Table of Contents
What was the purpose of the post World war 2 crimes trials?
Following World War II, the victorious Allied governments established the first international criminal tribunals to prosecute high-level political officials and military authorities for war crimes and other wartime atrocities.
How many major war crimes were tried in ww2?
Overview. The indictment against 24 major war criminals and seven organizations was filed on October 18, 1945 by the four chief prosecutors of the International Military Tribunal.
Where were the ww2 trials held?
Nürnberg trials, Nürnberg also spelled Nuremberg, series of trials held in Nürnberg, Germany, in 1945–46, in which former Nazi leaders were indicted and tried as war criminals by the International Military Tribunal.
What happened in war crimes trials?
With respect to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the tribunal found overwhelming evidence of a systematic rule of violence, brutality, and terrorism by the German government in the territories occupied by its forces.
Who was found guilty in the Nuremberg trials?
Hermann Göring – Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging but committed suicide by ingesting cyanide 2 hours before the sentence was to be carried out. Rudolf Hess – Guilty, sentenced to life imprisonment, committed suicide in prison in 1987. Alfred Jodl – Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging.
Was the Nuremberg trials fair?
This time, however, Germany was completely occupied and was unable to resist, so the trials went ahead. Flawed or not, the Nuremberg tribunal could not have met a more deserving collection of defendants – and it gave them a largely fair trial.
Who is the biggest war criminal in history?
Saddam Hussein. Possibly the most famous of all war criminals and fugitives, Saddam Hussein was in hiding for eight months after the fall of Bagdad, putting him at the top of the US’s Most Wanted Iraqis list. American forces caught up with him on 13th December 2003.
Was Pearl Harbor a war crime?
Japan and the United States were not then at war, although their conflicting interests were threatening to turn violent. The attack turned a dispute into a war; –Pearl Harbor was a crime because the Japanese struck first.
Who decides what a war crime is?
What acts are war crimes? War crimes are defined by the Geneva Conventions, the precedents of the Nuremberg Tribunals, an older area of law referred to as the Laws and Customs of War, and, in the case of the former Yugoslavia, the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague (ICTY).
Who invented war crimes?
The modern concept of war crime was further developed under the auspices of the Nuremberg Trials based on the definition in the London Charter that was published on August 8, 1945. (Also see Nuremberg Principles.)