After World War II, the victorious allies (Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States) held a series of trials titled the Nuremberg Trials. This was to trial the major Nazi commanders who had been responsible for crimes committed during the Holocaust. It was chosen as to be held in Nuremberg, Germany and these trials took place from 1945 to 1946. Twelve prominent Nazis were sentenced to death. Most had admitted to the crime which they had committed. Despite many of the Nazis on trial had claimed to be simply following orders, the individuals directly involved in the killing received the most severe punishments. Some other such as business executives who had used concentration camp inmates as force laborers received short prison sentences or no sentencing at all.
This was the first time the term, Genocide had been introduced to the trial. It stands for a violation against humanity. The charged criminals had been accused for crime against peace, planning and waging wars of aggression, war crimes, and most significantly, crime against humanity. There was a total of twenty four trialled, nineteen convicted and three acquitted. The Nuremberg Trials are now regarded as the foundation for the establishment of a permanent international court and a important precedent with later dealings of crimes against humanity and genocide.
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I find it interesting that there is a completely new term introduced after World War II and as a part of these trials: genocide. The reason why this word was just now introduced was because history had never seen something as brutal as the mass killing of several races and peoples. Hitler showed us a capability that we had believed no single man would ever, or could ever, possess. As Hitler pushed the limits of warfare and humanity, we were forced to push the limits of our language and create a new term for his unspeakable actions.
ReplyDeleteBesides trying German war criminals by carrying out the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, the Allies also tried Japanese war criminals in Tokyo. These Tokyo war crimes trials began in 1946 and lasted over two year. In the end, it found 25 defendants guilty, with 16 receiving life sentences, 2 receiving lesser sentences, and 7 receiving death sentences.
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