The Trial of the Major War Criminals

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The Trial of the Major War Criminals before the InternationalMilitary Tribunal, (IMT) Nuremberg, 14 November 1945-1October 1946.

The Allies also established an International Military Tribunal (IMT) to try 24 major Nazi war criminals

and six groups.1These groups, the Nazi leadership corps, the Reich Cabinet, the German General

Staff and High Command, the SA (Sturmabteilung), the SS (Schutzstaffel-including the

Sicherheitsdienst, or SD), and the Gestapo(Secret Police), had an aggregate membership exceeding

two million and it was estimated that approximately half of them would be made liable for trial if the

groups were convicted. The trials began in November, 1945 and on October 1, 1946, the IMT

rendered its judgment on twenty-one top officials of the Third Reich. The IMT sentenced most of the

accused to death or to extensive prison terms and acquitted three. The IMT also convicted three of the

groups, the Nazi leadership corps, the SS (including the SD), and the Gestapo. Three groups were

acquitted of collective war crimes charges, but this did not relieve individual members of those groups

from conviction and punishment under the Denazification program. Members of the three convicted

groups were subject to apprehension and trial as war criminals by the national, military, and

occupation courts of the four allied powers. And, even though individual members of the convicted

groups might be acquitted of war crimes, they still remained subject to trial under the Denazification

program.

War Criminals Convicted by the IMT.

Bormann, MartinDonitz, KarlFrank, HansFrick, WilhelmFritzsche, HansFunk, WaltherGoering, HermannHess, RudolphJodl, AlfredKaltenbrunner, ErnstKeitel, WilhelmKrupp, GustavLey, RobertRaeder, Erich

Rosenberg, AlfredSauckel, FritzSchacht, HjalmarSeyss-Inquart, ArthurSpeer, AlbertStreicher, Juliusvon Neurath, Konstantinvon Papen, Franzvon Schirach, Baldurvon Ribbentrop, Joachim

Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under Allied Control Council

(ACC) Law No. 10, October 1946-April 1949.

Originally, a second international trial at Nuremberg was to have focused primarily on the activities of

German finance and industry during the Third Reich. The so-called "industrialists trial," was widely

regard as of equal importance to the prosecution of the Nazi and SS high command. The United

States vetoed this plan, declaring in the autumn of 1945 that it would refuse to participate in any

further international trials and would hold separate prosecutions on its own. This led to the four-power,

Allied Control Council (ACC) for Germany to authorize each of the powers to hold subsequent trials on

its own, in its zone of occupation.

Pursuant to this authority the Control Council adopted on December 20, 1945, Law No. 10. Based

upon the same principals as those underlying the work of the IMT, the law defined "war crimes" and

"crimes against humanity" and identified those who should be held responsible for such acts. 2 Thelaw specified that any person who "held a high political, civil, or military position in Germany or one of

its Allies, cobelligerents or satellites or held a high position in the f inancial, industrial or economic life

of any such country" was deemed to have committed a crime against peace, namely planning and

executing an aggressive war in violation of treaties. Thus, membership in an organization like the SS

became sufficient cause for arrest. But Law No. 10 did not require that all persons considered as

criminals be prosecuted; it simply gave the commanders of the occupation forces authority to bring

charges as warranted .

Based on the authority granted them by the ACC, the United States occupation authorities set about

identifying additional war criminals to be tried in these subsequent trials. Eventually, 185 individuals

were arraigned to stand trial as war criminals. They would be tried, beginning in October 1946, in

twelve separate proceedings, grouped either by type of crime or by organization. These consisted of

four cases in which the defendants belonged to various branches of the SS, officials of three industrialorganizations (the Krupp works, I.G. Farben company, and the Flick combine), three cases of German

generals, and two cases included mainly members of former German ministries. 177 stood trial (with

four committing suicide and four being physically unable to stand trial). The last of the cases was

completed in April. 1949.

Trial of the Major War Criminals. http://www.archives.gov/iwg/research-papers/trial-of-war-criminals-be...

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After taking into consideration the commutation of sentences ordered on January 31, 1951, by the

United States High Commissioner for Germany, 13 defendants received the death penalty, eight were

imprisoned for life, seventy-seven served terms of imprisonment, thirty-three were released on the

basis of time already served, and one received a medical parole. Those that did not stand trial before

war crimes trials were subject to Denazification trials.

Altstoetter, JosefAmbros, OttoBaier, Hans HeinrichBarnickel, Paul

Becker-Freyseng, HermannBeiglboeck, WilhelmBerger, GottlobBiberstein, ErnstBlaskowitz, JohannesBlobel, PaulBlome, KurtBlume, WalterBobermin, HansBoehme, FranzBohle, Ernst WilhelmBrack, ViktorBrandt, RudolfBrandt, KarlBraune, WernerBrueckner, HeinzBrueggemann, Max

Buergin, ErnstBuetefisch, HeinrichBurkart, OdiloCreutz, RudolfCuhorst, HermannDarr, Richard WaltherDehner, ErnstDietrich, OttoDuerrfeld, WalterEberhardt, Karl Adolf FerdinandEbner, GregorEirenschmalz, FranzEngert, KarlFanslau, Heinz KarlFelmy, HelmuthFendler, Lothar

