Nuremberg, Germany

The Nuremberg Trials started on the 20th of November 1945. There were over one hundred Nazis on trial. The trials that were between November 20th 1495 – and October 1st 1946 are known as the major war crimes and the trials held between October 1st 1946 - and 1949 are known as the lesser war crimes. There were 21 Nazis that were trailed for the major war crimes. All bar three were found guilty, the names of the Nazis found Not Guilty were Hans Fritzsche, Papen von Franz and Hjalmar Schacht. The judges were from Great Britain, France, USA and the Soviet Union.

All the judges from The Nuremburg Trials were from The USA, France, Britain and The Soviet Union. Each country chose its own judges and prosecutorial team. Each country was in charge of its own court. USA was in charge of the court of Conspiracy to Wage Aggressive War, Britain was in charge of the court of Crimes Against Peace and France and The Soviet Union were in charge of the court of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. There were nine Judges altogether and there were three from each country.

The British JudgesSir Hartley Shawcross

Sir Geoffrey Lawrence

Sir Norman Birkett

The USA JudgesRobert H. Jackson

Francis Biddle

John J. Parker

The French JudgesFrancois de Menthon

Henri Donnedieu de Vabres

Robert Falco

The Soviet Union JudgesRoman Rudenko

Alexander Volchkov

Iona Nikitchenko

There were over one hundred Nazis put on trial during the Nuremberg trials but 21 of them were trailed for Major war crimes. Three out of the Twenty – one Nazis were found Not Guilty. Eleven Nazis were sentenced to be hung but only ten did because Goering, Hermann committed suicide the day before his hanging. Seven Nazis were sentenced to prison and two of them were sentenced to prison for life. All of the Nazis that were hung were hung on the 16th of October in The Palace of Justice Nuremberg, Germany.

Doenitz, KarlFrank, HansFrick, WillhelmFritzsche, HansFunk, WalterGoering, HermannHess, RudolfJodl, AlfredKaltenbrunnen, ErnstKeitel, WilhelmNeurath, KonstantinvonPapen, Franz vonRaeder, ErichRibbentrap, JoachonRosenberg, AlfredSauckel, FritzShacht, HjalmarSchirach, Baldur

10 years imprisonment HungHung

Found Not GuiltyLife imprisonment

Committed suicide day before Hanging

Life imprisonmentHungHungHung

15 years imprisonmentFound Not Guilty

Life imprisonmentHungHungHung

Found Not Guilty20 year imprisonment

Hermann Göring was boron the 12th June 1893 in Rosenheim, Germany. He flew fighter planes in WW I. In 1935 Hitler appointed him commander in chief of the Luftwaffe (The German Air force) which he held until the final days of the war. In 1940 Göring was in the peak of his Power because Hitler appointed him Reichsmarschall which was the second highest ranking in Germany after Hitler and was responsible for most of Germany. But that was taken away from him. In 1942 when he heard that Hitler was committing suicide Göring sent a message to Hitler saying that he wanted to become Reichsmarschall again Hitler saw this as an act of treason and ordered him to be arrested. He was trailed in the Nuremberg Trials and was sentenced to be hung but committed suicide the day before his hanging by injecting himself with a drug.  

 

1. How many Judges were there from each country?

2. How many Nazis were found guilty of major war crimes?

3. In what year did the Nuremberg trials start?

4. In what year did the Nuremberg trials end?

5. How many Nazis were trailed for major war crimes?

6. How many Judges were there altogether?

Three

Nineteen

1945

1949

21

12