The verdict of history: how the trial of Hitler's accomplices took place
The Nuremberg Trials are an unprecedented story in world history. After a difficult war, the victorious powers, who were not at all like-minded strategically, agreed to put a legally verified end to the great confrontation. The end of World War II showed the victors of Nazism that it was necessary to condemn not only war criminals, but also the most inhumane brown ideology, which inevitably leads to summary executions and the outbreak of conflicts. Izvestia recalled the details.
The Court of Nations
The initiator of the open trial of the Nazi leaders was the Soviet Union. The countries of the "classical democracy" were not so decisive in this regard. Moscow believed that it was necessary to show the whole world and all citizens the moral and military collapse of Nazism. True, in the USSR they counted on the coordinated position of the prosecutors from the four countries, and it was such only on strategic, fundamental issues, but in particular disputes arose with the participation of lawyers.
The head of the National Socialist Party of Germany, Adolf Hitler, with party colleague Martin Bormann and his fiancee
All the main leaders of Nazi Germany — political, military, and top government aces — appeared before the court, except for those who managed to escape or commit suicide, like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and Heinrich Himmler. Martin Bormann was tried in absentia: it was believed that he had disappeared. Already in the 21st century, historians came to the conclusion that the "Parteigenosse" died in Berlin shortly before the collapse of the Third Reich.
The Rudenko factor
The main prosecutor from the Soviet Union in Nuremberg was 38-year-old prosecutor Roman Rudenko. Why did Joseph Stalin choose him? There is no definite answer to this question. Several factors have coincided. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief did not want to send major managers, venerable heads of the union prosecutor's office or the People's Commissariat on a long business trip to Nuremberg.
Rudenko was confident during public appearances, in open trials against the Nazis and the leaders of the Polish Home Army, showed himself to be an assertive speaker, able to bend the line and at the same time not afraid of impromptu. And most importantly, he had considerable experience working in the liberated territories, he knew firsthand what war was. Rudenko's father's house was burned down by the Nazis. One of his brothers, Ivan, died during the liberation of Krakow, while the other, Nikolai, was captured and miraculously survived the Dachau concentration camp. My sister fought in a partisan unit. And the prosecutor's little daughter in the fall of 1941 spoke angrily in an air raid shelter.: "The damned fascist won't let the kids sleep." He hadn't forgotten that. None of the American, British and French participants in the process had such an experience.
The tribunal could have reached an impasse if Rudenko had not been able to find contact with colleagues from Britain and the United States. He had the warmest relationship with the American prosecutor Robert Jackson. This helped to get out of the delicate situations that inevitably arose during the occupation of Germany by the troops of the three countries without losses. When the Soviet plane landed in the American zone without prior notice, Rudenko only had to talk to Jackson for the crew to be released from arrest. Another time, in cold weather, American soldiers lit a bonfire... using German documents that were a trophy of the Soviet side. This time, Rudenko compromised, doing everything so that Soviet diplomats would not turn this incident into an international scandal that could interfere with Nuremberg justice.
The chief prosecutor from the USSR, Roman Andreevich Rudenko, speaks at the Nuremberg trials
At the end of the trial, Rudenko said: "The Prosecution has fulfilled its duty to the High Court, to the blessed memory of innocent victims, to the conscience of nations, to its own conscience. May the People's Court be held over the fascist executioners — a fair and harsh trial!" The prosecutor masterfully struck this high note, earning the applause of colleagues and journalists gathered in the hall of the Palace of Justice.
Climax Days
403 public meetings lasted more than 10 months. 94 witnesses were heard: 33 from the prosecution and 61 from the defense. On August 31, the court heard the last words of the defendants and retired for sentencing. According to the testimony of psychologists who worked with the defendants, they became depressed these days. It's amazing. It would seem that Hitler's bonzes should have survived the collapse of all hopes back in May 1945. Logically, they could hardly hope for leniency from the victors' court. And yet, anxiety came over them again: they really didn't want to die.
On the last day of September, the verdict began to be read. At 10 a.m., the Chairman of the Tribunal, Lord Jeffrey Lawrence, appeared in the crowded courtroom. It took a whole day to describe the crimes that were considered proven. The prosecutors spoke about the principles of international law that were established in Nuremberg. Firstly, it was there and then that the formula "crime against humanity" was first heard. Secondly, the lawyers determined that the atrocities "are committed by people, not abstract organizations." And the reference to the fact that "they carried out the criminal orders of Hitler" is in most cases untenable. If criminal laws were in force in a country (in this case, Germany), this is not an excuse for those who shed innocent blood in fulfilling them.
