Keywords Nurnberg Trials; Germany - Nurnberg Streicher, for reasons never made known, was photographed clothed and then naked and again in death. Prestianni played checkers and chess with four of the prisoners and argued politics with others. [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. He was largely overlooked in prison, Prestianni said of von Papen. [158][136] In contrast to the opening prosecution statements, all eight closing statements highlighted the Holocaust; and the French and British prosecutors made this the main charge, as opposed to that of aggression. [114], In mid-December the Americans switched to presenting the case against the indicted organizations, while in January both the British and Americans presented evidence against individual defendants. 3 Feb 1946. [146][147] Defense lawyer Alfred Seidl[de] repeatedly tried to disclose the secret protocols of the GermanSoviet pact. Did guards favor some prisoners over others? Meals were brought to the prisoners on a precise schedule each day on wheeled, double-tiered push carts by German prisoners from other sections of the prison who were being held for civil crimes. John C. Woods, hangman at Nuremberg Anyone else might have been embarrassed about botching such a high-level execution. [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". The intentionally weakened table and chair, Prestianni said, prevented possible suicide attempts by hanging. These citations refer to documents at "The International Military Tribunal for Germany". [182] Nikichenko released a dissent approved by Moscow that rejected all the acquittals, called for a death sentence for Hess, and convicted all the organizations. He argued that Germans needed Lebensraum (living space) and that they were looking only for land expansion. Designated as protector of Bohemia and Moravia in August 1943, he played a major role in developing the concentration- and labor-camp network for the slaughter of millions. I had a chance to meet Mr. Christian Delage at a workshop on the . They were put under guard at a hotel and taken to court with armed MPs to trial each day. [105] The American prosecutors were not any more effective when presenting documentary evidence on the conspiracy to commit crimes against humanity, and ended up reaching a "saturation point of horror" by their indiscriminate selection and disorganized presentation of evidence without tying it to specific defendants. There was also a picture of him guarding Hitler. Three of those accused were acquitted and upon their release soon faded into obscurity. The material which the Library possesses on this topic can be loosely divided into the following sections: Nuremberg Trial. Ten condemned Nazi ringleaders died on the gallows in the Nuernberg jail early today but Herman Goering, Adolf . He was physically one tough guy, Prestianni offered. [21] At the conference, it was debated whether wars of aggression were prohibited in existing international customary law; regardless, before the charter was adopted there was no law providing for criminal responsibility for aggression. 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. At least 30,000 women died here. During numerous argumentative discussions, Neurath referred to the Polish population and others that were slaughtered by German troops as untermenschen, the German expression for inferior beings. [106][107] The Americans summoned Einsatzgruppen commander Otto Ohlendorf, who testified about the murder of 80,000 people by those under his command, and SS general Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, who admitted that German anti-partisan warfare was little more than a cover for the mass murder of Jews. [208][209] Many Germans lumped criminal trials with denazification, internment, and confrontation with the concentration camps, as illegitimate victor's justice and the imposition of collective guilt. 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 international treaties and agreements), (2) crimes against humanity (i.e., exterminations, deportations, and genocide), (3) war crimes (i.e., violations of the laws of war), and (4) a common plan or conspiracy to commit the criminal acts listed in the first three counts. [2] They were indicted for: [195][196], These trials emphasized the crimes committed during the Holocaust. Generally, I would describe the food, as I recall, quite good, Prestianni remembers. He didnt really talk to me very much. [181] All three acquittals (Papen, Schacht, and Fritzsche) were based on a deadlock between the judges; these acquittals surprised observers. By far the most attention--not surprisingly, given the figures involved--has focused on the first Nuremberg trial of twenty-one major war criminals. Prestianni said that during his guard duties he tried to adhere to his fathers advice. My father Paul Davis Smith served at a guard at Nuremberg though he never really talked much about it so I dont know in what capacity. 