Fischer, FritzFlick, FriedrichFoertsch, HermannFrank, AugustGajewski, FritzGattineau, HeinrichGebhardt, KarlGenzken, KarlGraf, MathiasGreifelt, UlrichHaefliger, PaulHaensch, WalterHandloser, SiegfriedHaussmann, EmilHildebrandt, RichardHoerlein, HeinrichHofmann, Otto

Hohberg, HansHollidt, KarlHoth, HermannHoudremont, EduardHoven, WaldemarHuebner, HerbertIhn, Max OttoIlgner, MaxJaehne, FriedrichJanssen, Friedrich WilhelmJoel, GuentherJost, Heinz

Kaletsch, KonradKeppler, WilhelmKiefer, MaxKlingelhfer, Waldemar

Klein, HorstKlemm, HerbertKoerner, PaulKorschan, Heinrich LeoKrauch, CarlKuehne, HansKugler, HansKuntze, WalterKupke, Hans Albert GustavLanz, HubertLautenschlaeger, CarlLautz, ErnstLehmann, Werner Wilhelm HeinrichLehmann, RudolphList, WilhelmLoerner, GeorgLoerner, Hans

Loeser, Ewald Oskar LudwigLorenz, WernerMann, WilhelmMeissner, OttoMeyer-Hetling, KonradMilch, ErhardMueller, ErichMummenthey, KarlMurgowsky, JoachimNaumann, ErichNebelung, GuentherNosske, GustavOberheuser, HertaOeschey, RudolfOhlendorf, OttoOster, HeinrichOtt, Adolf

Petersen, HansPfirsch, Karl HeinrichPlieger, PaulPohl, OswaldPokorny, AdolfPook, HermannPoppendick, HelmutPuhl, EmilRasch, OttoRasche, KarlReinecke, HermannReinhardt, HansRendulic, LotharRitter, KarlRomberg, Hans WolfgangRose, GerhardRostock, Paul

Rothaug, OswaldRothenberger, CurtRuehl, FelixRuff, SiegfriedSandberger, MartinScheide, RudolfSchellenberg, WalterSchlegelberger, FranzSchmitz, HermannSchneider, ChristianSchniewind, Otto

Schroeder, OskarSchubert, HeinzSchulz, ErwinSchwalm, Fritz

Schwarzenberger, OttoSeibert, WillySievers, WolframSix, FranzSollman, MaxSommer, KarlSpeidel, WilhelmSperrle, HugoSteimle, EugenSteinbrinck, OttoStrauch, EduardStuckart, WilhelmTer Meer, FritzTerberger, HermannTesch, GuentherTschentscher, Erwin

Veesenmayer, Edmund

Viermetz, IngeVogt, JosefVolk, Leovon Blow, Friedrichvon Ammon, Wilhemvon Leyser, Ernstvon Leeb, Wilhelmvon Geitner, Kurtvon Weizsaecker, Ernstvon Moyland, Gustav Adolf Steengrachtvon Bohlen und Halbach, Alfried Felix

Alwyn Kruppvon Radetzky, Waldemarvon Kuechler, Georg Karl Friedrich-Wilhelmvon Salmuth, Hansvon Erdmannsdorff, Otto

von Roques, Karlvon Weichs, Maximillianvon Knieriem, Augustvon Krosigk, Lutz Schwerinvon der Heyde, Erichvon Schnitzler, GeorgWarlimont, WalterWeltz, Georg AugustWestphal, CarlWoehler, OttoWoermann, ErnstWurster, Carl

1They were to be tried for crimes against peace; war crimes; and crimes against humanity. Leaders, organizers,

instigators, and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to

commit the crimes so specified were declared responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of

such plan. The official positions of defendants as head of state or holders of high government office were not tofree them from responsibility or mitigate their punishment; nor was the fact that a defendant acted pursuant to an

order of a superior to excuse him from responsibility, although it might be considered by the IMT in mitigation of

punishment. As the trial of any individual member of any group or organization the IMT was authorized to declare

(in connection with any act of which the individual was convicted) that the group or organization to which he

belonged was a criminal organization. And where a group or organization was so declared criminal the competent


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national authority of any signatory was given the right to bring individuals to trial for membership in that

organization, in which trial the criminal nature of the group or organization was to be taken as proved. back

2They were to be tried for crimes against peace; war crimes; and crimes against humanity. Leaders, organizers,

instigators, and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to

commit the crimes so specified were declared responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of

such plan. The official positions of defendants as head of state or holders of high government office were not to

free them from responsibility or mitigate their punishment; nor was the fact that a defendant acted pursuant to an

order of a superior to excuse him from responsibility, although it might be considered by the IMT in mitigation of

punishment. As the trial of any individual member of any group or organization the IMT was authorized to declare

(in connection with any act of which the individual was convicted) that the group or organization to which he

belonged was a criminal organization. And where a group or organization was so declared criminal the competent

national authority of any signatory was given the right to bring individuals to trial for membership in that

organization, in which trial the criminal nature of the group or organization was to be taken as proved. back

[ Names, Terms, & Timelines]

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The Trial of the Major War Criminals