Another thing is that it is not easy to determine the criminality of a particular law, and the Nuremberg Tribunal did not always succeed. But in the end, the verdict called the outbreak of wars "the gravest international crime," and the SS, Gestapo, SD, and the leadership of the NSDAP were recognized as criminal organizations. However, the Imperial Cabinet of Ministers, the General Staff and the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht were acquitted by the court. These organizations, which regularly ran death factories, were not considered criminal. At the same time, the verdict emphasized that the guilt of the combat generals of the German army is beyond doubt. Each of them was tried separately, then. Almost everyone will receive sentences, but not death sentences. Even wolves like SS founder General Karl Wolf.
The meeting of the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg Trials
The last meeting of the International Military Tribunal, which included judges and prosecutors from the four victorious Powers, opened on October 1, 1946 at 2.50 p.m.
The verdict was announced, by name. The defendants in the trial were brought into the courtroom one by one to get acquainted with the verdict, then they were taken out — and so on 18 times. In case of a heart attack or hysteria, doctors and orderlies were on duty in the hall, not only with medicines or stretchers, but also with straitjackets at the ready. The following persons were sentenced to death: Hermann Goering, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (of course, the former one, like all the defendants in the trial) Joachim von Ribbentrop, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Head of the General Directorate of Imperial Security Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg, Governor-General of Poland Hans Frank, Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick, propagandist Julius Streicher, Commissioner General for the Use of Labor Fritz Sauckel, President of Austria and Reich Commissioner of the Netherlands Arthur Seyss-Inquart and Colonel General Alfred Jodl. Another defendant, Martin Bormann, was convicted in absentia. The tribunal chose hanging as the method of execution. This measure has always been considered shameful.
The Nazis did not demonstrate their steel courage. "With the exception of Seyss-Inquart, they, the killers of millions of people, could not hide their fear. The guards had to support Ribbentrop, Rosenberg and Jodl from two sides, as they could not stand on their feet," recalled Mark Raginsky, assistant to the Soviet prosecutor.
But not all the defendants of the Nuremberg Tribunal were subject to the death penalty. Three of them — party leader Rudolf Hess, Economy Minister Walter Funk and Grand Admiral Erich Raeder - received life sentences, two people were sentenced to 20 years in prison, one to 15 and one to 10.
The interrogation of the defendant Rudolf Hess
Despite the protests of the Soviet side, the three defendants — banker Yalmar Schacht, propagandist Hans Fritsche and diplomat Franz von Papen — were acquitted by the court. We repeat: the Wehrmacht command has not received an exhaustive legal assessment either. This did not satisfy not only the Soviet side. The British newspaper The Guardian, which was very influential at the time, wrote hotly: "When twelve people are to be hanged, it seems strange that Schacht and von Papen escaped even imprisonment and were acquitted."
The most famous and active defendant of the Nuremberg trials, Hermann Goering, managed to escape the noose. At court sessions, he was the second man in the Nazi hierarchy, and he was confident, assertive, and brash, even though he looked sickly. Shortly before his execution, after meeting his wife, he committed suicide. Most likely, it was his wife who managed to bring the poison to him.
The lawyers tried to challenge the verdict. Only Kaltenbrunner refused to appeal. But on October 9-10, the Control Council for Germany, consisting of representatives of the allied Powers, as expected, rejected these petitions.
Rope for executioners
On the night of October 15-16, 1946, an execution took place in the gymnasium of the Nuremberg prison, in the presence of eight journalists from the victorious Powers, two executioners, officers, doctors and a priest. Two gallows were installed on the scaffold. Hatches with two doors were installed in the platform, which were opened by pressing a lever. The executed man was falling into a deep pit. Ribbentrop was the first to climb the thirteen steps.
Separation of the guard in front of the courthouse
"I'm sorry that this time my people were led by people who weren't soldiers, and that crimes were committed that I didn't know anything about," Kaltenbrunner said thoughtfully before the noose was thrown over him. The last to enter the hall was a stretcher with Goering's corpse, which was symbolically placed under the gallows. He fell into the same abyss. This is the end of the history of the leaders of the Third Reich.
Despite the inevitable rough edges, the main result of the process was the recognition of the Nazi ideology and the state structure of the Third Reich as criminal phenomena. It was only on this basis that a peaceful life could be built.
The materials of the Nuremberg Tribunal have been published more than once in different languages. It is a classic of legal literature, a great legacy of the twentieth century. Nuremberg justice has largely become the foundation of international law. Nazism is a criminal ideology that is not subject to even partial rehabilitation. Alas, there are dark forces on earth today who are trying to justify, if not the Nazis themselves, but their ideals and their inhumane methods of political struggle. The heirs of Victory must resist this trend. Let us also remember that the Nuremberg trials could not have taken place without the heroic deed of the Soviet people, who crushed the military power of Nazi Germany. The fact that Hitler's bonzes ended up in dungeons and on gallows is due to the fallen and living heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
The author is the deputy editor—in-chief of the magazine "Historian"
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
