Nuremberg Military Tribunals

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After the four-power International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg), a series of twelve Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT) were conducted by the United States, sometimes with British and French assistance, but never again as a four-power process. The legal basis for these "subsequent proceedings" was Allied Control Commission Law 10, which empowered "the commanding officers of the four allied zones of occupation to conduct criminal trials on charges of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity and membership of an organisation aiming at such crimes."[1]

President Harry Truman created six tribunals, which conducted twelve trials between 26 October 1946 to 14 April 1949. The prosecutorial function was under the Office of the United States Government for Germany (OMGUS), under Telford Taylor, United States Chief of Counsel for War Crimes. While Taylor was a brigadier general in the United States Army, the trials were conducted by American civilian judges.

Medical Case

Also frequently called the Doctors' Trial, the Medical Case (NMT), Case No. 1, United States against Karl Brandt, et al., dealt with 24 defendants accused of performing involuntary medical experiments on concentration camp inmates and other living human subjects.

Milch Case

In the Milch Case (NMT), Case No. 2, United States against Erhard Milch charged senior Luftwaffe commanders with the exploitation of slave labor and carrying out involuntary medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners.

Justice Case

The Justice Case (NMT), Case No. 3, United States against Josef Altstoetter, et al., which charged sixteen defendants with abuse of the judicial process and the administration of justice

Pohl Case

Dealing with the part of the Holocaust that concerned the system of concentration camp, labor camps, and extermination camps, the Pohl Case (NMT), Case No. 4, United States against Oswald Pohl, et al., accused eighteen members of the WVHA with operating concentration camps or economic enterprises of the SS, using slave labor. Pohl commanded the WVHA.

Flick Case

Case No. 5, the Flick Case (NMT), United States against Friedrich Flick, et al. was against charged six defendants indicted for criminal conduct in relation to slave labor, the spoliation of property in occupied France and the USSR, and the "Aryanisation" of Jewish industrial and mining properties. ·

I. G. Farben Case

Case No. 6, United States against Carl Krauch, et al. , tried 24 executives of the industrial firm, I.G. Farben with spoliation of property in occupied countries and participation in a slave labor program

Hostages Case

Case No. 7, the Hostages Case, charged twelve generals assigned to southeast Europe with criminal disregard of the rules of warfare for of hostages and civilians

RuSHA Case

The RuSHA Case Case No. 8, United States against Ulrich Greifelt, et al was the trial of the fourteen officials in the Race and Settlement Office (RuSHA) of the SS with carrying out systematic programmes of genocide ·

Einsatzgruppen Case

Directly concerned with genocidal actions outside the camp structure, the Einsatzgruppen Case (NMT), Case No. 9, United States against Otto Ohlendorf, et al., charged twenty-three officers of the SS in charge of Einsatzgruppen, or field killing units that murdered 2,000,000 people. Evidence included the Einsatzgruppen Directives. [2]

Krupp Case

In the Krupp Case (NMT), Case No. 10, United States against Alfred Krupp, et al., 12 executives of Krupp Industries were tried for using slave labour and spoliation.

Ministries Case

In the Ministries Case (NMT), Case No. 11, United States against Ernst von Weizsaecker et al. dealt with twenty-one officials of Nazi civilian ministries, who were indicted for playing an important part in the political and diplomatic preparation for war, violation of international treaties, economic spoliation and diplomatic implementation of the Holocaust.

The Ministries Case is also known as the Wilhelmstrasse Case after the location of the main government area in Berlin. The case was a complex prosecution of civil servants and SS headquarters personnel, for planning and implementing war crimes in Germany and Nazi-occupied countries. The largest share of defendants belonged to the Reich Foreign Office.

Defendants were accused of crimes against peace with respect to:[3]

  • Germany taking over Austria (March 1938)
  • Czechoslovakia (October 1938 and March 1939)
  • Poland, the United Kingdom, and France (September 1939)
  • Denmark and Norway (April 1940)
  • Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (May 1940)
  • Yugoslavia and Greece (April 1941)
  • Soviet Union (June 1941)
  • United States of America (December 1941)

Defendants and sentences:

High Command Case

14 military officers, in senior command or staff positions in the German Armed Forces were tried in the High Command Case (NMT), Case No. 12, United States against Wilhelm von Leeb, et al.

References

  1. Papers of the International Military Tribunal and the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, ArchivesHub, a national gateway to descriptions of archives in UK universities and colleges, University of Southampton Libraries Special Collections Reference: GB 0738 MS 200
  2. Einsatzgruppen Directives, Jewish Virtual Library
  3. Office of Military Government for Germany (US) (1947), Indictment, Nuremberg Military Tribunal 11 - Ministries Case. Paper 1., p. 11