How Did the Nuremberg Trials Work and Who Was Tried and Why?

Authors Avatar by jax527 (student)

Jacklyn Oleksak

Mrs. Fialkow

English 10 Honors

2 April 2011

How Did the Nuremberg Trials Work and Who Was Tried and Why?

        The war crime trials held at Nuremberg are one of the most well-known trials against humanity in history. These trials were very complex and consisted of many people from many different countries. Justice was a big part of these trials and justice was served to the people who were tried and convicted throughout this complex process. The specific name for these trials was the International Military Tribunal, often referred to as IMT (Taylor Intro). These were complex trials which sought to break new legal ground on major issues of international law (Taylor 4).

        Simply, the Nuremberg trials were created to convict the people who were involved in the Holocaust and the destruction of Poland as well as other events. The events of the Nazi era were a major part of the Nuremberg trials (Taylor 3). These trials were much more intricate than the average person would think. It changed the lives of many, many people; not only were the families of those convicted but of the people who sat in on the hearings were affected. Everyone who was remotely involved in these trials was affected by them. But what law was the International Military Tribunal enforcing? Ordinary courts and trials are based on the statuses of sovereign nations. However, the IMT was no ordinary court. It was established by the United States and three other major European Nations, and the laws by which the IMT was bound were not the laws of those or of any other nations. For its rules on crime the IMT looked primarily to the international “laws of war,” violations were called “war crimes” (Taylor 5). Humanitarianism played a large role in the development of the laws for Nuremberg (Taylor 5). The laws by which the tribunal would follow were not chosen over a day’s time but, they were well thought out, reviewed and reviewed again. This was necessary for the simple reason that there would be no way for the accused to beat the system because something in the wording was wrong.

Join now!

        One of the most famous trials from Nuremberg was that of Goering; Hermann Goering. Goering was commander in chief of the air force, president of the Reichstag, and prime minister of Russia. He was found guilty for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity (Goldensohn 101). It took much more than just taking a look at what Goering did during his time of doing these disastrous things, they looked at his parents, his childhood; they took a look at his personal issues. They went deep enough even to look at his past wives (Goldensohn 101). Unlike most people ...

This is a preview of the whole essay