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. Raeder was sentenced to life imprisonment but was released for poor health on September 26, 1955. [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. This brass pot held the holy water that an attending priest sprinkled on the condemned immediately before their execution. He looked like a gaunt corpse, like a ghost. For the Tokyo Trial, see, International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Charter of the International Military Tribunal, List of defendants at the International Military Tribunal, SS Main Economic and Administrative Office, mass expulsion of millions of Germans from central and eastern Europe, confrontation with the concentration camps, Journal of International Criminal Justice, "Notre combat pour la paix: la France et le procs de Nuremberg (1945-1946)", "Le procs de Nuremberg: retour sur soixante-dix ans de recherche", "German Participation in the Nuremberg Trials and Its Implications for Today", "Imperfect Justice at Nuremberg and Tokyo", Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg Trials), International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Special Panels of the Dili District Court, International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, List of major perpetrators of the Holocaust, Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nuremberg_trials&oldid=1142633133, International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Courts and tribunals disestablished in 1946, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 14:39. Goehring gave my Dad a notebook that he had drawn in. Four were convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years. 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. In one report i read, it mentioned that "K" Company of the 26th Inf., 1st Div. The purpose of the armored reinforcement was to prevent any possibility of attack by groups of still-fanatic Nazis. He was a true Nazi all the way in every way, Prestianni recalled. [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. Her last name was Marsico (cant recall her first name} and she was from Montgomery, WV. 18008 Bothell Everett Hwy SE # F, Bothell, WA 98012. [60] The American prosecution became derailed during attempts to provide evidence of the German annexation of Austria. [86] Overall, the prosecution called 37 witnesses compared to the defense's 83, not including 19 defendants who testified on their own behalf. 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 Updated on January 22, 2020. It was difficult and tiring duty. 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. -. My father was also a guard, but he said he always was on the outside guarding. 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. One can only imagine the effect the pounding had on the condemned prisoners, now with only one more day to live. [171] Only eight defendants were convicted on that charge; all of whom were also found guilty of crimes against peace. [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". [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. The names were -- Wippern, Hahnefeld and myself carried out the checking. This wasnt authorized, but it was done on occasion, Prestianni smiled. [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. [215] Early releases of those convicted by the Nuremberg Military Tribunals began in 1949;[216] and in 1951, High Commissioner John J. McCloy overturned most of the sentences. These women prisoners constantly did anything they could to get a guard in trouble or disciplined.. Only Speer stood in the courtroom showing some remorse and, in an act of contrition, admitted his guilt and knowledge of the camps. [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. Hello everybody, this morning ended an auction on ebay of a Nuremberg Trials Guard uniform and I would hear your thoughts about the patch - especially of the scale on the patch because the right bowl has three strings and the left one has two strings.The Nuremberg Trial patches were German made ( Bullions) and all of . He guarded the prisoners in their cells and also stood guard in the court room. 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. In return, he often was rewarded with cigarettes, pipe tobacco, or other small items he coveted. He would have been 92 the following month. Prestianni guarded Streicher many times. These were the intellectuals; the ramrod-stiff military officers; the cunning politicians; the worlds 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 lackeys; and even their self-appointed leader, a bloated, drug-addicted former war hero. Without fanfare or advance warning, on July 18, 1947, the remaining prisoners at Nuremberg were told to assemble their meager belongings. [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. New Patient Forms; After 216 court sessions, on October 1, 1946, the verdict on 22 of the original 24 defendants was handed down. The speech was favorably received by the prosecution, the tribunal, the audience, historians, and even the defendants. Some of these camps, such as Treblinka, were death camps, intended to kill every prisoner that passed through their gates. Alfried was tried in a separate Nuremberg trial (the Krupp Trial) for the use of slave labor, thereby escaping worse charges and possible execution; found guilty in 1948, pardoned and all property returned 1951. 08-12-2007, 10:07 PM. The following is a brief . The requested reassignments were generally granted.. He was proud of his physique, saying he was strong like Germany.. 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. To maintain the steady flow of Speer pencil sketches, guards always provided him with an adequate supply of paper and sharpened pencils.
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